The first thing you notice when you step inside Paul Buxton’s office at Yazoo Valley Electric Power Association is photos of his family.
He beams with pride when he talks about his wife and daughter, and there’s a good chance you’re going to be laughing along with him when he shares the latest story about his two grandsons.
That’s why he’s the perfect person to be in charge of making sure that everyone makes it home safely to their families at the end of every day.
As Yazoo Valley’s safety coordinator, that is Buxton’s primary concern. Working around electricity can be a dangerous job, and most accidents that happen could have been avoided if every safety rule was followed. Shortcuts can have serious consequences, and Buxton makes sure that every employee at Yazoo Valley understands that saving a little time is not worth the risk of serious injury or even losing a life.
“We have a very strong focus on safety,” Buxton said. “We are very efficient, but we are also always focused on doing our work safely.”
Every week at Yazoo Valley begins with an early morning safety meeting focused on different safety-related topics. Employees also talk about any incidents or “near misses” that happened during the previous week and then discuss how to avoid having anything like that happen again in the future.
Buxton speaks from experience when discussing many of those topics. He’s learned a lot over the last 36 years at Yazoo Valley.
Looking back on his career, Buxton says the same things that attracted him to the job as a young man still appeal to him today.
“I’ve always loved working outside and working with my hands, but the most important thing about this job to me is that it gives me the opportunity to serve others,” Buxton said. “I get a lot of satisfaction out of that.”
Buxton has worn a lot of hats over the last 36 years. He began working on the right-of-way crew at Yazoo Valley. He later joined the line crew as an apprentice before working his way up to journeyman lineman. He then became a crew foreman.
He later moved to field engineer, which had him overseeing the staking department, and he helped manage right-of-way contracts during the period when Yazoo Valley used contractors for right-of-way maintenance.
Buxton has been in his role as safety coordinator for the last nine years. In addition to safety training, he is responsible for helping make sure Yazoo Valley stays in compliance with OSHA and other regulations, and he works with the company’s property and liability insurance.
Yazoo Valley has a reputation for being strong on safety. When other electric cooperatives or contractors come in to help, like during the recent recovery following Winter Storm Fern, those employees are expected to follow the same standards as Yazoo Valley employees. When other cooperatives need assistance during storm recovery, they’ve been known to ask for Yazoo Valley because they know Yazoo Valley does quality work without losing focus on safety.
Outside of work Buxton loves hunting, fishing and woodworking. He especially enjoys doing those things with his family.
“My two six-year-old grandsons keep us hopping,” he said. “We’re fixing to start coach pitch baseball soon. They both like to hunt and fish, and they seem to like to do whatever I like to do.”
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