Job briefings seem to fall into the “things that I dislike” folder for many of us. “You hired me to do a job and now I have to waste time reminding myself and others what to do every day. I’m not a child.” There are times when we don’t like to do what someone else tells us to. Change is tough for people to embrace, especially when changes add another step to a task. As individuals, we have to look at the benefit of this add-on instead of how much of an inconvenience it’s supposedly going to be.

Earlier this month APPA’s Mike Hyland published a blog explaining the benefits of job briefings in the workplace. There were lots of great examples included that illustrated how briefings can look and interesting ways to make them more acceptable at work. Everyone wants to be safe and work safe, but we all need reminders daily. Mike had some great points about how a briefing will shift a workers focus onto the task at hand and help them perform better. Addressing the hazards will give the worker a head start to avoiding and controlling those same hazards. This won’t only benefit new people in the field. Experienced workers find themselves getting complacent when not reminded about responsibilities and dangers related to their jobs.

How do I get my people to do this? Job briefings are a requirement based on OSHA, NESC, and numerous safety manual rules and regulations. This is a huge reinforcement for this practice, but a more personal approach may be needed to gain acceptance. Many of our member utilities take pride in the work that their people do to keep their operations efficient and safe. If they take a few minutes out of the day to insure that everyone knows what is going on by performing a briefing they will continue to be safe and efficient. A reminder of how our wages, benefits, and our well-being affect others in our lives and the loss of one or all due to an accident can turn things upside down might be a motivator.

I don’t always like to be told what to do. People say, “Be careful”. “Ya, I know”, I may say and then move on to the task. This has gotten me in trouble due to the attitude that I know what I want to do instead of what I should do. I’ve broken things, hurt myself and possibly affected other people with this attitude in the past. After the dust cleared, the damage was done or the injury was realized, there was no benefit in skipping the small task of reminding myself of the hazards of the job. Instead of saying, ”what a waste of time”, I should have said “ they want me to go home in one piece today.” The 5 minutes that I saved just cost me 2 hours in the emergency room.

Try to get employees to take ownership in this important responsibility. Get them involved with creating a program instead of handing out a sheet and informing them that “this is what I want from now on!” Others have been creative in insuring that the briefing form doesn’t end up being a 5 second item that a long pencil line through 20 boxes will complete. Feel free to take ideas from the following examples found in the link to create or improve your current practices. http://appanet.files.cms-plus.com/PDFs/33-%20RP3%20Safety_final.pdf. One of my former supervisors reminded us the no one ever planned to fail, but lots failed to plan. Briefings are part of the job just as loading tools up or filling the fuel tank before you head out. It is more paperwork in an already busy day, but it might save lives limbs and your well being.

There was a lot of conversation about how public power has changed and will continue to evolve around the nation. These changes come in the forms of new technology, customer service issues, workforce demographics, regulatory compliance, and a host of others. Time, money, knowledge, and forward thinking people will be the deciding factors that will allow utilities to get on the bus or be run over by it.

One of the major topics that many presentations touched on was the challenges created by renewable energy. For years, electric utilities have been the only game in town when it comes to serving and selling electricity. The costs of renewable sources were extremely high and the technology was not very reliable. The last surge in fuel prices drove many companies, investors, and private individuals to jump over these hurdles and make it feasible. We have seen this happen in the past two years and many of you are finding that you may not be the only power supplier that your customer will rely on. Solar and other technologies have become cheaper and been incentivized by state and federal governments.  This has been embraced by individuals and companies to enable them become environmentally consious and reduce their energy costs. The challenges that utilities face will be dealing with lost revenue, service rules, metering and a list of others. One of the common messages throughout the week was that utilities must not ignore what is here or what is right around the corner.

There were a lot of great programs explaining the roles of boards and councils that govern utilities. There were programs that explained the electric business from start to finish and others that focused on financial matters that decision makers face as members of councils and boards. Utilities should attempt to give these people some sort of tutorial to explain their responsibilities. Lack of knowledge creates decisions that might not be best for the business. Legislative and regulatory issues were also among the topics covered.

Public powers role in the nation was the main takeaway from the convention. The electric utility is often the quiet business that exists in the center of town that continues to operate without fanfare, publicity, or help from outside sources. To gain or retain support from current and future customers, you must promote the value of your utility. There are a variety of things that customers directly and indirectly benefit from public power. Keeping customers engaged about what it takes to operate a utility can help them understand how the utility benefits its customers with economic development, reliable power, excellent customer service, and a solid cornerstone of the community.  To reinforce this point, Don Miller from Carlisle Utilities received an award at the convention for his service to the utility and the community.  This is a great example of how Iowa utilities go above and beyond and wonderful to see one of our members recognized.

It was a very good experience and I was able to speak to a lot of people with the same goal. Whether attendees had 500,000 customers or 500 back at their home utility, they still strive to do what is right for their public power utility and create a reliable and low cost product.