Laurens CPW Honored with National Award for Outstanding Safety Practices

The Laurens Commission of Public Works has earned the American Public Power Association’s Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices in 2025. The utility earned the First Place Diamond award in the category for utilities with 30,000-59,999 worker-hours of annual worker exposure.

“On behalf of the Board of Commissioners, we are very proud of our employees. They all work in potentially dangerous conditions every day, but to go a whole year with no accidents is truly remarkable”, said Jeff Thompson, Chairman of the Commission.

More than 240 utilities entered the annual Safety Awards for 2025. The entrants are placed in accordance with their number of worker-hours and ranked based on the most incident-free records and overall state of their safety programs and culture during 2025. The incidence rate is based on the number of work-related reportable injuries or illnesses and the number of worker-hours during 2025, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

“We are very proud of our safety culture in all departments of the CPW,” said John Young, General Manager. “This award is a testament the hard work that has gone into building this culture and ensuring that all of our team members have a safe work environment.”

“In Public Power, safety excellence isn’t achieved by chance. It’s earned through unwavering discipline, strong leadership, and a culture where every team member looks out for one another,” said Jon Beasley, Chair of APPA’s Safety Committee and Vice-President of Electric Cities of GA. “These Safety Award recipients stand as proof that commitment and consistency save lives, strengthen communities, and set the benchmark for our entire industry,”

APPA has conducted the Safety Awards annually for more than sixty-eight years. APPA is the voice of not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power 2,000 towns and cities nationwide.