Tempest Utility Consulting (TUC) has been retained to design and build an HSE (health, safety, and environment) program for Surge Powerline Solutions LLC, a newly founded nationwide power restoration company serving electric utilities. Baytown, Texas-based Surge tapped TUC to create and implement safety and compliance processes and policies to protect its workers, reduce the possibility of injury and meet the requirements of Surge’s utility clients and regulators.
“TUC is building our safety program,” said Sam Watkins, vice president of business development for Surge Powerline Solutions. “Our expertise is restoration, so we picked a partner in TUC that has broader utility experience.”
According to Watkins, one of Surge’s first business priorities was ensuring it was compliant with the safety processes its utility customers rely on when bringing crews on property for restoration work. Watkins believes working with TUC is cost-effective and efficient because the firm is adding firepower for Surge’s safety director.
“TUC’s team is designing the tools and reporting that will ensure our procedures focus on safety from the get-go,” Watkins added. “TUC will help us become Avetta-certified and ISNetworld Compliant.”
Along with helping Surge meet Avetta and ISNetworld® requirements, TUC’s Safety Management Services focus on safety oversight and crew assessment to ensure supervisors and workers are adhering to regulations and approaching each job with the goal of sending crews home the same way they arrived for work. Once a safety program is in place, TUC’s consultants--many with decades of utility company experience--will provide complete program management, from incident investigation to record retention. TUC’s services also include auditing facilities and undertaking safety gap analyses to mitigate future hazards.
“We know what’s necessary to protect life and limb because we’ve lived it ourselves and worked inside utility companies,” said Brittan Duhon, director of HSE for Tempest Energy, which along with TUC is part of the Tempest family of companies. “Our Safety Management Services pinpoint what it takes to enhance safety; we give clients like Surge the tools to do many different things consistently, like improve tailboard meetings, work from the bucket, debrief when the day is done and more.”
