Executive Speeches

Remarks of Eugene W. Zeltmann, president & chief operating officer of the New York Power Authority, to the New York State Public Utility Safety Directors Association, Marcy, New York.

October 18, 2001

Good morning. It’s a great pleasure to be here with all of you.

The Power Authority is honored to be playing host to this important meeting, and I particularly want to thank Ed Smith for his work in arranging it.

The Clark Energy Center is a fitting site as it hasn’t had a recordable accident in over two years. That’s pretty amazing when you consider that more than 100 people work here.

Recent events have reminded us that security and safety are not to be taken lightly. That’s prompted a whole new way of thinking by people throughout the nation—and much of the world. But you, of course, have devoted your professional lives to assuring a safe environment for your fellow workers—and to promoting the individual actions and behavior that enhance safety.

H. W. Heinrich, a safety management pioneer, once suggested that unsafe acts accounted for some 85 percent of accidents, and unsafe conditions in the workplace were responsible for the rest.

Heinrich’s focus on the actions of people, rather than working conditions, came after years of studying accidents on the nation’s railroads.

Back in the 1920s, when he performed his research, the key to rail safety was having good signalmen.

The railroads were, of course, quite particular about whom they hired for that job. And when one young man tried out for the position, they gave him a little quiz.

"What would you do," asked the train inspector, "if you realized two trains were heading for each other on the same track?"

The fellow answered: "I would switch the points for one of the trains."

"What if the lever broke?" asked the inspector.

"Then, I’d dash down out of the signal box and I’d use the manual lever over there."

"What if that had been struck by lightning?"

"Then," replied the job applicant, "I’d run back into the signal box and phone the next signal box."

"What if the phone was busy?"

"Well, in that case," said the persevering young man, "I’d rush down out of the box and use the public emergency phone at the level crossing up there."

"What if that was vandalized?"

"Oh, well, then I’d run into the village and get my uncle."

"Your uncle?" asked the inspector. "Why would you do that?"

And the young man answered: "Because he’s never seen a train wreck."

Nowadays, I think all of us are aware that safety isn’t the responsibility of a single person, but that it requires a concerted effort by all people within an organization. It involves not only the workers—union and non-union—but also management at all levels, from first-line supervisors to the most senior executives.

At the Power Authority, I believe that senior-level commitment and support have been absolutely essential to establishing an effective safety and health program. As president of the organization, I have made safety a top personal priority. And I always make an effort to attend the quarterly meeting of safety administrators from all our sites.

These meetings are truly an education. We discuss hazards, near-miss incidents and regulatory changes, and examine internal safety policies in light of their impact on operations. We do this not simply as a forum to discuss matters of regulatory compliance, but as part of our overarching goal to reduce accidents.

The Power Authority measures its safety performance in the familiar way, using a formula that tracks recordable incidents for every 200,000 person-hours worked.

This formula is useful in benchmarking our progress in safety. But the progress itself results, in large part, from personal accountability.

Accountability—coupled with ongoing vigilance—has enabled us to win the American Public Power Association’s highest safety award for the nation’s largest public power organizations in each of the past five years.

And just last month, the Power Authority’s commitment to safety was specifically noted as an element in our new Mission Statement.

Giving that kind of attention to safety heightens awareness of its importance throughout the organization. And I’m very gratified that this awareness has not come in the wake of a tragedy, but rather as part of our day-to-day business.

I think it’s pretty clear that accidents happen when we become a bit too complacent in our routines. But once workers become aware of the hazards around them, and continuously think about their own actions on the job, you have a mechanism for preventing accidents.

We realize this is an evolving process. And in recent years, the Power Authority has undertaken a number of key initiatives aimed at continued excellence in safety.

One of them is immediate sharing of information on accidents and near-miss incidents. When either happens at one site, we immediately e-mail a report of what went wrong to all other sites to prevent a recurrence somewhere else.

Another key initiative, which I referred to before, is benchmarking our safety and health programs against those of other companies. We make comparisons not just with electric utilities, but with a wide range of firms in different industries to assess what we’re doing and arrive at best safety practices.

And in keeping with Heinrich’s focus on the actions of people in preventing accidents, we also actively look for new ways to communicate information on safety and health to our employees.

Our intranet safety web page—which I understand many of you saw several meetings ago—is one example of how we do this. The multi-layered web page has information on our internal safety, fire protection and occupational health standards, policies and procedures and is accessible to all employees.

I guess if I had to boil down senior management’s commitment to safety, I’d choose three words "caring," "coaching" and "collaborating."

Caring isn’t merely a paternal, theoretical notion. Because we care about our employees, we aggressively address hazardous conditions and reckless approaches that endanger them as they work to help the Power Authority attain its goals. Caring not only creates a respectful, positive environment in the workplace, but produces tangible results.

Coaching is what we do to build awareness. A good coach obviously wants to get the job done. But a great coach puts workers first. He or she consistently strives to help employees develop safe working habits—and recognizes that while doing the job is important, doing it safely is even more so.

Collaborating—for the Power Authority—includes fostering relationships with such entities as OSHA, the State Department of Labor’s Division of Safety and Health and, particularly, the division’s Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau, which oversees our safety efforts.

Promoting safety through these and other approaches is obviously important from a moral standpoint. But it’s worth noting that many organizations also feel that doing so is a prudent investment.

Accidents cost money. The cost comes not simply in the form of worker’s compensation or increased insurance premiums, but also indirectly through service disruptions, equipment damage, lost productivity and lowered morale. Safety, therefore, is good business.

Businesses across the spectrum now recognize this. And that’s one reason we've come a long way from the days when brakemen were routinely crushed between trains or factory workers were crippled by mechanical looms.

In fact, according to statistics compiled by OSHA, work-related fatalities in this country are at an all-time low. Occupational injuries and illnesses have declined 40 percent since 1971. That’s real progress. And I attribute much of that progress to safety professionals like yourselves.

With all respect to Winston Churchill, I think it’s fair to say that seldom have so many owed so much to so few. Your job is vital, and you do it well.

Thank you—and have a great meeting.

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