WASHINGTON, D.C., March 30, 2026 - Orrville Utilities has earned the American Public Power Association’s Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices in 2025. The utility earned a Diamond award, the highest rating, in the category for utilities with 79,220 worker-hours of annual worker exposure.
More than 240 utilities entered the annual Safety Awards for 2025. The entrants are placed in accordance with their number of worker-hours and ranked based on the most incident-free records and overall state of their safety programs and culture during 2025. The incidence rate is based on the number of work-related reportable injuries and the number of worker-hours during 2025, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
“Orrville Utilities is proud of our safety culture,” said Jeff Brediger, Director of Utilities. “This award is a testament to the hard work that has gone into building this culture and ensuring that our team members have a safe work environment throughout the city. We want everyone returning home safely every day.”
“In Public Power, safety excellence isn’t achieved by chance. It’s earned through unwavering discipline, strong leadership, and a culture where every team member looks out for one another,” said Jon Beasley, Chair of APPA’s Safety Committee and Vice-President of Electric Cities of GA. “These Safety Award recipients stand as proof that commitment and consistency save lives, strengthen communities, and set the benchmark for our entire industry,”
APPA has conducted the Safety Awards annually for more than sixty-eight years. APPA is the voice of not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power 2,000 towns and cities nationwide.