Kenya Power spent Sh970 million to enhance safety in the financial year ended June 2024 on the back of 13 workers succumbing to work-related injuries including electrocution.
The utility firm says Sh870 million was used to procure network safety tools and equipment while Sh100 million was used to purchase personal protective equipment. The firm adds that it has allocated adequate resources to procure extra PPE in the current financial year.
The investment came in the period Kenya Power says it lost 10 staff and three externally contracted workers, with the deaths coming from work-related incidents. In addition, there were 118 non-fatal injuries, pointing to the risks facing workers in the course of electricity distribution business. “Each of these incidents was thoroughly investigated and countermeasures were instituted to prevent recurrence and improve safety in the company,” says Kenya Power.
The firm regards one to five employee incidences in a year as a breach of both risk appetite and tolerance level under its key risk indicators.
Death and injuries to its staff and contracted workers was in addition to 118 cases of electrocutions to members of the public, in what was a 9.3 per cent reduction from the previous year.
Kenya Power has backed up the network safety tools and PPE with additional training to staff in bid to bring down the cases, which many times present a cost to the company in the form of medical bills and compensation to affected families in case of death.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm, which closed June with 10,437 staff, says it conducted 22 staff safety training sessions and 253 safety talks across the company depots and offices in bid to enhance safety.
In addition, Kenya Power undertook 476 public electrical safety awareness campaigns including public safety awareness barazas, school electrical safety awareness sessions and safety talks in places of worship to promote safe use of electricity. The firm targets at least 500 public safety campaigns in the current financial year.
Kenya Power has an occupational health and safety management system comprising a Safety Health and Environment (SHE) policy, hazard identification and risk assessment that is under the SHE department.
The SHE policy includes the provision and enforcement of use of PPE, safety and health training, provision of suitable working tools and equipment and enforcement of safe working procedures among others.
The company connected 447,251 new customers to the grid in the year to June, taking the total connections to 9.66 million and putting it on course to hit the 10 million mark in the current financial year.
