VEA’s Joe Fieldsted Chosen for 2023 NWPPA Career Safety Award
(April 7) Yesterday, Valley Electric Association’s Joe Fieldsted received Northwest Public Power Association’s 2023 Career Commitment to Safety Award at the association’s 2023 Engineering & Operations Conference in Reno, Nevada.
Fieldsted is the manager of safety, health, environmental, and efficiency at Valley Electric Association in Pahrump, Nevada. For more than 40 years, Fieldsted has dedicated his career to safety in the electrical industry, having started at Moon Lake Electric Association as a job training and safety coordinator in 1981.
“Joe became the first full-time safety manager for Valley Electric in 2014,” said Stacy Pung, VEA’s manager of human resources. “On arriving, he instituted safety policies and procedures to change the safety culture here.”
While at VEA, some of Fieldsted’s accomplishments include having coordinated changes to the safety manual, established a near-miss reporting process, built a high-voltage safety demonstration, and coordinated the Rural Electric Safety Program—all while conducting 75 crew visits per year. Previously, he was honored with the Utah Safety Council’s Individual in Safety Award for the State of Utah in 1996.
The Career Commitment to Safety Award focuses upon the importance of safety in the utility industry. It recognizes one individual each year that has outstanding proficiency in safety; demonstrated leadership in safety in his or her utility and the industry; and has made a significant contribution to safety within the industry over his or her career. This award is open to all employees of NWPPA member utilities that exemplify outstanding commitment and leadership in safety.
About NWPPA: NWPPA is an international association representing and serving more than 150 customer-owned, locally controlled utilities in the Western U.S. and Canada. The association also serves over 300 associate members across the U.S. and Canada who are allied with the electric utility industry. For more information, visit www.nwppa.org or follow @NWPPAssoc on our social channels.
Contact:
Brenda Dunn at brenda@nwppa.org, (360) 816-1453
Download a pdf of the release here