Distribution workers

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has renewed a national strategic partnership to improve the safety and health of people employed in constructing and maintaining the national electrical grid with an emphasis on preventing life-threatening incidents and fostering safer work environments.

The five-year renewal includes more than a dozen companies, labor organizations and trade associations in the electrical transmission and distribution industry, and seeks to reduce worker injuries and fatalities by developing strategies to address industry hazards during construction, transmission and distribution work activities.

The partnership will collect data and address the causes of serious and potential serious injury and fatality rates, as well as the known drivers of these injuries and fatalities including mental health, megavolt amps, electrical contacts and arc flash events. Participants will also provide safety training on electrical, transmission and distribution and deploy automated external defibrillators to facilities, jobsites and vehicles.

Since 2018, the partnership has helped reduce industry fatality rates among its members by 91 percent, while the industry average rose by 14 percent. One fatal incident was reported in 2022, down from five in 2019. Since 2020, participating partners have trained more than 35,000 workers and developed nine best practices for the electrical transmission and distribution industry.

More information on OSHA’s Strategic Partnership Program can be found here.