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RE-marks Archive

Hazard Identification, What Every Utility Employee Should Know

Posted 4/1/2018

By R. Bruce Wright, CPCU

"Everyone who works for you probably should have some training in how the distribution system works and how to spot at least basic defects or problems so they can report them to your service department."

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Expo 2018 Nashville Notes

Posted 4/1/2018

By R. Bruce Wright, CPCU

This is a short note on something I noticed at this year’s annual convention, not an effort to recap the entire event, but just something that struck me that relates to some conversations I have had with Hurtado Program participants over the past few years.

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Workers’ Compensation Cost Control Levers You Can Pull!

Posted 1/1/2018

Sometimes company leaders may feel as though there is very little that they can do to control their company’s WC costs. The premium is what it is, and aside from encouraging workers to “be careful” there isn’t a lot they can do. This is simply not true! To see why, here’s a look at a selected few of the elements of cost that go into your WC premium, three specific things that you can control.

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Preventive Maintenance

Posted 1/1/2018

Preventive maintenance may appear to be a somewhat dull and mundane topic that everyone is all too well aware of, one that has been thoroughly discussed many times, a basic element of every power system, so what could be left to say on this subject that is new or interesting? Well, please don’t skip this article, since there are some valuable insights to be found by looking at events taking place regularly, in various areas across the country.

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Hurricane Report

Posted 10/1/2017

By R. Bruce Wright, CPCU

Disasters Bring out the true meaning of “cooperative.”

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Disaster Planning Revisited

Posted 9/14/2017

By R. Bruce Wright, CPCU

 

Perhaps you read this article, first published in January of 2001. Perhaps not. 

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Welding Safety Tips

Posted 7/1/2017

by R. Bruce Wright, CPCU

Welding is a common activity in the utility business, with many specific hazards to address.    

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Preventing Slips and Falls

Posted 7/1/2017

by R. Bruce Wright, CPCU

Common everyday exposures may lead to injuries more often than we give them credit for.

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A Lesson Learned the Hard Way

Posted 4/1/2017

By Robert Tutt, Black Warrior EMC

We learned a hard lesson about our new trailer. Maybe you can benefit from hearing what happened to us. 

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Rules and How to Make Them Work

Posted 4/1/2017

by R. Bruce Wright, CPCU

Our clients have often heard me ask, “How do you get a good idea off of the conference room table and into the field?” and “Why would anyone violate a safety rule that everyone says is a good one that they all agree with?”

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A Look Back, and Ahead, for New Year’s Day

Posted 12/31/2016

By R. Bruce Wright, CPCU

New Year’s Day is often a time for taking stock, making resolutions and looking ahead, a heavy lift indeed for a single day!

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Workers’ Compensation Cost Basics: Simplifying the Complex

Posted 12/31/2016

By R. Bruce Wright, CPCU

In a perfect world, there would be no employee injuries, but we don’t live in a perfect world, so injuries continue to occur and claims must be paid.

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Broadband & Fiber-optic Lines; a Pitfall For Utilities?

Posted 10/1/2016

Providing rural America with access to high-speed Internet connections is a hot topic these days. It has even been the subject of that least rural newspaper, The New York Times! (To read that article, you can click here.) But before signaling full speed ahead, it may be a good idea to look for potential pitfalls lurking on the path to a high-speed, Internet-connected future.

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Is Your Website ADA Compliant? Think This is a Joke? (Better Read On.)

Posted 10/1/2016

Has your utility been on the receiving end of a demand letter regarding your Website’s compliance with the ADA? Several have, so even if you haven’t gotten one, you may have heard about it from others through the grapevine, or at meetings or other gatherings of utility personnel. Pretty much everyone who has heard of this issue has had a similar, if unprintable, reaction. So what’s going on here?

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A Walk Down Memory Lane - Is Nostalgia What It Used To Be?

Posted 7/1/2016

R. Bruce Wright, CPCU

Not long ago I was visiting a rural power distribution utility in our program and I had the opportunity to meet the new, young GM for the first time. He told me about his first full year in the position, about coming in from the outside the company, outside the industry, and about his experiences in the process. As our conversation progressed through the familiar elements of their safety program I was struck by how much has changed since I first started working with this group of utilities back in the Dark Ages, or more specifically, in the late 1970s. 

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Drone Rules, Now Updated, Leave Many Questions Up in the Air!

Posted 7/1/2016

R. Bruce Wright, CPCU

On June 21, 2016, the Federal Aviation Administration finally issued rules on the operation of drones by private operators. The new rules landed with the impact of a falling feather, but at least they are a start.

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Weed eaters and fiberglass security light poles don’t get along!

Posted 4/1/2016

by David Akin—Safety and Training Coordinator with EMEPA 

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Drones are coming, drones are coming!

Posted 4/1/2016

R. Bruce Wright, CPCU

(Actually, they are already here.)

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Your Company Culture’s Effect on Safety; Just Lip Service or Something More?

Posted 1/1/2016

What is “company culture?” How can you tell what yours is? Why should you care?

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Glove Box Accident Report Forms

Posted 1/1/2016

A practical guide for drivers’ accident reports.

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Underbuilt Attachments & Abandonment

Posted 10/1/2015

I bet you think I am going to write about abandoned cable TV lines on utility poles, but I am not!

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Available Training Sessions

Posted 10/1/2015

There has been enough turnover among our contacts since January of 2002 when we last posted a reminder about our training sessions that it may be time for a reminder!

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“Code Blue:” Active Shooters and What We All Need to Know.

Posted 6/29/2015

What do we know about “active shooter” incidents? Who commits them? And why? What are the facts about these incidents?  What can we do about them at our utility? Answers to these questions and more are covered in this article on “Code blue,” active shooters and what we need to know.

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An AED True Story

Posted 4/1/2015

  "The morning was just like any other ordinary morning as my wife Rhonda and I headed off for work."

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It’s Spring, and a Farmer's Fancy Turns to Thoughts of Really Big Tractors!

Posted 4/1/2015

Ever larger farm machinery is increasing the frequency and expense of potentially serious contacts with power lines and poles in rural America.

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