Rural Electric Safety Accreditation Program

The Rural Electric Safety Accreditation Program (RESAP), administered by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), is a peer-review safety and loss control evaluation of electric utilities. It is an organized analysis of a system’s safety and loss control program that measures overall effectiveness.

This unique program began in 1967, and has developed over the years into a tool to assist electric utility management in its role and commitment to achieve and maintain high safety standards for the protection of its employees and the community served. There are presently 437 accredited systems, including one municipal system. Although the focus of the program is towards cooperatives, any electric utility may apply for accreditation.

RESAP, which falls under the Education, Research, and Technology Committee of NRECA, is overseen by a group of delegates, including representatives from the National Utility Training and Safety Education Association, NRECA, the insurance industry, and the Rural Utilities Service (RUS). The present delegates include managers of electric distribution cooperatives, as well as a board member from another electric distribution cooperative.

RESAP delegates are assisted in the accreditation process by 35 area administrators who administer the program locally and oversee field observations. The area administrators assist and coach the electric systems in the preparation of their safety accreditation applications. In many cases the area administrator is the safety director of the statewide cooperative association.

Accreditation is valid for three years. The accreditation process consists of:

The applicant preparing an application that represents a collaborative record of the applicant electric system's safety policies and procedures over the past three calendar years;
The appropriate RESAP area administrator coordinating an onsite field observation of the applicant’s system for the purpose of evaluating the physical aspects of the system; and,
The applicant submitting the application and observation forms to the Rural Electric Safety Accreditation Committee for review.

In order to become accredited, a system must have an average score (observation and application) of at least 70. Each scoring element is graded between 0 and 5, with 3 being average. There are 161 scoring elements in the on-site observation and 83 elements in the application. A system that scores average on everything will not be accredited. Accreditation is for the above average system; however, most of the items in the guidelines are just good practice. For example:

Does the system have a written safety or loss control policy?
Is the responsibility for the program assigned to the general manager?
How often is pole-top rescue training conducted?
What percentage of employees has had first aid and CPR training?
Are job briefings conducted prior to start of work?
Are employees trained in hazard recognition?
Does the system distribute printed safety material or conduct community education programs?
Are the vehicles properly maintained?

As you can see, safety accreditation looks at many areas of a system’s operations. However, foremost is management's role and commitment to achieve and maintain high safety standards for the protection of its employees and the community served.

For information on the safety accreditation program, please contact Ken Brubaker of NRECA at 703-907-6414 or at ken.brubaker@nreca.org, or Harvey Bowles, Chair, Technical Standards Committee "A" (Electric), at 202-720-0980 or at hbowles@rus.usda.gov.