BTES - 25 Years of Safety

The year of 2007 was a record-breaking one for Bristol Tennessee Essential Services. Not only did we set a new record for ourselves through achieving 99.991% electric reliability for our customers, but we also celebrated our 25th year of working safely...two achievements that are unheard of in our industry!
For many years we had a goal of having less than 60 minutes of electric outage time per customer per year. For the past two years, we achieved this, bringing it down to a very low  average of 43 minutes per customer. What an accomplishment for us to see our goal fulfilled! “This is a record unlike most others in our industry and it has taken us several years for us to reach this goal,” said CEO Mike Browder.

At BTES, we work diligently to be the best we can be. We set goals for ourselves and work with each other to see that those goals are achieved. Several years ago a team of BTES employees worked together to pinpoint why so many outages were caused by animals. The team’s efforts resulted in the commitment to an animal guard system.

“By installing animal guards or other insulating devices and by standardizing both practices and procedures concerning high voltage clearances on all electrical equipment including transformers, regulators, reclosures and capacitors, we have been able to drastically reduce outages caused by animals,” said Browder. “We didn’t go out and spend money for this entire system at one time. It has been put into place over several years as we were working at a location, and we are gradually reaping the benefits throughout our entire service area.”

Our BTES tree trimming program has also helped us reach our goal. Keeping trees trimmed in our service area and out of the power lines reduces our outage time.

We also had another reason to celebrate when we reached 25 years of working safely. This means that for the past 25 years we have worked without one lost-time accident. We are totally committed to the safety of our employees and customers.

“This achievement is due to years of efforts by BTES employees, many of whom are now retired,” said Browder. “Some of us had some big shoes to fill as our peers retired, but we are committed to carrying on the tradition of safety.”

Formal safety meetings are held each month at BTES and cover a variety of topics from being safe in our own homes, to being able to rescue a hurt co-worker from a bucket on a truck. Safety is always on our mind  - from planning jobs to actually doing the job.

So from electric reliability  to working safely everyday,  BTES prides itself in being the best we can be. Every second our customer’s are without power is very precious to us. Those seconds turn in to minutes, and we work very hard to keep those minutes down. We will continue to do all we can to work for you keeping the power on and keeping all of us safe!