Preliminary Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2021 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENTS LETTER PRESIDENTFROM03 OVERVIEWCOMPANY04 ABOUT REPORTTHIS10 05 Company Overview 05 Board of Directors 07 Meet the Executives 08 Our Services 08 Adding to the Family 09 Mission and Vision 09 Core Values 11 Overview of Company Initiatives 12 Project Highlights SAFETY14 15 Annual Rates 16 Safety Trainings 17 Cyber Security 17 Safety Goals ENGAGEMENTCOMMUNITY30 31 Contributions 32 Customer Communication & Education 33 Reputation 35 Community Engagement Goals WELL-BEINGEMPLOYEE18 19 Diversity & Inclusion 20 Culture 20 Ethical Standards 20 Training & Education Opportunities 22 Health and Wellness 22 Longevity 23 Employee Well-being Goals CLOSING36 37 Appendix SUSTAINABILITYENVIRONMENTAL24 25 Impact Area 25 Biodiversity/Natural Environment 28 Consulting Map 29 Operations Map 29 Environmental Sustainability Goals 2
CNUC understands the responsibility we have as a company and as individuals to strive to protect and improve all ecosystems, and to make positive environmental, social and economic impacts in the communities we serve. A sustainable business is good business, not only for our employees but also for our clients and the public.
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LETTER FROM PRESIDENT
Derek Vannice President and COO
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Here are a few highlights from the last year where we focus on our continual improvement: growthWorkforcerateof employees report a positive experience with CNUC’s focus on safety, training and care of employee well-beingAnnualincident rate 3.04
At CNUC, we’re a leader in innovative solutions and value services that align with our core mission and values. As a 100% employee-owned company, our employees are at the forefront of every decision we make and our employees are the ones behind our success as a company. Our goal as a company is to educate and collaborate with members of our industry and communities to conserve and protect natural resources while maintaining economic viability, sustainable growth, and social harmony. The past year has been challenging with an environment that has been increasingly and rapidly changing, but we move forward with our commitment to sustainability. Our business practices and operations have multi-generational impacts; we strive to minimize negative impacts while maximizing positive ones. In addition, CNUC has an environmental impact and sustainability policy that instructs our employees to be aware of any issues that may apply to their current contract. Given our vast geographical span, each region identifies potential environmental and cultural resources that may appear in their area, as well as appropriate actions to remediate potential Ourproblems.teammembers are directly involved in a variety of organizations and projects that champion sustainability in the industry. I served as chair of the Right-of-Way Stewardship Council (ROWSC) and have been involved in the development of this program since its inception in December 2012. ROWSC is an accreditation program that establishes standards for responsible right-of-way vegetation management along corridors. The program promotes the application of Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) and Best Management Practices (BMP) to utility vegetation management to maintain power system reliability and address ecological concerns. Randall Miller, our director of research and development, is the primary author of the third edition of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) IVM BMP, and our manager of research and development Philip Chen is part of the Rights-of-Way as Habitat Working Group. This report highlights the progress we have made, and will continue to make, regarding: ‒ Safety ‒ Employee Well-being ‒ Environmental Sustainability ‒ Community Engagement The entire management team at CNUC is committed to continual improvement – something you’ll see throughout this report and in your interactions with any of our team members. We believe that we should always look to the future, but never forget to reflect on accomplishments and missteps so we can continuously improve, for ourselves, our clients, and our communities.
I encourage you to read through this report and discover how CNUC is continuing to lead in serving our clients by providing innovative solutions to better our planet and align with our core values of safety, integrity, knowledge, excellence, innovation, family and teamwork.
technology. 4
The following pages highlight how we incorporate sustainability into services and operations using processes, initiatives and
environmental
business
OVERVIEWCOMPANY
our
innovative
BOARD DIRECTORSOF
COMPANY OVERVIEW
Founded in 1999, CNUC has spent the last two decades providing high quality UVM consulting services. In 2007, CNUC joined Wright Service Corp. (WSC), a unique family of companies specializing in environmental services, with a number of sustainability initiatives taking place across the United States and Canada. Family is our foundation; it is who we are.
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Our employee owners are our greatest asset and the heart of CNUC. Teamwork is how we operate. Our consulting and operations teams have command of UVM best management practices and legal and regulatory requirements. We partner with clients to improve their vegetation management programs through inspection and auditing services, emergency response, consulting and research, often combined with software and LiDAR solutions. Our expertise goes beyond operations by providing the largest and most comprehensive UVM industry surveys in North America. We strive to seek out the best solutions using the latest technology and techniques. We always try to find a better way to get the job done. This mentality of innovation allows CNUC to remain a leader in the UVM Sinceindustry.our
We believe in giving back to the communities we serve and the environment we all share. We are only as successful as the communities we partner with, which is why we prioritize community involvement, giving back and volunteerism.
CNUC is the premier provider of innovative, economically sensible and environmentally sustainable vegetation management services. We assist our clients in achieving compliant, effective, efficient and defensible Utility Vegetation Management (UVM) programs. We are committed to understanding this complex industry while growing and sharing with our clients to achieve operational excellence.
founding, we have successfully completed a myriad of complex projects throughout North America.
