Safety & Environment

Employee Health & Safety

In 2020, CECONY’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration injury and illness rate of 0.91 was lower than our goal of 1.00, in a time when CECONY continued to operate during a global pandemic and unprecedented challenges throughout the year. We had 114 recordable employee injuries last year and experienced one significant high-hazard injury. CECONY remains focused on achieving a zero-accident workplace and remains committed to ensuring safety is not only a top priority, but a core principle embedded in our culture. CECONY has reduced injuries by more than 75% since 2009. In 2020, Orange & Rockland achieved its best injury and illness rate in any year, 0.82, had one significant high-hazard injury, and has seen an 83% reduction in injuries and illnesses since 2009.

Key focus areas for sustained improvement include:

• Giving a voice to safety by promoting a first-class safety culture, making safety personal, and emphasizing that safety is the focus of every task, every job, every day.
• Focusing on high-hazard injury prevention by closing gaps prior to injuries through proactively identifying and addressing unseen hazards.
• Improving our ability to prevent injuries before they happen by enhancing our Close Call program, such as through the development of an app for employees to use.
• Encouraging safety leadership, or a culture in which employees proactively take ownership of and the lead on safety issues, through training, mentoring and the use of technology.
• Using and developing tools to help drive us towards our goal of a zero-harm workplace by leveraging data, thorough job briefings, and via a focus on achieving 100% procedural compliance.

Orange & Rockland continues its progress toward a zero-harm workplace thanks to the joint union-management Corporate Safety Committee, Company Safety Team, and 12 organization-specific safety teams. O&R strives to achieve an injury and illness incidence rate in the first quartile of our utility peers. To improve our motor vehicle and driver performance, we have begun using in-vehicle monitoring systems with real-time feedback in many of our vehicles. This helps our drivers remain focused on zero-harm. Our communications program incorporates lessons learned from these systems, root cause analysis results (from injury and collision reviews), close-call reporting, and other measures that have also contributed to our overall performance.

Power Reliability & Social Distancing Adapting workplace to the concerns about COVID.