Worker involvement is one of nine key elements that drive quality safety efforts at Tenaska Inc., says an executive with the Omaha, Neb.-based company that manages 17 power-generating plants.

To help build safety into Tenaska's culture, hourly employees help determine loss-prevention procedures. They do so by serving on plant safety committees and attending a safety summit the company sponsors annually, said Todd Jonas, Tenaska's vp of operations.

“The folks that are going into that plant day in and day out, turning the wrench and climbing the ladder, we want to make sure they are participating in (our) safety programs and helping direct those programs, because it's those people and their co-workers that safety programs need to be designed to protect,” Mr. Jonas said.

Workers oversee safety committees at each plant with a management representative only advising and assisting them.

Senior managers can review minutes from safety committee meetings to make sure they are on track. Each committee chairman is elected by hourly wage earners, Mr. Jonas said.

“That chairman is empowered to help manage that safety program within the guidelines set forth by our company,” he said.

The committees might discuss where to place fire extinguishers and ladders, suggest new safety training and drills, or review incident reports and make recommendations for improvements.

There also is the annual safety summit in which representatives from all of Tenaska's safety committees meet over several days. They share ideas and present best practices at their respective facilities.

It's an event the participants look forward to, Mr. Jonas said. “Typically, managers are not there,” but workers who attend must implement beneficial practices that have proven helpful at other company plants.

“Year after year, each of the safety programs at each of the plants gets improved,” Mr. Jonas said.

Corporate managers participate in the summits, however, to be on hand for awards given to individual plants.

A President's Award is handed out each year, for example, to a plant that improves the quality of its safety program, Mr. Jonas said. Quality improvements might include new training procedures or increasing the number of drills to respond to incidents such as fires or chemical spills.

Upper management's presence at the safety summits also presents workers with “opportunities to interact with senior-level management, and it demonstrates the commitment we have on a corporate basis to safety,” Mr. Jonas said.

Management leadership and commitment, like worker involvement, is among the nine key elements of Tenaska's safety efforts. Other elements include developing effective safety procedures, regularly assessing and improving safety systems, encouraging behavior that supports safety objectives, ensuring the safety elements of workplace design, effectively communicating safety practices to workers, continually recognizing hazards and controlling them, and providing safety and skills training, Mr. Jonas said.

The efforts have paid off.

Two Tenaska generating plants have achieved Star Program status granted by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration's Voluntary Protection Program in 2008 and 2010. OSHA says the Star Program is for worksites with comprehensive safety and health management systems that achieve injury and illness rates below the national average for their industries and are self-sufficient in controlling hazards.

Tenaska worksites also received several awards from the Itasca, Ill.-based National Safety Council.