Cultivating a Safety Culture Amid Constant Change

Developing a power plant safety culture takes time and constant effort, but the payoff is priceless, safety leaders at three major power companies said during a morning session at the Experience POWER virtual event on Sept. 30.

Jeffrey Mullins, safety and health consultant for the 2.6-GW coal-fired Gavin Power Plant owned by Lightstone Generation, kicked off the panel discussion by explaining the importance of establishing a safety culture. “The number one thing about safety is that its a 24-7 job.” It must be an ever-present consideration and a top priority that every worker must understand, he said.

However, ensuring that plant workers will always adhere to safety protocols is often complicated by changes in company ownership, employee turnover, and bridging expectation gaps, he said.

At Gavin, for example, a plant that American Electric Power sold in 2017 to Lightstone, a joint venture between private equity firms Blackstone and AcrLight, plant management shifted safety strategies to adapt to Lightstone’s smaller corporate structure. One “pro in a con” that the plant faced was that there was less of an “overhead structure,” which made it easier to enact change. But it also pushed the company to depend more on third-party services for specific needs, Mullins said. Because the plant began operation in 1973, some safety awareness was also lost when several long-term staff opted for early retirement when the plant was sold, he said.