We partner with utility companies in adopting advanced UVM techniques and technologies that increase efficiency and provide higher return on investment.
Jonathan Hicks Jon Hicks joined WSC in 2008 as the controller for Wright Outdoor Solutions. In 2010, he was promoted to controller of Wright Tree Service and in 2020 he was promoted again to vice president and chief financial officer of WSC. Jon graduated from Iowa State as a Certified Public Accountant with a bachelor of science degree and a master of accounting degree in 2002. After graduating, Jon worked in various auditing and financial reporting roles within both public accounting and the private sector. Jon is a member of the Iowa Society
CNUC’s board of directors is made up of a group of individuals that reside at the Wright Service Corp. (WSC) level. It is made up of three internal directors and five external directors as follows: Scott Packard, Chairman and CEO of WSC Austin Kennedy, President and COO of WSC Jonathan Hicks, SVP and CFO of WSC Terry McGonegle, Retired CFO of WSC, outside director Nancy Wright, outside director John Bruntz, outside director Dick Rue, outside director George Milligan, outside director Scott Packard Scott Packard joined WSC in July 1998. Three years later, John R. Wright appointed Scott to president and COO. In October 2002, Scott took on the position of chairman and CEO. Scott began his career after graduating from the University of Kentucky with a bachelor of science in accounting. Since then, he has held a number of executive positions prior to joining the executive leadership team at WSC. He served on the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) board of directors from 2003-2009 and as chairman in 2009. In September 2016, Scott became the first recipient of the Management Action Programs (MAP) Disciplined Leader Award. This award was conceived to recognize select leaders who have consistently exhibited the qualities of a disciplined leader. Scott is also a past chairman of Area 4 Iowa Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) and presently serves as vice chairman. He was recently named to the board of directors of Trees Forever. Austin Kennedy Austin Kennedy joined WSC as general counsel in April 2013. Prior to joining WSC, Austin was an attorney in private practice for seven years in Des Moines, Iowa, practicing in many areas involving employment law, immigration law and litigation. In 2019, Austin was promoted to general counsel, chief human resources officer and senior vice president. As of January 1, 2022, Austin was promoted to president and chief operating officer. Austin graduated from Macalester College in 2000, where he received the Livingston-Patnode Award for his special contributions to the English Department. He then earned his law degree from Drake Law School in 2005. In 2015, Austin earned his Credential of Readiness from Harvard Business School’s HBX CORe program, which establishes competencies in business analytics, economics and accounting.
Dick’s experience includes serving on the UNI College of Business Dean’s Advisory Board, the President’s Advisory Board of Grand View University, the Board of Directors of Precision Pulley & Idler, six years as State Chairman of Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) for Iowa and two years as Chairman of the National ESGR Executive Advisory Subcommittee. Additionally, Dick is a volunteer at the Iowa Gold Star Museum, a volunteer with United Way of central Iowa and he actively works as a volunteer financial counselor with the Small Business Development Center in central Iowa. John Bruntz Currently retired, John Bruntz was the chairman and CEO of The Boulder Company, an industrial product distributor with operations in four states and serving an eight-state market region. He held the position from 2014 to 2019. Prior, he was the CEO of The Wittern Group, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of automatic merchandising equipment and controlled access technology. He became the CEO in 1990 and began work for the company in 1985. John also serves as a director for Dexter-Apache Holding, Inc., a $300MM revenue ESOP company with more than 900 employees across six different business lines. In addition, Bruntz is on the board of directors of Cementech, Inc., an ESOP company headquartered in Indianola, Iowa. Cementech is the market leader in the production of volumetric cement mixers. He is a licensed attorney who graduated from the University of Iowa, College of Law and has published articles in law journals in the areas of labor and employment law. He has been involved in numerous civic organizations including ChildServe, the YMCA of Greater Des Moines and the Greater Des Moines Partnership. George Milligan George Milligan is a 1978 graduate of Iowa State University, earning a B.S. in economics with a minor in industrial administration (business). From 1978 to 1985 he worked for Continental Grain Co. in various trading and management positions in four different locations. From 1985 to the present, he has worked at The Graham Group, Inc., and as its president since 1988. The Graham Group, Inc. is a diversified real estate development company and general contractor. He has been involved in many central Iowa charities and boards. He currently serves on the board of two public companies, United Fire Group, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and West Bancorporation, Inc., of West Des Moines, Iowa. Both are Nasdaq traded companies.
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Terry McGonegle Terry McGonegle joined WSC as the controller for Wright Tree Service (WTS) in June 1994. When the ESOP was formed in 2002, Terry was promoted to chief financial officer of WSC where he helped transition the company from a family-owned to an employee-owned and served as CFO until December of 2019 upon retirement. Terry started his career in public accounting and worked in the agricultural and construction industries before joining WTS. He has served on the audit committee for the Tree Care Industry Association and finance committees for both the Utility Arborist Association and TREE Fund. Terry is also a past president of The Iowa-Nebraska Chapter of The ESOP Association.
continued of CPAs and the American Institute of CPAs. Jon is also a member of the Risk and Insurance Management Society and is on the WSC Board of Directors. Jon is a large advocate of Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) structured companies. He believes the culture the ESOP structure creates allows employees the freedom to implement change and leave their personal mark on the company. Jon enjoys problem-solving and having the opportunity to help guide the company at a strategic level.
