Pennyrile Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation has been awarded the Governor’s Safety and Health Award. Labor Cabinet Secretary David Dickerson made the announcement Tuesday and said the electric cooperative is a crucial business in the Commonwealth, providing electricity to so many in the Pennyrile area. Dickerson added he is proud to honor a company that takes care of its employees like it does its customers.
The award recognizes businesses for outstanding safety and health performance and encourages the development of programs designed to reduce and even eliminate occupational injuries and illnesses. Pennyrile Rural Electric has 752,987 hours worked free of lost time due to injury and illness.
Pennyrile Rural Electric President and CEO Alan Gates says the award is a notable achievement, earned by demonstrating a proactive safety culture and protecting their most valuable resource — their employees. He expressed his gratitude to each employee for their diligence, self-motivation, and commitment to safety. He added the cooperative will continue to keep safety as the highest priority so employees can home to their families each night.
Pennyrile Rural Electric serves more than 48,000 members in the counties of Christian, Trigg, Logan, Todd, Muhlenberg, Lyon, Caldwell, Butler, and Simpson. They maintain 5,146 miles of distribution line supported by 99,317 poles. Officials indicate the cooperative has nine members per mile of distribution line. The company has 110 employees who work out of the main office in Hopkinsville and the Cadiz, Elkton and Russellville branch locations.
This is the seventh time the cooperative has received such an honor. They have previously won the award every year since 2013.
