Evaluation of Data Submitted to American Public Power ... Safety A… · 2019 American Public Power...

2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report

Copyright 2020 by the American Public Power Association. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of Data Submitted to American Public Power Association’s 2019 Safety Awards of Excellence


Table of Contents

Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 3

Section I – General Overview ............................................................................................. 4

Section II – Award Groups .................................................................................................. 8

Section III – Award Region ................................................................................................13

Section IV – DART Rate ....................................................................................................19

Section VI - Summary ........................................................................................................22

Appendix............................................................................................................................23


Introduction

This report provides both tabular and graphical evaluations of the data submitted to the

American Public Power Association’s (The Association) annual Safety Awards of Excellence for

2019.1 The purpose of compiling this data is to offer a benchmark for individual municipal

utilities. The intent of this report is to help safety professionals analyze their utility’s yearly

performance in relation to others in the public power community. Through the data presented in

this report, the Association aspires to help safety professionals create a context for review of

safety program efficacy at their individual utilities.

Each year, the Safety Awards are open to any Association member utility, Joint Action Agency,

Federal Agency, and State Association/Agency that wishes to participate.2 Since participation is

voluntary, the rules are set up to encourage consistent involvement. Thus, to be eligible to win

an award, participants must submit data for three consecutive years; in the third year, the

participant will be considered eligible for an award. Consistent submission helps to minimize

selection bias and skewing of yearly data.

Entries are sorted into groups according to the total number of hours worked by all electric utility

employees at that particular utility in the designated year. The group categories are the same

from year to year; a group-specific analysis is presented in section II of this report. 3

Awards are given out to the participating eligible utilities with the lowest incidence rate within

each group. The incidence rate is calculated by using a standardized U.S. Occupational Safety

and Health Administration (OSHA) formula. This formula was developed to give a relative

number of accidents that an organization might expect if it had 100 employees. Since the

incidence rate is based on a ratio, any utility that has fewer hours worked will experience a

larger proportional impact of any incident (or “case”) on the final incidence rate. Conversely, a

utility with more hours worked will experience a smaller proportional impact of any incident on

the final incidence rate.

The incidence rate calculation is demonstrated below (note the weighting factor of 200,000

worker hours representing 100 typical employees).

Incidence Rate = (Total Reported Incidents * 200,000 Work Hours)

Number of Work Hours

1 The American Public Power Associations Safety Awards of Excellence program was formerly referred to as the Association’s Safety Contest. 2 Starting in 2010, JAAs, Federal Agencies, and State Associations/Agencies were incorporated into a group based on their worker-hours. These organizations did not displace any utility winners in each group; rather, when applicable, they were recognized by lowest incidence rate within their worker-hour category group. 3 Group categories were changed slightly by the Associations Safety Committee in 2003 to account for utility growth.


Along with the group-by-group and regional (according to the Association regions) analyses of

data, this report shows data averaged for all groups combined over the history of the awards. 4

Section I – General Overview

This section provides a general overview of data submitted from 1994 through 2019 and

provides the basis of benchmarking comparison for 2019 data. The data in this section of the

report is taken from the “Reportable Injuries and Illnesses” section of the entry form. All entries

received are incorporated into the following graphs. For reference purposes, the Safety Awards

entry form is included as Appendix A of this report.5

Overall participant data consisting of all worker-hour category groups combined across all years

are shown below in bar graphs. The data submitted by participants covering 2019 is mostly in

line with the historical data set. Figures 1, 2, and 3 show the number of entries, overall average

incidence rate, and total number of fatalities by year. Entries are accepted for the prior complete

year each January; e.g., 2019 data is collected in January 2020.

Figure 1: Total Entries

4 Association regions are defined in Section III 5 While the Safety Awards entry form has been updated slightly over the years, the essential information that has

been gathered in each annual cycle has remained consistent.

208166

183

211 222237

251

210227

241248

277 278

216235 236

257277 282 289 291

259 264

303

325336

Total Entries Per Year - All Respondents


Figure 2: Incidence Rate

Figure 3: Total Number of Fatalities

9.2

8.5

11.1

8.5

6.64

9.9

8.918.52 8.69

7.887.54

8.16

7.18 7.146.78 6.74

6.39 6.36

5.46 5.48 5.58

4.69 4.75 4.92 4.864.52

8.0

0

6.4

0

6.8

0

5.8

0

6.0

0 6.7

0

6.9

0

6.7

0

8.3

1

6.1

6

6.2

6

5.6

9

5.2

8

4.7

1

4.4

3

4.5

6

3.8

5

3.8

5

3.3

4

2.8

5

3.0

6

2.2

7

2.6

6

2.3

7

2.6

7

2.3

8

Incidence Rate Per Year - All Respondents

Average Median

3

7

4

3 3

6 6

1

3

2

3 3 3

0

3

2

4

2

1

2 2

0 0 0

3

0

Total Number of Fatalities Per Year - All Respondents


It is important to note that Figures 4, 5, and 6 are based on the number of cases reported in the