BOARD DIRECTORSOF
Nancy Wright Nancy Wright is a cum laude graduate of Drake University majoring in business communications. Following graduation, she had a long career in the group life and health business, starting with Principal as an underwriter and later selling group life and health insurance to Iowa school districts through Holmes Murphy & Associates. Other positions include marketing director for a major group medical carrier and account manager for a national insurance brokerage. She was also active in the Iowa Health Underwriters as a board member for six years and president for two years. This involved working with state and national legislators regarding healthcare legislation. Nancy is currently retired. Dick Rue Dick is retired and served for 23 years as senior vice president & CFO and board member at ITA Group, Inc. a West Des Moines incentive marketing company. Dick has been a CPA since 1978 and was employed during his first five years after college in public accounting. He is a past member of the American Institute of CPAs, the Iowa Society of CPAs, Financial Executives International, where he was a past Iowa Chapter president and board member, and the ESOP Association.
The CNUC executive team consists of the following team members: Derek Vannice President and COO Derek Vannice joined CNUC in 2011 after decades of success at two leading industry organizations, the ISA and the Utility Arborist Association (UAA). Before his career with those organizations, Derek held vegetation management positions in both transmission and distribution at two different utilities in Indiana. Derek served on the review committee of the original and first revision of the ISA Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) Best Management Practices (BMP) as well as the Utility Pruning BMP. As ISA director of certification, Derek increased the program’s 2,000 certified arborists to more than 26,000 certified arborists in 50 countries.
Concurrently, as UAA executive director, Derek was responsible for many initiatives and programs that advanced the organization and industry regarding reputation, technology, and training. He served as the primary spokesman for the utility arboriculture industry and provided expert testimony in regulatory hearings. Derek was the 2008 recipient of the ISA Achievement Award and the 2011 recipient of the UAA President’s Award. Derek holds a bachelor’s degree in forestry and a master of business administration and has done independent consulting work with utilities and line clearance companies across North America. Josh Beaver Josh joined CNUC in 2010 working as a lead consulting utility forester in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was later promoted to regional supervisor and has advanced through the management ranks to his current position of senior vice president. He is responsible for the oversight of CNUC contracts throughout the United States and Canada. He has been published in the Utility Arborist Newsline and has presented on a variety of industry topics throughout the United States. Along with a proven record of success working with utilities, Josh is an ISA Certified Arborist and Certified Utility Specialist and currently serves on the UAA’s Professional Development and Events Committees. He also provides on-site consulting and training on an ongoing basis. Josh holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental science along with a completing the Harvard Business School Credential of Readiness (CORe) program. Jimmy Williams Jimmy joined CNUC in 2013 as a project manager on the PG&E contract in Northern California. Throughout the years he served in a variety of different roles from regional supervisor, regional manager and now, vice president. He has over twelve years of experience within the industry and currently oversees CNUC’s operations in the West. His primary objective is to support his management team and ensure we are providing the highest quality of service to our clients within his region. He has a bachelor’s degree from Simpson College and is an ISA Certified Arborist, ISA Certified Utility Specialist, ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualified and has his California Firefighter 1 Certification. Randall H. Miller As director of research and development, Randall brings more than two and a half decades of experience to CNUC, previously working as director of vegetation management for PacifiCorp and serving on ACRT’s board of directors. He has been chairman of the TREE Fund Board of Trustees, president of the
UAA, and twice chairman of the Edison Electric Institute Vegetation Management Task Force. He has also served on the ISA Certification Test Committee and many other industry committees. He currently serves on the ISA Board of Directors. Randall is the author of the ISA IVM BMP and co-author of the Utility Specialist Study Guide. He speaks widely on arboricultural topics and performs formal UVM surveys of North American utilities. Randall obtained a bachelor of science in horticulture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison along with a master of science in urban forestry from University of WisconsinStevens Point. He also is a Board-Certified Master Arborist, an ISA Certified Utility Specialist, Tree Risk Assessment Qualified and was the recipient of the 2005 ISA RW Harris Author’s Citation award. Matthew Searels Matthew began his UVM career with CNUC as a Consulting Utility Forester (CUF) at Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation in Murfreesboro and has successfully supervised special projects and managed daily operations for multiple transmission and distribution contracts concurrently in select CNUC management team positions. He is responsible for oversight of long-term UVM contracts throughout the midwest, South, and New England. Matthew has his bachelor’s degree in environmental studies along with a bachelor’s in business administration. Additionally, Matt is an ISA Certified Utility Specialist, serves on the UAA’s Events Committee, has participated in the Tour des Trees event since 2019, and is president elect of ISA Southern Chapter.
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MEET EXECUTIVESTHE
We help organizations identify and capitalize on opportunities to enhance their UVM program. With our industry knowledge and experience, we can examine the organization and its operations, help focus their strengths, drive their potential and develop solutions to their toughest challenges.
OUR SERVICES Consulting
We bring innovative solutions to every job site. Our knowledgeable team provides risk assessment, quality assurance, work planning and many more inspection and auditing services.
