Rayle EMC - A Touchstone Energy Cooperative

SAFETY

Working with high voltage power lines everyday gives our employees a deep sense of the importance of safety in the workplace. Safety consciousness is part of our corporate culture. Our people attend monthly safety meetings, as well as travel to GEMC sponsored schools where they get the latest in safety instruction that is so important to avoiding injury on the job. We believe that we can share our attitude about safety with the community through various programs and events, which we participate in or conduct throughout our service area. The following is a list of just a few of the things Rayle EMC does to educate about safety:

Farm Safety Day Camp – Rayle EMC participates in two of these camps each year, the Wilkes County Farm Safety Day Camp, and the Athens Area Farm Safety Day Camp. At these camps, children from five to eleven years of age are taught what dangers there are around the farm, how to identify unsafe conditions, and what to do to be safe. Topics covered range from high voltage power lines to tractor safety.

High Voltage Safety Demonstration – Thousands of third and fourth graders in our service territory have been treated to this safety demo over the years, which is a mockup of a real high voltage power line. The demo plugs into a regular wall socket, and by the use of a transformer, the voltage is stepped up to 14,400 volts, the same voltage traveling in the power lines on your street or road. The kids are shown what happens when a kite string touches a power line, the danger involved if they come across a downed power line, or the results of a metal ladder coming in contact with the high voltage electrical lines right outside their own homes. The youngsters are taught to always be aware of their surroundings, and to recognize danger when they see it.

Discovery Channel “GET CHARGED” kits – The Discovery Channel has produced this excellent aid to educating our children about electricity – it’s uses, it’s production, and it’s potentials. The kits are all inclusive: the teacher simply teaches from the kit, and the children love it! Rayle EMC orders the kits through Touchstone Energy, our brand partner, and distributes them to participating school systems free of charge.

Child Fingerprint ID Kits – Each year in this country, thousands of children are abducted, either by complete strangers or by well-meaning family members.
Some simply wander off and get lost. Rayle EMC believes that to best protect our children, our most precious belonging, we need to give law enforcement a vital tool to identify them should someone do the unthinkable and try to take one of them. Rayle EMC donates these kits to the schools in the area, which set up a fingerprinting campaign. When the fingerprint kits have been used to record the children’s prints, they are turned over to law enforcement authorities and stored away as a permanent record, to be used by them in the event a child is ever lost or kidnapped.

We at Rayle EMC are here to serve our members, their families, and the communities in which they live. If any of these programs are of interest to you as a member/owner, or as a parent, contact us at the co-op to get more information. We will be waiting to serve you – because that’s what we do.