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2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 1
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 2
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 3
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.
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 4
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 5
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 6
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 7
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 8
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.
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 9
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 10
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 11
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 12
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 13
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.
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 14
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 15
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 16
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 17
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 18
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 19
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 20
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 21
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 22
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
2019 American Public Power Association’s Safety Awards of Excellence Report Page 23
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