Derek Vannice joined CNUC after 18 years as Executive Director of the Utility
Arborist Association 100Surpassedemployees Growth in the West creates new division New Industry Survey published inwithcooperationUWSP Growth creates new divisions in the East and in Canada 400Surpassedemployees 2011 2015 2020 202 1 202 1 CNUC founded by Stephen Cieslewicz and Robert Novembri FirstpublishedSurveyCNUC Primary UVM investigator for Northeast Blackout resulting in FAC 003 Acquired by WrightCorp.Service CNUC UVM Survey + IndustryforestersBeganpublishedIntelligenceprovidingfull-time utilitytoclients1999 2002 2003 2007 20 10
Inspection + Auditing
Securing the Grid Even with modern innovations and technology, natural disasters have a way of reminding us that we are still at the mercy of Mother Nature. When disaster strikes, our clients rely on our experienced team that is ready to provide relief and restore services to the public in a safe and timely manner.
Research
Innovation and knowledge are two of our core values — we pride ourselves on our ongoing research. We leverage research findings, along with our knowledge of best practices, to identify opportunities for utilities of every size across North America to improve their UVM programs. The most notable project within our research area of expertise, is our UVM Survey, the largest and most comprehensive survey of UVM in North America. It is a utility company’s best source for comparing its UVM program to those of its peers and serves the industry as a whole by identifying trends, best practices and research and development needs.
ADDING TO THE FAMILY
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SAFETY It is everyone’s responsibility, we each own it. It is how we operate and we hold each accountable.other maintain a peerless understanding of our industry.
‒
‒
FAMILY
INTEGRITY We
Mission
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To assist our clients in achieving compliant, effective, efficient, and defensible utility vegetation management programs.
‒
Vision
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INNOVATION anticipate our clients’ needs and we deliver creative services and solutions. It is foundation;our it is who we are. abide by the highest ethical standards. strive to exceed our customer’s expectationsand our own expectations.
We
TEAMWORK
ANDMISSIONVISION VALUESCORE
KNOWLEDGE We
‒ To
EXCELLENCE We continually
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To provide attractive value appreciation to our employee owners. To provide team members with an environment that enables them to achieve their personal and professional goals. To make a positive contribution in the communities we serve. To provide appropriate strategic support to our parent and sister companies. drive the industry in the areas of technology and knowledge. CNUC is the premier company in providing innovative, economically sensible and environmentally sustainable vegetation management services.
Our Corporate Social Responsibility Mission Statement CNUC is committed to fostering a passionate culture dedicated to providing high quality environmental services for the benefit of the communities in which we live and work.
THISABOUTREPORT
KPI Overview CNUC’s core Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will be used to track the progress in key target areas and will be used in coming years to gauge progress. These will help shape goals to drive continuous improvement.
Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
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2021
Employee Well-being
Workforce growth rate of employees report a positive experience with CNUC’s focus on safety, training and care of employee well-being We began operations in Canada UVM survey included 71 respondents in North America Annual Incident Rate
OVERVIEW OF COMPANY INITIATIVES Highlights
We are in the environmental services industry, and we strive to protect and preserve all ecosystems. We continue to reduce our footprint and promote carbon positive practices at our offices and in the communities we serve. Our North American headquarters based out of West Des Moines, Iowa, began a remodel phase in 2020 with environmental and economic sustainability in mind. 2020 posed many challenges; however, with the enactment of our new Work From Home Policy, the year provided an opportunity for us to remodel our existing buildings to accommodate our growing staff and infrastructure changes necessary to accommodate our newly required flexibility.
Environmental Sustainability
Community Engagement
NEARLY Client base adding 13 new clients in 2021
Safety Safety is our number one value. Our employees are trained on a consistent basis to ensure best safe practices are in place and mitigate any potential risks or hazards. Internal protocols are routinely reviewed and updated by our risk and safety departments to ensure the latest trainings and protocols are followed so that our employees can get home safely each and every night. Our employees follow the Brother’s and Sister’s Keeper motto, striving to achieve zero OSHA recordable incidents.
Our employees create a rich work environment. Our family culture is what makes CNUC unique and attractive to the next generation of the workforce. This includes a safe, enjoyable, diverse environment that offers opportunity for professional growth. As competition for talent grows, CNUC is committed to offering an attractive workplace to retain and foster talent through our family of companies at all levels. CNUC is proud to be a 100% employee-owned company. Continued training, education and development, and our employees’ well-being are top of mind.
CNUC supports activities that benefit our employees and add value to the communities where we live and work. Through monetary and in-kind donations such as labor and education, we’re able to support various causes and organizations that align with our values. We take pride in building and developing relationships with our employees, clients and communities.
