Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the excellent safety record that the employees of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation have achieved these past years. As of February 1, 2007, Power Corporation employees have worked over one million hours without a lost time accident.
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For those of us who may think in years as opposed to hours, this number represents over three years of work.
Mr. Speaker, this safety record would be exceptional in any company. However, when you consider the environment that the Power Corporation employees work in, it is even more noteworthy. The NWT Power Corporation is a fully integrated utility; that is they provide generation, transmission and distribution services to customers over our vast territory. Few utility companies these days still provide this broad scope of service, choosing instead to specialize in generation or
transmission or distribution and they operate in a much easier environment.
Access to the system also represents a safety challenge. Climbing electrical poles to work on connections or remove frost build-up is still very much part of the job of a Power Corporation lineperson. In comparison, many utilities across Canada service power poles and lines on their system with large bucket trucks that raise and lower the line personnel.
Mr. Speaker, this high standard of safe work practice has only been achieved by Power Corporation employees working together, making safety everyone's responsibility, and I am pleased to report that the safe work practices of Power Corporation employees has been recognized by their peers. The Canadian Electricity Association awarded NTPC a Bronze Medal President's Award of Excellence for employee safety to recognize that NTPC's lost time severity rate and all injury/illness frequency rate as being among the lowest of their reporting group.
I would like to personally congratulate the employees of the Power Corporation in achieving over one million hours without a lost time accident and I wish them continued success in the safe delivery of utility service to the residents and businesses in the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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