FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — April 19, 2017
Vancouver, Wash. – Last week, Clallam County PUD Line Foreman Sam Parks received the Northwest Public Power Association (NWPPA) Safety Heroism Award at the association’s 2017 Engineering & Operations Conference on April 13, 2017, in Reno, Nev. Parks received the award for his life-saving actions on the evening of September 29, 2016. That evening, another of Clallam County PUD’s employees suffered a medical event that caused him to lose consciousness while driving home. The car crossed through traffic, a small ditch, and a fenced field before coming to a stop. As the car crossed into oncoming traffic, Parks was only two cars behind and saw what had happened; he stopped to render help.
Parks recognized the PUD employee and automatically went into action along with others that soon arrived; the doors were locked so they broke the windows and Parks started CPR. Medical aid arrived and between the two they worked on him. When the aid left for a defibrillator, Parks worked on the victim by himself. The employee survived and said that he owes his life to his coworker.
“I believe that Sam Parks saved his co-worker’s life that day and is fully deserving of the Safety Heroism Award,” said Larry Morris, Clallam PUD’s safety manager.
Morris also noted that Parks and his coworkers had just gone through their annual CPR and AED training just three weeks earlier.
The Safety Heroism Award recognizes an NWPPA member utility employee or team that displayed an act of unselfish and voluntary assistance in a situation where life, significant injury, or significant property loss would have been incurred were it not for the efforts of the individual or team. The NWPPA E&O Safety Subcommittee selects the winner of the annual Safety Heroism Award with concurrence from the NWPPA E&O Policy Committee.