90%3.04ExpandedPublished9.1%
Increased
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NGEMC ROW Reclamation Project
North Georgia EMC, CNUC, and Jackson State University partnered to establish pollinator habitats along the Rights-Of-Way (ROW) of northern Georgia. See more in the Environmental Sustainability section.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
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Liberty Utilities (Liberty) and CNUC partnered to determine a way to quantify and track habitat on their ROW to allow Liberty to participate in the Monarch Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) and to better allow Liberty to contribute biodiversity data to their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report. See more in the Environmental Sustainability section.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
continued Liberty Utilities ROW Habitat Monitoring Project
Safety is our number one value. Our employees are trained on a consistent basis to ensure best safe practices are in place and reduce any potential risks or hazards. Internal protocols are routinely reviewed and updated by our risk and safety departments to ensure the latest trainings and protocols are followed so that our employees can get home safely each and every night. Our employees follow the Brother’s and Sister’s Keeper motto, striving to achieve zero OSHA recordable incidents.
SAFETY
Safety
Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement15CNUC tracks and reports incidents. At-fault incidents are tracked with goals established for reduction. These accidents are used in training materials to identify preventative actions to continue to enforce. A Days Away Restricted or Transferred (DART) rate represents OSHA injuries or illness that results in days away from work, restricted duty, or transfer of duties. This is because only the more severe OSHA recordable injuries and illnesses are included in the DART rate. ANNUAL3.04RATES2021RATEINCIDENTANNUAL 2021 Stats Annual Incident Rate Days Away Restricted or Transferred Claims per Employee1.520.193.04
Geotab & Lytx
CPR & First Aid
CPR and first aid training is encouraged and reimbursed for employees to receive their certification and maintain their certification in these trainings. CNUC team members are trainers.
Every new employee undergoes a safety onboarding training program on their first day of work. Training topics are discussed for at least 30 mins each week as a safety refresh for all employees. Topics include vehicle and equipment safety, such as chainsaw safety, safety around heavy machinery and winter driving. Weather conditions such as natural disaster preparedness, wildfire safety and heat illness. As well as wildlife awareness training for hazardous plants, insect bites, canines and reptiles.
Safety Steward Award
Person’s Name CONGRATULATIONS TO Derek VannicePresident and COO Bill SpencerSafety Manager for upholding safety and going the year withoutincident in our Safety Steward Recognition Program 2021 - 8,260 hours of weekly safety training - 564 hours of cyber security training - A total of 25 hours of safety training per employee annually - Average Quarterly Safety Quiz Scores of 90%
Employee Survey Safety Statistics
SAFETY: 3.04 annual incident rate
Safe Driver of the Month
Rewarding Success
We want to make sure we are doing everything in our power to provide a safe work environment and make sure employees have all the necessary equipment and training to work safely. Questions on our survey regarding safety were some of the highest scoring. This is an area where CNUC will not cut corners or take unnecessary risks. Our expectation is that all of our employees feel the same way. We continued this commitment by putting a safety manager in place, and we fully believe we will take the next positive step in our safety program in future years.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: nearly 90% of employees report a positive experience with CNUC’s focus on safety, training, and care of employee well-being. How our employees feel about our training and development programs was a strong takeaway from our annual employee survey. Safety, Knowledge, Teamwork, Innovation and Excellence are all core values of CNUC. Our ability to live by these core values is tied to how well we train and develop each of our employees. We are continuously reviewing our training programs, looking for ways to develop each member of our team professionally. Based on survey results, employees agree that we are doing a pretty good job in this area. That said, we continue to look for ways to train and develop each employee as they move forward in their careers as consulting utility foresters.
SAFETY TRAININGS
Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement16
REDUCTION IN UNSAFE METRICSDRIVINGIN2021
Employees Collectively
The Rewarding Success Program recognizes employees who exhibit the values of CNUC in an exemplary manner with safety being our top value. 68 CNUC employees were recognized through this program in 2021.
The Safe Driver of the Month award honors and recognizes employees who demonstrate the highest level of safety and awareness when behind the wheel. The Safe Driver of the Month is awarded to the driver that traveled the greatest number of miles throughout the month with the best overall driver analytics and safety scorecard. Each awardee has their picture taken for the CNUC monthly update where it is posted to social media, and the driver is then honored and recognized during the allhands safety call at the end of the month.
At CNUC, we like to say safety doesn’t happen by accident. In fact, it’s our safety slogan. It helps keep us accountable for our own safety and that of others, or as we call it - being a safety steward. Safety is our top value, and it requires a strong commitment, continuous learning, and participation from every member of the team to build a culture of safety. CNUC is proud to recognize 232 individuals for ending 2021 incident-free. Recipients received a certificate and Safety Steward sticker.
52%
The CNUC team employs Geotab, a fleet monitoring system that uses telematics and GPS technology and hardware which evaluates driver safety regarding seatbelts, speeding, idle time, harsh braking and harsh cornering, as well as backing up, specifically backing up when leaving. Lytx is a dash camera solution CNUC uses that grants managers an extra set of eyes within the cab of a vehicle. A set of two lens capture internal and external (forward facing) footage. Video footage can be reviewed and coached to improve driver safety and identify opportunities within the fleet to correct, improve unsafe behavior, as well as recognize drivers when exemplary behavior is exhibited. As an incentive, each month an employee with the saftest driving rating receives a Safety Award as Driver of the Month. As an additional incentive through the Safety Stewardship Recognition program, all employees that were incident free receive a special gift.
SAFETY GOALS
Cyber training completion compared to a 73% industry average. total executed hours on monthly cyber security topic training over the year. hours of required annual cyber security trainings.
