Last Updated on March 20, 2022 11:35 am
Blue Ridge Energy provided an OSHA 30-hour Electric utility course offered by North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation for operations and engineering employees from March 7-11 at its Watauga district office.
Electric professions rank among the most dangerous jobs in the world each year, making safe work practices a vital priority to Blue Ridge Energy. Fourteen individuals completed this year’s training and are now OSHA certified.
During the training, employees went through a lecture series involving situational demonstrations of OSHA safety standards that can be applied daily to the cooperative’s 100 percent safety goal and best equip employees for safe work in the field.
These trainings are crucial and can benefit employees in the way they facilitate their jobs, focusing on preventing hazards associated with electric construction and injuries that can occur because of those hazards.
Blue Ridge Energy System Operator, Cory Taylor, who successfully completed the course stated, “We monitor the system 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I felt like the class was very beneficial to my department and myself. We are the eyes and ears to our field employees, if we don’t have an absolute focus on safety 100% of the time, someone might not go home that day.”
Over the past several years, a total of 48 employees have completed this training and were issued an OSHA certification.
Blue Ridge Energy is a member-owned electric cooperative serving some 78,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, and Alleghany counties as well as parts of Wilkes, Avery, and Alexander counties. Its propane and fuels subsidiary serves customers in the cooperative’s service area as well as Burke and, Catawba counties and Grayson County, Va. For more information, visit BlueRidgeEnergy.com.
Photo L to R: Back– Cory Taylor, Johnny Sloan, Jason Herman, Tanner Formwalt, Tyler Houck, Wayne Durham, Nathan Shatley, Nathan Barker; Front- Cory Bolick, Jerry Gregg, Blake Herman, Jerry Kemp, Austin Storie, Paul Tilley, NCEMC Instructor Jason Wilson
