Service Electric Co., Chattanooga, Tenn., knows the value of having the right safety equipment in the right place at the right time. When a five-man crew was changing out a pole for an electric cooperative in Mayfield, Ky., a life-or-death emergency arose. Immediate access to an automated external defibrillator (AED) made all the difference.

The incident occurred in 2019. Though it took time for OSHA to conclude its investigation, at a July 2022 meeting of IBEW 369, Service Electric foreman Jacob Jones, apprentice Ben Geurin, and line journeymen Jerald Jewell and Kynan Monroe were hailed as heroes for saving the life of a fellow crew member who collapsed on the job.

In the November 2022 issue of IBEW’s newsletter, The Electrical Worker, Local 369 commended Service Electric’s “commitment to providing each work crew with an AED,” which “was very important to the outcome of this situation.”

With 2,100 employees, Service Electric is a subsidiary of Quanta Services Inc., a Fortune 500 electrical construction firm. “It was Quanta that started the practice of having an AED with every crew, years ago, so that’s where we got it from,” said Randy Doerfler, vice president of safety for Service Electric.

The crew’s success with the AED corresponded to standard OSHA training and the fact that employees are given annual refreshers on CPR and first aid, Doerfler said. Along the lines of promoting safety, they also learn about bloodborne pathogens.

Service Electric creates a work environment that focuses on incident prevention while also building capacity for failure.

“We know emergencies will happen. The question is, how will we respond?” Doerfler said.

Service Electric also encourages frontline leaders to prepare crews by encouraging them to identify “stuff that kills you” (STKY) on their job sites each day. They ask: What is STKY on your job site? When a STKY event happens, what will protect you and your crew? Do you have all the protection you need?

The 2019 incident wasn’t the first time a Service Electric work crew had used an AED to save a life, but it was the first time a crew had gained this level of recognition. In another instance, Doerfler said, a Service Electric crew used an AED to save a bystander who had a medical emergency near a job site.

“An AED could be needed for any reason,” Doerfler said. “It’s less about what causes the need and more about being prepared if something happens. We never know when we’re going to need an AED, but if we don’t have it, we regret not having it.”