Incident Rate: Reduce incidents and near misses to reduce annual incident rate to below 2.0. Security: Ensure company participation and improvement by 10% or 50 hours of additional security awareness training in 2022.
Our information technology department is dedicated to cyber security and business continuity. In 2019, a cyber security team was created to improve our information security posture and execute a two-year strategic security roadmap; doing so maintains and strengths our company’s ability to protect internal and client data. The team conducted a comprehensive security assessment and remediated identified issues. Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection was deployed to help improve our detection and prevention of attacks on our company’s equipment. A security awareness program was launched May of 2020. Employees undergo monthly training to spot ‘phishing’ scams and other spam emails. These fraudulent requests are sophisticated and can use known company contacts to lure others into sending funds to illegitimate recipients or compromise confidential data and information. As scams are ever changing, trainings and tips are provided to arm our employees with the knowledge to be a digital Brother’s and Sister’s Keeper. On occasion, employees will be tested internally and if the employee fails, they would be required to go through additional training.
56419377%
CYBER SECURITY
Training: Continue use of Geotab to improve safe driver metrics.
Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
WELL-BEINGEMPLOYEE
Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
Our employees are at the heart of every decision we make. First and foremost, their safety is our highest concern. Through our culture of safety, we have been able to build a workforce who trusts us as an organization. We are invested in the professional growth of our employees. We provide opportunities to earn certifications, attend regional meetings, join CNUC committees and learn through customized trainings. We provide a safe, enjoyable, diverse environment that offers opportunities for professional growth within the company. As competition for talent grows, CNUC is committed to offering an attractive workplace to retain and foster talent.
Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement19
2021 was a migration year for CNUC with upgrades to workplace processes to an improved digital infrastructure with the implementation of Workday. This human capital management system launched in August 2021. This new platform will help recruit, hire and onboard new talent. In addition, Workday’s intuitive portal will enable employees to easily access their personal information via mobile device or computer. Launching this new human resources platform will automate manual processes. This will allow for complete and increased reporting capabilities on workforce demographics in 2022. CNUC had a maximum of 386 employees in FY2021, with 100% of those positions being full-time. .5%
- Cultural Calendar was created to better recognize a range of days of importance in both internal communications and recognized these holidays on CNUC social media channels.
- D+I trainings were issued through Wright Service Corp. University (WSCU) and all-employee training and manager training was required.
- Research vendors and partners to provide more inclusive and gender-specific PPE for our employees.
D+I COMMITTEE INITIATIVES:
At CNUC, we recognize and appreciate the importance of creating an environment in which all employees feel valued and empowered to do their best work and bring great ideas to the table. We recognize that each employee’s unique experiences, perspectives and viewpoints add value to our ability to create and deliver the best possible service to clients and partners. We strive for continual improvement and have identified an opportunity for improvement in the areas of diversity and inclusion, to address this opportunity we formed a Diversity + Inclusion (D+I) committee, made up of CNUC field team members, in 2020.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION GENDER GENDERNEWGENDERHIRE 81% Male 78% Male 19% Female 22% Female CNUCCNUC 49% 67% 2.5% .8%2%1.4%1% .8%1%12%.8%3% 2% 11% 82.2%82% 19.5% 3% .5% 7% 26% 13% 7% 3.5% 1%.5% GENERATIONAL DISTRIBUTION ETHNICITY20&underAmericanIndianorAlaskaNative 31-40 Black or AmericanAfrican 51-60Hispanic/Latino21-30 Asian 41-50 61-64 Two MoreorRaces 65 & over WhiteNative Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander CNUCCNUCNewHiresNewHires
- Authored an article about starting a D+I committee for the Utility Arborist Newsline published bi-monthly by the UAA. “Lessons Learned in Starting a Diversity and Inclusion Committee.” Utility Arborist Newsline, 12(2), 22-24.
Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement20CULTURE
OPPORTUNITIESEDUCATIONTRAININGSTANDARDSETHICAL&
In addition to these initiatives, CNUC is continually looking to enhance our culture. CNUC culture reflects our core values, particularly the core value of family. It can be difficult to cultivate and maintain a family feel with employees working remotely across North America. In recent years, CNUC has been leveraging Microsoft Teams to increase the ability of team members to collaborate, network and engage. In 2021, one of the channels with the highest engagement was the CNUC Photo Club. 2021 saw 102 photo submissions with contribution from 34 team members. The Photo Club allows team members to show off their prowess in photography and enables us to see the various places and sites our employees see each day while on the job. Photos contributed to the Photo Club are utilized (with credit) for CNUC social media posts, reports and presentations.
CNUC strives to live up to our values and use those values as a roadmap to success. Integrity, a core value of our company, means we abide by the highest ethical standards. The CNUC employee handbook outlines several employment policies, procedures and practices. This contains equal opportunity employment policies, a code of conduct policy, business ethics statement, a harassment policy and a protection against retaliation policy. Management and human resources staff have an open-door policy as well to report incidents and provide suggestions to improve the workplace.
