Contractor safety is a major focus of our efforts. Starting in 2009, we set a recordable injury goal and put systems in place to measure the safety performance of our contractors. Performance is tied to incentive compensation for senior officers. We have thousands of contractors working at our facilities each year, most of them involved with construction and tree trimming. While many of our contractors have improved their safety performance records, and we have been sharing our training and safety culture with them, we still had two contractor fatalities last year. That is not acceptable.
AEP is participating in an Edison Electric Institute task force to develop model contractor safety program guidelines. The goal is to create consistent safety and health expectations and practices that will result in fewer injuries and fatalities throughout the industry.
Although our employees are trained to protect themselves from the dangers of electricity, others who come in contact with our systems may not be so well-equipped. We saw fewer electrical contacts in 2008 than in previous years, but the number of fatalities increased. In 2008, 37 non-employees came in contact with our electric facilities, resulting in the deaths of two non-AEP contractors and four members of the public.
Three of these public fatalities were related to attempted copper theft, which has increased dramatically during the last few years as copper prices reached all-time highs. We placed ads in the media to remind potential trespassers of the dangers of getting too close to electrical systems and worked with local media outlets to alert the public to the dangers associated with copper theft. We also began switching to copper-clad wire, which is less valuable to thieves.
To help us focus efforts to improve public safety, we have established a public safety “Path to Excellence” that is designed to eliminate preventable public fatalities and contacts with our electrical facilities during the next five years. Each year, our goal is to reduce preventable public fatalities by 20 percent and electrical contacts by 10 percent.
Our public safety program expanded as we developed and distributed new educational materials to contractors — those who do not work for AEP and do not receive our training — and the public, including two new videos. One campaign promoted our commercial contractor safety video, which is free online and on DVD by request. More than 1,000 copies have been ordered. A second video, Anatomy of an Electric System, targeted employees, customers and teachers; nearly 3,000 copies have been distributed.
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