Employee Safety and Training
Whether you are a natural gas technician, an electrical engineer or customer experience agent, safety and training are part of our culture and daily focus. Our goal is simple: that employees and contractors go home at the end of each work day uninjured and in good health.
As part of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, we comply with all regulatory orders issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and all other applicable local, state and federal regulations. Safety is best approached from robust and innovative safety processes, rather than merely to satisfy minimum regulatory requirements. Compliance is mandatory, not optional.
There are multiple resources we use to train our employees to do their work safely:
Our Training Center for Excellence
Our Training Center for Excellence — a state-of-the-art indoor/outdoor facility in Adel, Iowa — is home to many front-line training opportunities and includes resources like an indoor pole climbing arena, an overhead lab to simulate overhead high-voltage line work, a digging area, tiny houses with meter sets and more. This space is also home base for our apprentices, who get the opportunity to practice in realistic conditions so they’re prepared to work in the field. We also offer corporate training programs at this location.
Human Performance Improvement (HPI) Tools
We use HPI tools as a mental toolkit to make sure our work is done safely and correctly. This includes stopping when we’re unsure about something, contacting our customers before we perform work on their property and thinking proactively about possible errors and how we can mitigate them.
Brother’s Keeper Mentality
All of our front-line crews maintain a professional and caring Brother’s Keeper mindset. We pledge ourselves to always look out for each other. When we start work on a new job, safety is the first thing we talk about. When we see someone doing something that might be dangerous, we speak up. When we spot a risk that won’t affect us but might affect our fellow team members, we speak up. When we have an idea for how something could be done better and safer, we speak up. Every day, we make this commitment to each other when we go to work.
Learn more about our safety culture and why it’s important to us.