AT&S Conference | North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives

2018 AT&S Conference

NDAREC hosted the 54th annual Apprenticeship Training and Safety (AT&S) Conference at the Ramkota Hotel in Bismarck on Jan. 10 to 12. The annual conference is an opportunity to reflect on what is happening in the industry and recognize the accomplishments members have made in training and safety. The conference also recognizes the exceptional means in which the Apprenticeship program trains our tradesman. This year, NDAREC recognized 22 graduates from three programs – line worker, meter technician and substation technician.

NDAREC presented the following honors at the AT&S awards and graduation banquet:

Outstanding Apprentice Award: Mitchell Krebs, Roughrider Electric Cooperative, earned the outstanding apprentice award for completing the apprenticeship program with the highest grades on examinations combined with favorable on-the-job evaluations.

The Certificate of Safety Achievement: This recognizes those cooperatives that participated in the Rural Electric Safety Achievement Program (RESAP) and partook in a three-year onsite audit. The following cooperatives received their certificate of safety achievement after demonstrating continuous improvement and an outstanding safety program: Cass County Electric, Central Power Electric, McLean Electric, Slope Electric and Verendrye Electric.

Life Saver Award: This award recognizes heroic actions that contribute to life saving efforts of another person. Nathan Burke, Verendrye Electric, received recognition for his heroic actions when he responded to the need of another. His quick thinking and skills lead to the preservation of human life.

Safety Award: NDAREC recognized six member-cooperatives for having zero OSHA-recordable injuries from Dec. 1, 2016 to Nov. 30, 2017. The following co-ops received the safety award: Cavalier Electric, McKenzie Electric, McLean Electric, Mor-Gran-Sou Electric, Slope Electric and 3 C Construction

Outstanding Safety Performance Award: This award recognizes outstanding performance in safety. To achieve this award, a cooperative must have not had a lost-time case accident for five consecutive years. Roughrider Electric Cooperative has worked nearly 1,650,000 hours and Slope Electric Cooperative has worked nearly 391,000 without a serious injury. It is commendable for any cooperative to go without a lost time injury in a twelve-month period but to go five consecutive years is remarkable. There achievement speaks towards a strong culture of safety.