Electrical Safety Authority Recognizes Safety Excellence in Ontario at its 2024 Annual Meeting

September 30, 2024

PUC Services Inc., Bluewater Power, Hydro One & London Hydro, Elexicon Energy, Mellon Inc., and Ottawa Community Housing were honoured at the 2024 Ontario Electrical Safety Awards for exemplary electrical safety leadership.

The Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) held its Annual Meeting and Ontario Electrical Safety Awards earlier this month to celebrate leadership and achievements in electrical safety. In addition to the awards, ESA Chair Arjan Arenja, and Chief Executive Officer, Josie Erzetic, highlighted ESA’s accomplishments from the previous year, and Patience Cathcart, Public Safety Officer provided key findings from the 2023 Ontario Electrical Safety Report. 

The awards were presented by Eric Kingston, ESA’s Vice President, Operations in the categories of Worker Safety, Consumer and Home Safety, Powerline Safety, and the Licensed Electrical Contractor Recognition Award. Patience Cathcart, Public Safety Officer presented the Public Safety Officer Special Recognition Award. 

The event was attended by the Honourable Todd J. McCarthy, the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement.

Concluding the ceremony, CEO Josie Erzetic congratulated the award recipients, saying, “we applaud all of the award winners who exemplify a strong safety culture to help ensure their customers, employees and stakeholders can live, work and play free from electrical harms each and every day.”

“Our government is dedicated to building the Ontario of tomorrow, while ensuring the highest levels of standards and safety throughout the province,” said Todd McCarthy, Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement. “The remarkable efforts of our award recipients to enhancing public electrical safety in Ontario are invaluable to upholding the peace of mind of our residents and communities. I congratulate and commend all winners and the entire Electrical Safety Authority team for their tireless commitment to protecting Ontarians.”

The 2024 award recipients are:

Worker Safety: PUC Services Inc. 

PUC Services Inc. is being recognized for its strong commitment to educating distracted drivers about the importance of staying cautious near road work zones to ensure the safety of road workers. The Road Safety Video Campaign is a series of personalized videos that share stories and messages from road workers, highlighting real-life dangers and the need for driver attentiveness. The campaign features messages from the City of Sault Ste. Marie, the local Construction Association, Fire Service, Paramedic Service, and Police Service. Beyond spreading information, the campaign unites local organizations, workers, and drivers to learn, share experiences, and collaborate on safety practices, ensuring everyone makes it home safely to their families.

Consumer and Home Safety: Elexicon Energy

Elexicon Energy is being recognized for its contributions to the Children’s Safety Village in Belleville and the Kids Safety Village of Durham Region. Understanding that children learn best through discussion and play, Elexicon Energy donates electrical equipment, conducts informative sessions, and provides financial support to both villages. Through this initiative, Elexicon Energy enables children to explore electrical equipment in a safe environment, learn about powerline and home electrical safety, and gain the knowledge needed to avoid unsafe situations in the real world.

Powerline Safety: Bluewater Power, Hydro One & London Hydro

Bluewater Power, Hydro One, and London Hydro are being recognized for successfully transporting enormous beer tanks—each over 33 meters long and 6.62 meters wide—from Sarnia Harbour to the Labatt Brewery in London, Ontario. This large-scale project employed best practices in safely hoisting, cutting, and reconnecting powerlines, minimizing power disruptions along the route, and keeping the public in affected areas well-informed through letters or auto-dialer messages.

Licensed Electrical Contractor Recognition Award: Mellon Inc. 

Mellon Inc. is being recognized for its outstanding commitment to employee safety and well-being. In addition to continuous professional development through regular safety training and educational initiatives, they foster a strong safety culture, promoted through a robust incident reporting system, well-defined safety policies, strong mentorship, and field-based coaching. Recently, they have focused on promoting psychological safety as a foundational aspect of work, helping workers understand the impacts of mental health and workplace stress on decision-making and incident risk. These initiatives reinforce Mellon Inc.’s dedication to creating a safety culture with its employees.

Public Safety Officer Special Recognition Award: Ottawa Community Housing 

Ottawa Community Housing is being recognized for its commitment to improving workplace safety and creating electrically safe spaces for over 32,000 tenants. In 2023, they achieved zero open defects on two separate occasions, reduced the average defect correction time from 240.9 days to 12.4 days, and lowered the monthly defect count from 10,000 to fewer than 100, by incorporating ESA inspection program through the Continuous Safety Services program into their annual home assessments. Ottawa Community Housing remains dedicated to initiating a cultural shift in how electrical safety is approached in the rental housing industry, emphasizing the importance of proactively including safety measures in the core operations of rental housing providers.

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