Bringing Safe and Reliable Energy to Southwest Connecticut
Any sports fan will tell you that his favorite team is at peak performance when its starting lineup is on the field and injury-free; in fact, just one injured player can reduce the efficiency of an entire team.
The team working on CL&P's Middletown-Norwalk (M-N) transmission project is a testament to this principle. The M-N project is a major transmission upgrade involving the installation of a combined 69 miles of overhead and underground transmission lines that will improve southwest Connecticut's electric reliability and reduce the region's energy costs. Working like a well-oiled machine, with safety as their top priority, more than 700 employees and outside contractors have worked on the M-N project, racking up more than 1 million man-hours over the past two years without an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable injury. To put this in perspective, industrial construction businesses have a average OSHA-recordable rate of 6.3 injuries per 200,000 man-hours, or more than 30 OSHA injuries per 1 million hours.
The health and safety system implemented by CL&P and the M-N program manager, Burns & McDonnell, has undoubtedly contributed to the team's remarkable record. It takes an unwavering dedication and a personal commitment to safety by hundreds of contractors and employees, and a system that includes a mandatory safety training class for all employees and contract workers, thorough job hazard analysis, daily pre-work plans and strict enforcement of safety standards in the field.
Putting safety first not only helps ensure that employees and contract workers remain injury-free, but also protects against lost time on the project. Now nearly 50 percent complete, the new transmission system is slated to begin serving customers in 2009. In a letter to Northeast Utilities employees, Senior Vice President of Transmission Jim Muntz writes, "Logging 1 million man-hours without an OSHA recordable injury on one of the largest transmission construction programs in America is another example of how NU is leading the way as a major regional and national transmission builder. Let's continue to focus on safety as we strive for the next million man-hours without a lost-time accident."
At the rate the M-N team is going, there's a good chance they'll score again!