“Reportable Injuries and Illnesses” section of the entry form, and not the actual number of days

away from work or days of restricted or job transfer, as reported in the “Time Charges” section

of the entry form. This information helps safety personnel focus on the number of incidents that

occurred.

For example, an injury at one utility that required an employee to remain “Away from Work” for

45 days (due to one incident) is equivalent to an injury at another utility where the employee

remained “Away from Work” for 2 days (also from one incident)—in each example, the incident

would be considered as one case, regardless of the number of resulting days away from work.

The type or duration of the injury is not considered, rather only that the incident resulted in

reportable injury. 6 Figures 4, 5, and 6 are presented with data from all respondents.

Figure 4: Average Number of Days Away from Work Cases

6 For further explanation of “cases” and case reporting, please see the Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence

Rules and Regulations document in the Appendix of this report.

7.717.02

6.7

5.375.2

4.324.11

3.17 3.11 3.012.55 2.63

2.40

1.712.05 1.88

2.261.90

1.621.27 1.29

1.84

1.27 1.27 1.371.06

Average Number of Days Away from Work Cases Per Year - All Respondents


Figure 5: Average Number of Restricted or Job Transfer Cases

Figure 6: Average Number of Medical Treatment Cases

3.16

4.01

5.33

3.653.89 3.77

2.88

3.47

2.752.90

2.352.57

1.79 1.86

2.35 2.302.02

1.63 1.53

0.991.19 1.10 0.98

1.26 1.21 1.30

Average Number of Days Restricted or Job Transfer Cases Per Year -All Respondents

10.9210.63

9.51

8.27 8.07 8.066.74

6.115.42 5.5

4.9 4.64.09

3.233.98

3.473.09 2.72

2.26 1.89 2.001.59 1.73 2.08 2.10

1.63

Average Number of Medical Cases Per Year - All Respondents


Section II – Award Groups

Once data is submitted to the American Public Power Association, the entries are sorted into

groups according to the total number of hours worked by all electric utility employees at that

particular utility in the designated year. The group categories are the same from year to year;

the table below shows the current groups used in the Awards.7

Table 1: Award Groups by Number of Worker-Hours of Exposure in One Calendar

Year

Groups Worker-Hour Categories

Group A Less than 15,000 worker-hours of exposure

Group B 15,000 to 29,999 worker-hours of exposure

Group C 30,000 to 59,999 worker-hours of exposure

Group D 60,000 to 109,999 worker-hours of exposure

Group E 110,000 to 249,999 worker-hours of exposure

Group F 250,000 to 999,999 worker-hours of exposure

Group G 1,000,000 to 3,999,999 worker-hours of exposure

Group H More than 3,999,999 worker-hours of exposure

The information provided in this section is based on the data gathered for the year 2019 from

the “Reportable Injuries and Illnesses” and “Time Charges” sections of the entry form broken out

by group. The incidence rates along with average number of cases from the case types

recorded on the entry form are displayed by utility group.

7 Group categories were changed slightly by the Association’s Safety Committee in 2003 to account for utility growth.


Figure 7: Count of all Respondents in 2019 by Group

Figure 8: Average Number of Electrical Employees in 2019 by Group

Figure 9: Average Total Worker Hours in 2019 by Group

55

48

65

59

49

41

16

3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

A B C D E F G H

Count of

Respondents

5.18 11.50 24.17 40.99 80.99241.59

1244.81

3632.00

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

A B C D E F G H

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of E

lectr

ical

Em

plo

yees

10,231.03 22,323.84 44,946.74 78,474.00 156,576.51458,824.29

2,412,002.27

6,882,749.00

0

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

7,000,000

8,000,000

A B C D E F G H

Avera

ge T

ota

l W

ork

er

Hours


Figure 10: Average and Median Incidence Rates in 2019 by Group

Figure 11: Average Number of Days Away from Work Cases for 2019 by Group

Figure 12: Average Number of Restricted or Job Transfer Cases for 2019 by Group

3.053.49

5.93 5.92

4.95

3.73

3.05

1.54

0.00 0.00

3.90

4.50 4.41

3.06

1.51 1.43

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

A B C D E F G H

Incid

ence R

ate

Average Median

0.07 0.13 0.250.68

1.19

2.24

6.81

9.67

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

A B C D E F G H

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of C

ases

0.00 0.08 0.42 0.58 0.90

2.83

9.56

19.67

0

5

10

15

20

25

A B C D E F G H

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of C

ases


Figure 13: Average Number of Medical Treatment Cases for 2019 by Group

Figure 14: Average Number of Total Cases for 2019 by Group

While systems with more worker-hours tend to have lower incidence rates (see Figure 10), they

