Protecting what matters most

In today's fast-paced work environment, where deadlines and productivity often take precedence, it is important to remember that the safety and wellbeing of all our employees are essential. Our top priority is creating a safe workplace for all employees no matter what.

At NRG, our teams are achieving their safety goals every year. This is due in major part to our strong safety culture, employees completing safety courses, and leadership staying updated on safety practices. In 2022, over 6,500 employees and 1,700 contractors completed safety courses and logged more than 38,000 hours of safety training. We closed out the year with a .27 Total Recordable Injury Rate (defined as the number of work-related injuries per 100 full-time workers during a one-year period) well below the Edison Electric Institute top decile benchmark. With efforts from everyone across the business, we’ve been able to keep our injury rate below the national average for the electric power, generation, transmission, and distribution industry. We plan to continue this trend.

Susan Rogers, Vice President of Safety at NRG, tells us there are two fundamental rules that empower NRG employees to remain safe at work. “The Safety-Over-Production policy establishes the expectation that production does not take precedence over safety. The Stop Work Authority rule empowers every NRG employee with the authority to stop any task or operation without fear of intimidation or retribution when safety concerns or questions arise,” she says. Those rules are part of how we were able to achieve our best-ever safety performance in 2022.

To Rogers, leadership's participation is an important factor in maintaining a strong safety culture. She says, “Workers are more apt to get involved in improving safety at their work location when senior leadership makes their commitment to safety clear in their communications and actions.” Creating a secure work environment is our collective responsibility. Not only does it mitigate risks on the job, but it also builds the foundation of a safe and efficient workplace.

Dianne Broussard is a chemical technician and safety coordinator at T.H. Wharton Plant with over 40 years at NRG. The plant won our annual Plant Safety award after achieving 500,00 working hours with no recordables. Broussard attributes the safety and success of T.H. Wharton to, “the diligence of each employee to take responsibility for keeping themselves and coworkers safe while at work.”

Continuing the high safety standards at T.H. Wharton, Broussard is setting goals for the future. She plans to engage employees with 90% participation in plant walk-downs and self-inspections. To encourage input and ideas from all teams, she wants to have crafts and operations crews with active members on safety committees. She also wants to include more employees in housekeeping checklists and rotating job site observations.