By Diane M. McCormick

The lone worker who quickly called an ambulance after an accident. The worker who calmed a gun-toting customer. The workers whose accumulated reports of near-misses uncovered a trending issue that could then be solved before it became a problem.

As natural gas utilities double down on field safety, they are finding tools that can help—through gamified incentives, real-life de-escalation training and technology. And the results are showing, not only in fewer incidents, but in winning employee buy-in to a culture where safety mindsets and discussions are a daily practice.

“In safety, everybody knows right from wrong,” said PG&E Manager of Gas Operations Field Safety Brandon Cole. “The perspective we try to bring to safety is that it’s not about doing the job. It’s about going home to your family and loved ones the same way you came to work.”

NW Natural: Safety Jackpot

In September 2019, NW Natural responded to a rise in injuries and traffic collisions by convening a multidisciplinary team comprising operations, legal, safety and human resources to investigate the root causes.

“We want to take a holistic approach,” said Safety Director Charles Emerson. “We talk a lot about the occupational safety of the individual. That’s being safe at work. But other incidences drive safety at work—and that’s personal health, your wellness and your psychological health. How do we get all of those working together?”

The team established three goals of reducing injuries where possible, reducing collisions where possible and reducing the severity of incidents when they occur.

A holistic examination of injury trends, policies, programs, training and incentives led to discarding a negative, punitive approach—which seemed to encourage employees to hide their injuries—in favor of positive recognitions and retention of safety lessons.

A search for existing learning reinforcement programs led to Safety Jackpot, a provider of multifaceted incentives through scratch-off and online game cards. The program “truly aligned with what we wanted to do,” said Emerson.

In Safety Jackpot, field and field-adjacent workers and supervisors earn online game cards for a variety of good practices established by NW Natural, such as exceeding safety rules, speaking up in safety meetings or reporting near misses.

Supervisors and managers receive allotments of cards to distribute. Employees can earn a card for doing what they should but more for going above and beyond the requirements.

“We have said from the beginning that reporting near misses and good catches, even if it violated policy, unless it was egregious, such as if you purposely did so, we’re not going to do any discipline,” Emerson said. “We’re not going to discipline you for not wearing a hard hat if you report a near miss because of it.”

Each card reveals a letter, and those who spell out JACKPOT—the rare K is prized for its power to complete the word—earn prizes from Safety Jackpot and NW Natural such as concert or game tickets, merchandise and entries into drawings for cash or vacations.

Since adopting Safety Jackpot in October 2020, NW Natural has seen a 30% to 40% decrease in total recordable incidents and OSHA Days Away, Restricted or Transferred (DART) rates. Workers’ compensation costs plummeted 65%.

NW Natural uses about 65,000 cards a year. “For what we save in workers’ compensation costs annually, I could pay for Safety Jackpot four times over,” said Emerson.

Safety Jackpot has also surfaced trends. When three separate locations reported near misses involving trailer hitches in five months, NW Natural officials connected the dots. They ordered a stand-down on about 50 affected vehicles and corrected an issue with wrong-sized bolts.

In the past, crews would have fixed the problem individually, restoring the vehicles to the road without notifying the safety team, Emerson said.

“That wouldn’t have been found if nobody had turned it in,” he said. “I truly believe that because of the Safety Jackpot program and giving individuals recognition for turning in these events, we had those alerts of a safety hazard in the field.”

PGE: Realistic De-escalation Training

In 2022, armed robberies and assaults of PG&E employees for their valuable tools reached “fever pitch,” especially in Oakland, California, said Cole.

“The company said we’ve got to do something,” he said. “There’s one too many people getting robbed and shot at. Too many bullets are flying.”

PG&E created an incident management team led by Jeff Janvier, then senior director of gas operations, Bay Region, in collaboration with the IBEW 1245 union; gas operations grassroots, field-led safety; corporate security; enterprise health; and safety.

Taking a cue from successful, realistic live-action emergency drills that PG&E began conducting in 2021 in partnership with local first responders, the team created a program to train PG&E workers to respond to and de-escalate confrontational scenarios—the kind of real-life dangers that can cause people to freeze or lash out in anger.

The sessions involve PG&E coworkers who volunteer to be actors, trained in feeding off the reactions of trainees—agitated by agitation, calmed by calmness. “We teach the actor how to push buttons,” Cole said.

Before they experience the scenarios, coworkers are trained in best practices written by corporate security and enterprise health and safety. Cole also shares real-life videos from dangerous and hostile encounters.

At the end of their sessions, participants are further coached in appropriate responses. Through three likely encounters, they learn to adjust their body language and verbiage to soothe irate customers, to stop work and seek safety in the face of direct threats, and to comply with armed robbers. “These are all situations that have happened to us, so we’re not playing make-believe,” said Cole. “We’re just taking things that transpired and bringing it to life using our actors.”

The scenarios can dredge up emotions from past events, so training leaders are continually checking on participants’ psychological safety and removing any who show signs of distress. Despite the stressors, participants love the realism and give the experience 4.9 stars out of 5. Many tell Cole that they now realize it’s OK to walk away before they boil over.

For people drawn to natural gas utility work for their role in protecting life and property, de-escalation training provides a chance to practice stopping the job and putting their safety first when they must, Cole said.

“Of course, we want to make sure our customers are safe,” Cole said. “That’s first and foremost, but if you’re going to get yourself killed doing it, we have to make sure we’re working through all the options to make sure you’re safe first.”

Real-world results are evident. Workers confronted by gunmen have walked away from the situations, found safe places and called corporate security.

