MUSCATINE, Iowa–In mid-May, Muscatine Power and Water announced it earned two awards from the American Public Power Association, the Reliable Public Power Provider (or RP3) Diamond Award and a third-place Safety Award of Excellence. These awards honor the utility’s ongoing commitment to providing reliable and safe power to Muscatine residents.
The American Public Power Association reviews utilities for employee development, reliability, safety, and system updates every three years. Those meeting stringent criteria in all areas receive a Gold, Platinum, or Diamond Reliable Public Power Provider Award. Since the award’s creation 18 years ago, Muscatine Power and Water has earned one Gold, one Platinum, and four consecutive Diamond Reliable Public Power Provider Awards, something Muscatine Power and Water Director of Utility Service Delivery Ryan Streck takes pride in. “It makes me feel like we’re making good decisions and we’re keeping up with our peers,” he said.
In recent years, Muscatine Power and Water has implemented several projects to improve reliability. Placing wraps at the top and bottoms of utility poles has prevented squirrels from chewing electrical wires and fiber optic cables. Taking inventory of all Muscatine Power and Water’s underground wires and proactively managing their replacement based on age, load, and previous splicing has helped further reduce the number of outages. Muscatine Power and Water plans to move additional lines underground, concurrent with the West Hill Sewer Separation Project, and near Brook Street Park between the Norbert F. Beckey Bridge and Park Avenue. This step will prevent power outages from severe weather.
For the Safety Awards of Excellence, the American Public Power Association judges utilities based on their size, determined by the number of worker hours of exposure they have annually. Muscatine Power and Water earned a third-place award in Category F for utilities with 250,000 – 999,999 worker hours of exposure annually. Muscatine Power and Water logged 504,913 worker hours in 2022.
Gage Huston, Mark Nelson, and Ryan Streck with Muscatine Power and Water’s Reliable Public Power Provider Award. Photo courtesy of Muscatine Power and Water.
Though Muscatine Power and Water has always valued the safety of its employees, Streck feels that several new practices that emphasize it helped the utility earn the Safety Award of Excellence. Muscatine Power and Water employees have a stop work card signed by General Manager Gage Houston. It allows them to request work on their job sites stop immediately if they see things they think are unsafe. Once work stops, everyone will discuss the situation and call in additional expert staff members, if needed, to determine the best way to proceed. This practice empowers everyone (including new employees) to take action if they see an unsafe situation.
Additionally, crews have placed an increased emphasis on tailgating, or the practice of going over the roles of every person on a project to ensure that people know what they need to do and carry out their tasks safely. Streck described it as, “making sure everyone is on the same page.”
With its commitment to safety, Streck felt pleased Muscatine Power and Water received the Safety Award of Excellence. “That’s the culture we’re really trying to build,” he emphasized.
