YORK REGION, ON – Recognition by the electricity industry of PowerStream’s achievements in health and safety were highlighted during the company’s shareholders’ annual general meeting held Wednesday at the utility’s head office in Vaughan.

PowerStream reported to its shareholders that the Electrical & Utilities Safety Association (E&USA), which earlier in the month had presented the local power distribution utility with the organization’s distinguished ZeroQuest® Effort Level health and safety award, has now also officially acknowledged the company’s achievement of accumulating one million consecutive and total employee work hours without experiencing a lost-time injury.

This marks the first time PowerStream has reached the million-hour safety milestone since the company was established in June 2004. “These two achievements serve as a testament to our commitment as a company to ensure the health and safety of our employees, as well as the public at large,” Brian Bentz, President and CEO of PowerStream said. “It is an integral part of our corporate structure, values and culture that we are constantly working to improve, as we strive to achieve the only acceptable number of injuries in the workplace – zero.”

The Effort Level that PowerStream has achieved is the second step in a company’s ZeroQuest® path to zero where the organization works toward integrating its health and safety system with productivity and profitability. To accomplish this, the company establishes measurable strategic objectives and sets goals to attain them.

The E&USA ZeroQuest® Program guides companies through the process of building a sustainable health and safety system. It is comprised of four levels, Commitment, Effort, Outcomes and Sustainability, each building upon the previous one. Participating companies work through the program levels, focusing on a managed approach to health and safety. Upon successful completion of each level, a company is recognized for its achievement and joins a growing number of organizations that are actively demonstrating their commitment to E&USA’s vision of zero injuries and illness.

About PowerStream Inc.
PowerStream Inc. is the third largest local electricity distribution company in Ontario, providing service to more than 238,000 residential and business customers in the municipalities of Aurora, Markham, Richmond Hill and Vaughan. It is an incorporated entity, jointly owned by the City of Vaughan and the Town of Markham.
 
About the Electrical & Utilities Safety Association
Established in 1915, the Electrical & Utilities Safety Association is Ontario's longest serving health and safety association. It is a not-for-profit incorporated health and safety consulting and training firm, providing a range of services and injury prevention knowledge to approximately 1,000 member companies employing more than 50,000 workers across Ontario in the electrical utility, power generation, pipeline, water utility forestry and telecommunications industries. E&USA’s vision to relentlessly pursue the paths to zero embodies its desire to eliminate workplace illness and injury by 2011.