are also more likely to have higher average numbers of cases (days away from work, restricted

or job transfer, and/or medical treatment). More worker-hours of exposure create more

opportunities for incidents to occur; likewise, a utility with fewer worker-hours (employees) is

likely to have fewer cases than one with more worker-hours (employees).

In the “Time Charges” section of the entry form, utilities record the cumulative days from cases

that resulted in days away from work or restricted duty for all employees. When assigned, these

days can be taken by employees, or mandated by managers, and can be due to either injuries

or illnesses. As expected, Figures 15 and 16 show that the average number of days away

increases as electrical worker-hours increase.

0.11 0.210.63 0.98

1.672.61

12.13

16.67

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

A B C D E F G H

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of C

ases

0.18 0.42 1.29 2.243.77

7.68

28.50

46.00

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

A B C D E F G H

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of C

ases


Figure 15: Average Number of Days Away from Work by Group

Figure 16: Average Number of Restricted Duty or Job Transfer Days by Group

5.71 6.49 4.7616.41 17.67

79.96

215.25

277.00

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

A B C D E F G H

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of D

ays

2.07 4.19 12.43 22.28 32.20

117.98

468.56

1021.33

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

A B C D E F G H

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of D

ays


Section III – Award Region

This section provides an additional analysis of the Section I data by regions. The regions were

established by the American Public Power Association’s Board of Directors in the 1980s. A

breakdown of the regions can be found below.

Region 1: Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah

Region 2: Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin

Region 3: Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South

Dakota

Region 4: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana

Region 5: Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South

Carolina, Georgia, Florida

Region 6: Nevada, Arizona, California

Region 7: Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama

Region 8: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island,

Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania

Region 9: Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Alaska

Region 10: American Samoa, Federal States of Micronesia, Guam, Northern Mariana

Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands8

8 Region 10 data is omitted this year due to there being only one entrant.

As shown in Section II,

utility size, as grouped by

worker-hours, may have an

impact on average values in

a given region. Thus, we

have broken out the count

of utility entrants with

greater than 1 million

worker-hours for reader

consideration in Figure 20.


Figure 17: Count of All Respondents by Association Region

Figure 18: Average Number of Electrical Employees in 2019 by Region

25

82

56

25

54

18

35

2119

1

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Count of

Respondents

37.46 27.08

126.29

270.70

144.34

585.78

128.75 128.56

342.74

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of E

lectr

ical E

mplo

yees


Figure 19: Average Total Worker Hours in 2019 by Region

Figure 20: Count of All Respondents with More Than 1 Million Worker -hours by

Association Region

75,333.20 52,494.93

236,546.60

514,189.98

282,480.51

1,121,971.45

264,726.18 261,361.68

620,088.93

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Avera

ge T

ota

l W

ork

er

Hours

0 0

3

2

3 3 3

1

4

0

1

2

3

4

5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Count of

Respondents


In the following graphs, it is important to keep this information in mind; while systems with more

worker hours tend to have lower incidence rates, their average number of cases tend to be

higher.

Figure 21: Average and Median Incidence Rates by Association Region

Figure 22: Average Number of Days Away from Work Cases by Association Region

3.61

5.29

4.46 4.50

3.61

4.484.72

4.20

5.46

0.00 0.00

1.96

3.09

2.472.73

3.12

2.32

3.84

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Incid

ence R

ate

Average Median

0.40 0.39

0.84

2.12

0.90

2.06

1.34

1.14

2.79

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of C

ases


Figure 23: Average Number of Restricted or Job Transfer Cases by Association

Region

Figure 24: Average Number of Medical Cases by Association Region

Figure 25: Average Number of Total Cases for 2019 by Region

0.44 0.49

1.04

2.36

0.81

3.17

2.11

0.48

4.42

0

1

2

3

4

5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of C

ases

0.60 0.61

1.39

2.08

1.33

5.06

2.43

1.10

4.32

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of C

ases

1.44 1.49

3.27

6.56

3.05

10.28

5.89

2.71

11.53

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Avera

ge T

ota

l C

ases


Figure 26: Average Number of Days Away from Work by Region

Figure 27: Average Number of Restricted Duty or Job Transfer Days by Region

8.5214.56 12.13

62.25

16.28

97.72

36.20

23.14

119.37

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of D

ays

25.7216.94

68.96

95.00

32.97

145.00

92.46

19.38

163.74

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of D

ays


Section IV – DART Rate

DART rate is short for Days Away from work, days of Restricted work activity, and/or days of job

Transfer rate.

