(April 16) On Thursday, April 11, Northwest Public Power Association presented Safety Heroism Awards to groups from Lewis County PUD, Energy Northwest, and Bonneville Power Administration/TFH Construction at the association’s 2024 Engineering & Operations Conference in Tacoma, Washington.
NWPPA’s Safety Heroism Award recognizes individuals and groups who 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 crew at Lewis County PUD—Brad Peters, Bob Hadley, Joel Chandler, Travis Merriman, and Hunter Blair—received the award for their efforts in saving a man on Jan. 22, 2024. They were working in the Mossyrock, Washington, area when they noticed the acrid smell of something burning and saw smoke coming out of a nearby recreational vehicle. After quickly assessing the situation, they jumped into action. Hadley, unable to access the RV due to the amount of smoke inside, pounded on the side to find out if anyone was inside. During this time, other crew members gathered fire extinguishers and tried to squelch the fire. At last, Hadley heard a response from someone inside who was unable to move on his own. Using his previous experience as a volunteer firefighter, Hadley gained access to the RV through an emergency window and he and Peters pulled the disabled man to safety. Without the crew’s efforts, the man would have been unable to exit the smoke-filled RV.
Energy Northwest’s John Hagfeldt, Steve Short, and Danee Pisarchuk received the award for their efforts in saving the life of a co-worker during a medical emergency. On April 26, 2023, during preparations for Columbia Generating Station’s spring refueling outage, Hagfeldt heard one of his co-workers mumbling in a slurred manner near him. He turned toward the co-worker, and saw him sitting, eyes closed, with one side of his body drooping. Without hesitation, Hagfeldt called for assistance from Steve Short, and called for emergency response.
While waiting for first responders to arrive, Short provided aid to his co-worker in need, ensuring he didn’t fall from his chair. Energy Northwest’s first responders and security were at the work trailer within minutes. Danee Pisarchuk with Occupational Health was among the first to arrive. She was able to assess the worker, make sure someone had called for an ambulance, and begin providing treatment and comfort. Medical staff credited the team’s quick and effective actions as instrumental in the patient’s miraculous recovery.
Finally, the Bonneville Power Administration/TFH Construction crew—Travis Petty, Steve Parrish, Shawn Dishman, Tim Pitts, Craig Langan, Scott Burns, Rob Ebeling, and Leander Pruitt—received the award for their response to an onsite medical emergency Nov. 20, 2023. Around 4:30 p.m., an employee was walking across the yard when he suddenly fell. One of his co-workers saw and ran across the yard to see what was wrong, yelling the employee’s name but receiving no response. When the man reached his fallen co-worker, he rolled him to his back and noticed he was not breathing and was turning blue. After checking vitals, he knew his co-worker was in serious trouble. He yelled for others to assist while he called 911. Another co-worker came over and started CPR, while another ran for the AED. Paramedics arrived in under six minutes and took over. The employee ultimately survived because of the crew’s efforts.
Download the PDF version here.