American Gas - June 2012 - (Page 19)

safety security reliability safety first The road to improving safety The AGA Board of Directors Safety Committee continues to create a road map outlining routes toward an ever-safer industry. ’m sitting at my desk, trying to figure out where to begin writing this article on safety. I’m also wondering why I, an engineer, would ever agree to write an article for a magazine. (There is a reason I became an engineer—I hate to write. I’ll take solving a complex equation over drafting a briefing paper any day of the week.) Of course, I already know the answer: I agreed to write this article because I’m passionate about safety. And I know that I’m not alone. For as long as I have worked at AGA, safety has been the No. 1 focus for the organization and its members. It even has its own AGA Board of Directors committee, the Safety Committee. Initially formed in 2004 as a task group, the Safety Committee is comprised of members of the AGA Board of Directors and other senior executives who are focused on safety. The Safety Committee provides executive direction on safety initiatives and supports member companies in enhancing their overall safety programs, including those that protect employees, utility contractors, customers and pipelines. I Murry was the first chairman of the committee and chaired the group through 2006. And you may recognize the name of the first AGA staff executive to that committee, Lori Traweek, now AGA’s senior vice president and chief operating officer and another person who is very committed to advancing safety. The Annual Safety Summit Debuts Ken DeFontes, president and CEO of Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., chaired the Safety Committee from 2007–2008 and is also passionate about safety. I became the AGA staff executive to the committee in 2007, and together, Ken and I worked through the growing pains of the new committee. “I was pleased to be asked to chair the group and was especially proud when we proposed elevating the task force to a full board committee,” DeFontes says. “It was at that point that the engagement of the entire organization increased to focus on safety. It was very serendipitous that our work had reached a fulsome breadth when we were faced with some dramatic incidents (e.g., San Bruno) that shook the industry and reshaped the entire landscape of gas safety. I think it positioned AGA to be much better prepared to deal with the mega-shift in public and regulatory focus on safety.” The Committee’s journey Begins … The formation and then elevation of safety from a board task group to a full board-level committee was championed by Larry Downes, chairman and CEO of New Jersey Natural Resources and then AGA chairman of the board, and Murry Gerber, who at the time was serving as the chairman, president and CEO of Equitable Resources Inc. Murry chaired the Board Safety Task Group and believed that AGA should focus even more attention on safety. Murry petitioned the AGA Board to elevate safety to a full committee, which occurred in 2005. cHristiNa saMes is aGa vice president, operations and engineering. she may be reached at csames@aga.org. june 2012 AmericAn GAs 19

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Gas - June 2012

American Gas - June 2012
Contents
President’s Message
In the Know
In the News
Safety First
Fueling Progress
2012 AGA Membership Directory
Places to Be
Noteworthies
Advertisers’ Index
Jobline
Marketplace
Facts on Gas

American Gas - June 2012