Twelve years ago, CenterPoint Energy collaborated with the National Energy Foundation to create Energy Safe Kids, an energy safety program for fourth graders. Recently, the two organizations teamed up again to develop a program for older students considering a career in the construction, engineering and energy industries.
The Energy Safe Skills program is an online platform that provides key natural gas safety and safe digging instruction to secondary, vocational and college students.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we sought a way to expand on our relationship with NEF and engage a new audience,” Shane Alexander, director of damage prevention and public awareness at CenterPoint Energy, told American Gas. “This allowed us to reach audiences that in many cases we previously reached through the Energy Safe Kids program.”
Because the program’s curriculum and presentations are self-guided and available on demand, Alexander says the course information can be easily incorporated to bolster the instruction already provided to students in the classroom. Instructors have the option of either using the produced videos to present the curriculum or using the course materials to facilitate open discussion with their students.
In 2023, Energy Safe Skills engaged with 17 new instructors at 14 schools, reaching hundreds of new students.
Courses are available at no cost to instructors in Indiana and Minnesota. CenterPoint Energy funds the program and provides content, while NEF offers key expertise in administering the program, helps market it to schools and instructors, and offers grants to instructors who use the program.
According to Alexander, feedback from instructors has helped identify opportunities to improve the course material and further engage with students and instructors, including adding more visuals and real-world situations to make the information more tangible.
“The goal of this program is to provide safe digging education to individuals who are on the cusp of joining the construction, engineering and energy industries,” Alexander said. “Understanding how to safely design, plan and dig around buried utilities is critical to these students’ personal safety on the job and their success in their future.”