Perennial Public Power District Operations Coordinator Luke Gruber was one of just two dozen people nationwide to earn a Certified Loss Control Professional certification this year. The certification will allow him to more effectively keep Perennial’s electric utility workers safe on the job.
York News Times Reprint
To earn the certification, Gruber completed a two-year training program. Twice a year, he traveled across the Midwest to participate in weeklong sessions with other program participants.
“From accident investigation to company buy-in to presentation skills, it was a lot of really good topics that really boosted my career,” Gruber said.
Over the course of the program, he also built relationships with other professionals in the field.
“It’s about like going back to college,” Gruber said. “Your first day, you’re nervous. You don’t know anybody. You’re in a different state. And then, once you start going through these classes and learning more and getting more classroom engagement, you start finding your friends and stuff to do after hours when you’re done studying.”
Those connections spanned the country.
“I had people in my class all the way from Florida to Texas to Alabama,” Gruber said. “North Dakota, Minnesota — they were just all over.”
In addition, Gruber completed a four-day course on Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards in Kearney and delivered a two-hour final presentation to demonstrate his knowledge to former program graduates.
“I picked new employee orientation because I thought I’d help my company out,” he said.
One of the biggest lessons he took from the program was that effective safety education requires more than simply enforcing rules.
“A lot of safety people will just go around and preach the standards of what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong,” Gruber said. “This class really got me to connect with the guys on a personal level, so they are safety-conscious themselves and want to be safe, not take shortcuts and get people injured.”
Perennial Public Power District, headquartered in York, funded Gruber’s participation in the program, viewing it as a valuable investment.
“I’m the only one at Perennial, and I’m the only one that’s ever had it,” Gruber said. “It feels pretty good. I won’t be the last, but I’m the first and the only one right now.”
Although Gruber has completed the certification, maintaining it requires ongoing education. He must complete eight credit hours of training each year.
“The first few years, it might feel like a refresher, but stuff is always evolving,” Gruber said. “There will be new information and new topics that get brought up.”
For other public power professionals considering the Certified Loss Control Professional program, Gruber offered a simple recommendation.
“Overall, it was just a good experience,” he said.
