Penn Power Co. and its 231 employees received the Pennsylvania Governor''s Award for Safety Excellence in recognition for its commitment to safety.
The workers at Penn Power completed more than 3 million hours without a lost-time injury.
At Penn Power Co.''s nine worksites, workers and management have participated in a cooperative workplace safety committee for more than 25 years.
Since November 1969, Penn Power employees have worked more than 3 million hours without suffering a lost-time injury.
The joint safety committee conducts quarterly safety-team meetings and provides monthly safety meetings for workers in seven physical skills departments.
An annual safety fair focuses on specific topics such as inspection of rubber goods, CPR and safe grounding practices.
Employees also participate in the company''s Safety Training Observation Program (STOP), which trains workers to observe, correct, prevent and report any unsafe acts or conditions.
Penn Power was also recognized for its modified duty policy, which allows injured workers to stay involved in their work while rehabilitating.
The Governor''s Award for Excellence was presented to the company and its employees last week by Lt. Gov. Mark Schweiker.
"This is an excellent example of workers and management cooperating to create and maintain a safe work environment," said Schweiker. "As we prepare qualified workers for job in the new economy, we must continue to emphasize safety in the workplace."
The governor''s award is part of Gov. Tom Ridge''s PENNSAFE workplace safety initiative. This effort recognizes successful workplace safety programs throughout the state of Pennsylvania.
Since the program began in 1996, the number of joint worker/management workplace safety committees in the state has increased from 400 to more than 4,400 committees covering more than 609,000 employees.
by Virginia Sutcliffe