In one circumstance, a field worker who tried making customer contact before starting meter-maintenance work encountered a customer pointing a gun at him. He immediately put his hands up, said his name and explained he was with PG&E. The customer, who had been fearful of break-ins, immediately lowered the gun.

The training applies to “pretty much everybody wearing a PG&E jersey” but concentrates on five high-crime areas noted by security data. With the first wave of personalized training completed, Cole is scaling up the effort, usually in lower-crime areas, with presentations to larger groups and volunteers from the crowd enacting the scenarios with the actors.

Messaging embedded in the initiative encourages field workers to report hostile incidents to corporate security. Compliance is widespread, Cole said, because people don’t want to see their coworkers endure the same situations. Leadership contributes by committing to safety-first practices, such as ordering stand-downs amid drive-by shootings or other violent actions toward their coworkers.

“We made it OK to report,” he said. “It’s not OK to not report. That messaging has to be clear all the way through, and our leadership team is really saying and meaning that safety is most important.”

Fifteen AGA member companies learned about the initiative by joining a recent set of exercises. The invitation, Cole said, came from PG&E leaders.

“We’re fully in to support,” he said. “This isn’t just a PG&E challenge. We found something that has benefitted the folks in the field, and we want to make sure we’re sharing this as much as possible.”

NiSource: Implementing Wearables

Natural gas utility field workers face an array of challenges, said Bill Jefferson, NiSource chief operations officer and chief safety officer. Dangerous conditions. Confrontational customers. Lone work in isolated spots.

In its search for technology aligning with NiSource priorities, the safety department’s tech group looked toward wearable devices, for their power to go where workers go and sense hazards in their immediate surroundings.

“We have always been concerned with being in a gaseous environment,” said Jefferson. “But nobody ever made a portable device you could wear that addressed that.”

When NiSource found a wearable that met its parameters for durability and temperature endurance, Jefferson’s team tested it with the workforce. “We always utilize our workforce in [evaluating] new technology to ask, ‘Does it help?’ and ‘Would you use it if it helps?’” he said. “‘What are the limitations?’”

With largely positive feedback, the wearable was adopted. About the size of a thick cell phone, the wearable attaches to shirts or belts. With cloud-connected software, its functions include sounding an alarm when natural gas and carbon dioxide levels are elevated, a red tab that calls for emergency help when pulled, detection of falls and lack of movement, and acting as a two-way radio for areas with limited coverage.

The wearables have proven their worth. One off-duty NiSource worker wearing his device detected a carbon dioxide leak at a restaurant where he was having lunch.

Workers have pulled the red tab when they witnessed domestic violence or accidents. One worker accidentally locked in a basement pulled the tab and got dispatch to alert the homeowner. Another got a police response when a disgruntled customer climbed into the truck.

Dispatch has checked on employees when their devices indicated a fall. In one incident, the worker said he was not OK, and they sent an ambulance. The speedier response helps get injured workers to medical care more quickly.

Costs are “really secondary” to safer workers, said Jefferson since the device has alerted workers to exit dangerous areas. “We’ve had team members use the device at home, as well,” said Jefferson. “For example, we had a team member climbing a ladder at home who wore the device in the event something happened so they could get help. Encouraging teams to take safety home supports the culture we want. That saves lives.”

The keys to buy-in included engaging and training supervisors to work with their employees, enlisting “super-users” who championed the device among their colleagues, securing leadership support, and providing a 24/7 assistance hotline.

The elements add up to an effective communications and education strategy.

“There are different avenues to get your questions answered, and that builds confidence in the workforce that the device is working the way it’s supposed to,” Jefferson said. “If there’s a problem, we say, ‘We didn’t know that. We will remedy that problem and get back to you.’ We communicate that to everybody.”

NiSource worked with the manufacturer to remedy some early feedback received from end users, including the device’s original tendency to detect the motion of digging as a fall. Based on that feedback, NiSource was able to adjust the sensitivity of the device to be a better fit for its work. For workers in remote areas without cell phone coverage, NiSource has deployed devices that can connect to satellites.

“We want to be one of the leaders in the use of technology for safety and efficiency, which are huge items for us,” Jefferson said. “We are always looking for the best things to help us in those two areas.”

Holding the Line

From customers to employees to contractors, natural gas utilities from coast to coast prioritize safety. This focus extends especially to frontline workers, who face everything from verbal and physical assaults to animal encounters.

In early 2025, the American Gas Association launched a campaign, Protecting the Front Line, that focuses on the issue of field worker safety and security. This all-hands campaign leverages advocacy, human resources, state affairs, legal and operations teams to engage a large cross-section of member utilities’ personnel.

“How are we driving change?” asked AGA Director for Security and Preparedness Amanda Sramek. “Raising awareness is the first step. We need stakeholders to recognize this is an issue and then to promote the reporting of any type of assault. Many times, the field workers perceive being cursed at or physically accosted as just another day on the job. That shouldn’t be the case. We are driving change by increasing awareness and encouraging field workers to share their experiences.”

AGA is leading important conversations about what constitutes an assault and how to reduce these threats. By encouraging reporting, utilities can better understand the scale of the challenges faced by personnel and the effectiveness of mitigations.

As part of the campaign, AGA has developed resources, including a popular webinar series along with a white paper on how to create an assault prevention program. AGA is also offering de-escalation training, roundtable discussions and information-sharing opportunities among utilities. Protecting the Front Line emphasizes the importance of building internal and external coalitions and working closely with authorities to prosecute criminals and enforce laws protecting front line workers.

The 2025 campaign culminates in December with a series of case studies from member companies. AGA says it will continue building on this campaign in the future—showcasing both its impact and effectiveness across the natural gas industry.