It seems as I travel around New England that many electric utilities are doing a fair job of working safely. Most utilities have a safety manual of one sort or another. Some utilities use the APPA Safety Manual which sets forth the minimum safety standards for many electric utilities in the country. Some utilities have modified their APPA Safety Manual with errata sheets to more specifically address situations of particular interest or concern to their utility. Few utilities however require that the employees read and comprehend their safety manual. Many electrical workers are uninformed when it comes to the "rules". Rules that are known are often "bent" in the interest of making a job easier, faster or more convenient. Shortcuts are often taken. Too often safety meetings are not taken as a seriously as they should be. The results of such behaviors can be costly. We may be doing a fair job, but why aren’t we doing the BEST job?
If we are to do the "BEST" job, we must first make sure we know what the safety manual says by studying it and we must follow the rules to the best of our ability. We must recognize that any safety manual is only the minimum safety requirement and actual work situations may require even more than the minimum. We must become more diligent in our work procedures and always use safe work practices no matter how much longer it takes to do the job safely. We need to keep a constant vigil on our attitude towards safety to always keep it in the proper place. And we need to not only be responsible for our own safety but also take responsibility for the safety of others around us. It may be easier to "look the other way" today but doing so could be very difficult to deal with tomorrow. There is always room for improvement even in the best of us.