Safety is an important consideration for any business.

Alabama Power demonstrates its commitment to safety through annual “safety renewal” conferences.

One of the company’s largest such events was held Wednesday and Thursday at the Clanton Conference and Performing Arts Center.

Combined over the two days, about 900 Alabama Power employees from across the state participated in a safety renewal held for the company’s transmission workers, according to Danica Connell, Transmission Safety Renewal Committee chairwoman.

APCO Spokesman Ike Pigott said the company’s safety program has evolved from the early years, when an outage might require an untrained worker to climb a pole to try to solve the problem.

“There was a lot of needless injury,” Pigott said.

In response, Alabama Power implemented the “Target Zero” campaign with a goal of eliminating all injuries that result in a loss of time.

“You change that mindset,” Pigott said. “It’s a culture shift.”

All APCO employees are required to attend a safety renewal each year. Different renewal conferences are held for different departments.

The transmission safety renewal was held in Clanton for the first time. Last year, the event was held in Bessemer.

Target Zero has been so successful that the campaign has been borrowed by other operations in the Southern Company family, and even other industries have used the concept, Pigott said.

Another component of Alabama Power’s safety efforts is detailed record-keeping, he said. The company tracks not only injuries but also “close calls,” when an accident could have ocurred but didn’t, in an effort to determine how injuries can be prevented.

And all employees take a full day out of their schedules each year to receive safety training at the renewal events.

Pigott said the Southern part of the Birmingham Divsion of Alabama Power employees has finished three years at “Target Zero,” having no injuries.

“That’s something to celebrate,” he said.

The guest speaker at the safety renewal was Lee Shelby, a former lineman from Tennessee who shared his experience with losing both arms during a work-related incident.

“You want to keep it interesting enough that everyone learns these lessons here before they learn it the hard way,” Pigott said.

In addition to the speaker, there were demonstrations of proper power line work, about 25 vendors sharing information and opportunities for the employees to network.

“It’s one big family,” said Connell, who works out of the company’s General Services Complex in Calera. “This is serious business, but we have fun too.”