The figures in Section IV only include cases that resulted in days away from work, days of

restricted work activity, and/or days of job transfer. All other recordable cases such as medical

treatment and their corresponding graphs and figures can be found in Sections I, II, and III.

Group and Region breakdown can be found in Sections II and III, respectively.

DART Rate = ((Days Away from Work Cases + Job Transfer or Restricted Cases )* 200,000 Work Hours))

Number of Work Hours

Figure 28: Average Number of DART Cases by Group

0.07 0.21 0.66 1.252.09

5.07

16.38

29.33

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

A B C D E F G H

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of C

ases


Figure 29: Average/Median DART Rate by Group

Figure 30: Average Number of DART Cases by Association Region

1.09

1.68

3.163.39

2.86

2.57

1.73

0.97

0.00 0.00 0.00

2.33

1.641.81

1.16 1.13

0

1

2

3

4

A B C D E F G H

Ave

rage

/Med

ian

Dar

t R

ate

Average Median

0.84 0.88

1.88

4.48

1.71

5.22

3.46

1.62

7.21

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Avera

ge N

um

ber

of C

ases


Figure 31: Average/Median DART Rate by Association Region

1.70

2.77

2.16

2.94

1.94

2.38

3.08

1.87

3.32

0.00 0.00 0.00

1.26

0.31

1.10

1.40

0.00

2.06

0

1

2

3

4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Avera

ge/M

edia

n D

art

Rate

Average Median


Section V- Summary

The American Public Power Association encourages each utility to review the overall combined

utility statistics along with the statistics for their utility grouping. For example, a small utility that

falls into Group A may find it useful to compare itself to the overall combined data in order to

track their safety performance against all public power utilities across the United States. Yet,

this same utility may not find the actual breakdown of Group H data to be of interest. (A

comparison of a 15,000 worker-hour utility to a 4,000,000 worker-hour utility may not provide

any insightful information.) However, the 15,000 worker-hours of exposure per year utility should

find value in comparing itself directly to any data provided for Group A.

The American Public Power Association provides the data presented in this report for use by its

members in aggregate form only. The individual names of the utilities that have entered the

Awards are confidential. Each year, The Association releases only the names of those utilities

that have received Awards recognition, in addition to their calculated incidence rate and worker-

hours for the given year.

Since greater numbers of entrants enhance the value of the Safety Awards for all utilities

involved, The Association encourages all members to continue submitting data on a yearly

basis, regardless of the number of accidents/injuries that have occurred over the calendar year.

We welcome comments and suggestions on how to make this report better, as we strive to

improve the accuracy and readability with each edition. You may reach Engineering Services

staff directly via e-mail or phone:

Linda Zhang, Operations Services Assistant, 202-467-2931 or [email protected]

Alex Hofmann, Senior Director, Energy and Environmental Services, 202-467-2956 or

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Appendix

- 2019 Safety Awards of Excellence Annual Report Form

- American Public Power Association Safety Awards of Excellence Rules and Regulations

- OSHA Forms for Recording Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses

https://www.publicpower.org/system/files/documents/2019%20Safety%20Awards%20of%20Excellence%20Entry%20Form_0.pdf

https://www.publicpower.org/system/files/documents/2019%20Safety%20Awards%20of%20Excellence%20Entry%20Form_0.pdf

https://www.publicpower.org/system/files/documents/2019%20APPA%20Safety%20Awards%20of%20Excellence%20Rules%20and%20Regulations.pdf

https://www.publicpower.org/system/files/documents/2019%20APPA%20Safety%20Awards%20of%20Excellence%20Rules%20and%20Regulations.pdf

https://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/RKforms.html

Evaluation of Data Submitted to American Public Power ... Safety A… · 2019 American Public Power...

Documents

Transcript of Evaluation of Data Submitted to American Public Power ... Safety A… · 2019 American Public Power...