Learning Management System
Wright Service Corp. University (WSCU) is a learning platform that documents and tracks your online training. WSCU reaches every employee in the company for training and continued learning. Topics include management, leadership, customer service, productivity, tips and tools, and more. The training and development department have increased course offerings significantly in the learning management system since 2019, with more than 8,000 LinkedIn Learning courses available to employees.
Thomas HouckKevin BaggettJordan Mort Raymond
Sarah Lilley
DennisKeelingCueva
Year
TRAINING
17,8122,722886
2021
LEAD Program
9.1%
- Online learning - In-person and virtual sessions - A job shadow - Mentorship program Leadership Academy
CNUC conducts a formal orientation for all new hires which includes a comprehensive review of our company history and culture. New employees walk away with an understanding of our vision, mission, and values since we take time to review each in detail. Particular focus is also
Onboarding
True Colors
placed on job-related safety topics, key policies and procedures, and employee benefits and resources. Since we are an employee-owned company, we discuss our ESOP program so new employees have a better understanding of what the expectations are as employee owners. Our employee development program is also discussed in detail so that they know the importance of setting personal and professional goals. In 2021, 99 onboardings were completed.
OPPORTUNITIESEDUCATION&
Each year CNUC hosts a week-long Leadership Academy for a group of CNUC employees. The employees selected are nominated as potential future leaders in our organization. During Leadership Academy, attendees are provided leadership training by management, opportunities to network with employees from across North America, visit the corporate office, meet support staff, as well as gain skills to enhance their careers. Our 2021 cohort of Leadership Academy included 24 employees that traveled from across the country from all six divisions. The 2021 cohort brings the Leadership Academy alumni count to 101, since the program’s inception in 2014. Number of Alumni Number of Alumni Still Active 2020 0* 0* 24 22 TOTAL 101 38 *2020 was skipped due to COVID-19.
Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement21
WORKFORCE GROWTH RATE IN 2021 - Book review - Dale Carnegie course - Capstone article and presentation
The LEAD Program is a two-year, WSC sponsored leadership, training and development program. Following a nomination process, individuals who have shown they are dedicated to their career and growth within our family of companies are selected. We utilize this program to give selected employees a comprehensive perspective of our family of companies, a platform for cross-company networking, and the tools to enhance their leadership potential.
Learningcompleted
The latest cohort, which took place 100% virtually except for their final session leading to graduation, concluded their journey in November 2021 and completed a total of 1,632 training hours. Four CNUC team members have participated in LEAD. Although the LEAD Program has continued to evolve over the years, the foundation of the curriculum has remained the same with a mix of:
2014 8 6 2014 6 3 2016 14 3 2017 18 5 2018 14 6 2019 17 5
True Colors® a personality assessment that focuses on communication style, is used to boost interdepartmental and team cooperation. Each employee completes a survey and is given a portfolio with potential strengths, weaknesses, and strategies for communicating with people of different personalities. This improves employee self-awareness and conflict resolution. Three WSC employees are certified True Colors facilitators. In addition, new employees will be assigned training on WSCU to review key communication topics.
continued
hours in LinkedIn Learning videos completed in LinkedIn hours of development training (~9 hours per employee)
Health Insurance
SERVICE - CNUC ESOP CONTRIBUTION - CNUC 5oryearsless 78% years6-10 16% 11-15 years 5% vested60% 9% vested80% 7%
Tobacco free lifestyles save money ($312 annually or $26 monthly) on insurance plans and cessation programs are in place to seek help with Thequitting.Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a professional and confidential, short-term counseling service available to the employee and their immediate family. This benefit is a company paid benefit and is offered to the employee at no cost. Immediate telephone access to a counselor is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Resources include up to three sessions for in-person appointments per separate issue per year, legal services, financial consultation, and eldercare resources. Those in need can visit a doctor on their smartphone, tablet or computer from virtually anywhere and offered at no cost. Doctor on Demand offers no cost, virtual doctor visits with board-certified doctors who can treat most common medical conditions and prescribe medication.
26-30 years 1% YEARS
Benefits
ESOP & DSU CNUC has been a proud employee-owned company since 2007. With shared ownership with WSC’s ESOP, it helps promote a positive, unique organizational culture and supports company success. The ESOP is also designed to assist our employees with their retirement and provide them with a financial stake in the company. For our customers and partners, we are empowered to provide exceptional service and innovative solutions. At all levels of the company, our customers and partners work with an employee owner – individuals who are invested in the success of the company and the quality of service we deliver. The ESOP enables employees to directly affect profitability and value and see the results. Employees have pride in the company and a vested interest in making sure the value of their account grows. The ESOP has also allowed the company to protect jobs and support the communities we work in.
vested20% 39% vested40% 23% vested100% 23% ESOP
HEALTH WELLNESSAND LONGEVITY
DSU Stats A Deferred Shared Unit (DSU) plan was established for Wright Canada Holdings Ltd. (WCH) and its subsidiaries to provide similar benefits to our Canadian employees. Look for our inaugural WCH report in 2022 for DSU-related data. StatsOF
CNUC, as a WSC company, provides both full-time and part-time positions with a benefits package that far exceeds the industry standard. Employees are eligible for comprehensive benefits such as health insurance plans, life and disability insurance, paid time off, a 401(k) plan including match, and ESOP profit sharing.
Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement22
CNUC, as a WSC company, provides medical with prescription coverage, dental, & vision insurance to all eligible non-union employees. Plans are offered either as individual or family. Family plans are not limited to number of dependents. CNUC pays a portion of these insurance fees to provide competitive premium rates for employee’s insurance packages.
EMPLOYEE WELLBEING GOALS
Diversity & Inclusion: Increase reporting capabilities on workforce demographics in 2022 with Workday.
Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
continued Retirement CNUC, as a WSC company, offers a comprehensive 401(k) retirement savings plan. Employees at least 18 years of age are eligible when they have completed one year of service with at least 1,000 hours. Plan entry dates are April 1 or October 1, following eligibility.
LONGEVITY
Regarding WSC’s 401(k) employees from the WSC family of companies (in the U.S.) contributed to their retirement plans. When looking at the end of 2021, 92% of those eligible were contributing to their retirement savings during this timeframe.
Diversity & Inclusion: Research vendors and partners to provide more inclusive and gender-specific PPE for our employees. Education & Development: Target a 2% increase per employee in enhanced training and development. Employee Well-being: Conduct a survey for total reward offerings and preferences to employees by 2023.
Effective October 1, 2015 WSC added a Safe Harbor Match Program to their 401(K) offering, matching 100% of the first 3%, plus an additional 50% of the next 2% employees would contribute to their retirement savings. The matching funds are placed in the ESOP account. Meaning, employees should contribute at least 5% annually to receive the full company match. These company-matched contributions are 100% vested immediately.
Effective October 1, 2017 WSC enacted an Automatic Enrollment Program, implementing an automatic 3% pre-tax 401(k) enrollment process for all eligible employees which increases contributions from salary pay by 1% each year until 10% is reached (opt-out available). This was enacted to ensure employees were taking steps for their financial security in the future.
Safety
As a company in the environmental services industry, we strive to protect and preserve all ecosystems. We continue to reduce our footprint and promote carbon positive practices at our office and in the communities we serve.
SUSTAINABILITYENVIRONMENTAL
Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
In 2019, CNUC manager of R&D Philip Chen help found the Utility Arborist Association (UAA) Environmental Stewardship Committee (ESC) and chairs the committee. The UAA ESC works to support UAA members in better practice and focus on environmental stewardship in UVM. Most recently, a task force brought together by the UAA ESC that included Derek Vannice and other industry leaders put together a toolkit on compatible species management for targeted species and biodiversity. This toolkit included a companion guide to the IVM BMP, 3rd edition, resources for UVM managers to build the business case for IVM, and guidance on building scope of work documents that encourage and reward management activities that promote compatible species and biodiversity.
ROW Stewardship Accreditation
Outside of the ROWSC, CNUC has been involved in other organizations leading the focus on environmental stewardship within the UVM industry.
IMPACT AREA BIODIVERSITY/NATURAL ENVIRONMENT 51,731 INVENTORIEDTREES IN URBAN FORESTS 3 OF CNUC’S CLIENTS ARE RECOGNIZED BY THE ROW STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL AS RIGHT-OF-WAY STEWARD UTILITIES.
In 2013, CNUC President Derek Vannice, alongside a group of ROW managers recognized the importance of the tenants of IVM to sound UVM. In addition, the management activities following the 2003 blackout, though leading to stronger reliability of our transmission electric system, had unintended consequences and in many places, these activities were leading to unnecessary disruptive impacts on the environment. With this realization, this group formed the Right-of-Way Stewardship Council (ROWSC) which formalized the criteria to establish excellence in IVM and established the only accreditation program that has standards for responsible ROW vegetation management. This accreditation is a voluntary program that verifies the application of IVM and provides companies a way to demonstrate not only their commitment to maintaining the reliability of our electric system but to address ecological concerns.
Through the UVM inspection and auditing service offering, CNUC currently works across 30 states and one Canadian province. CNUC provides operational support to 31 utility clients, including 22 investorowned utilities, four cooperative utilities, three federal/provincial utilities, and two public utilities. In 2021, CNUC Division 30, our Research & Development division, provided operational and strategic consulting services to seven utilities (two investor-owned, two cooperative, one government, one public and one private) in six US states and one Canadian province. Additionally, they provided asset inspection services for one telecom company and conducted urban forest inventory projects for four municipalities in 2021. To date, CNUC has inventoried 51,731 trees in urban forest projects through its growing Urban Forestry service.
25 Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
CNUC leadership has always had a strong commitment to managing ROWs with an approach that pays mind to the natural environment. Managing ROWs is a complex task and must consider ecological systems which are difficult to predict and are ever-changing. For this reason, CNUC feels that IVM provides both a structure and flexibility that is well aligned to the management of ROW ecosystems. Following the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) development of the A300 standards, including ANSI A300 Part-7 – Integrated Vegetation Management standard, the ISA developed a series of BMPs to interpret the tree care standards for arborists and other tree workers. CNUC Director of R&D Randall Miller is the author of the IVM BMP. In 2021, Randall along with a new review committee representing the various stakeholders in the tree care industry drafted a new third edition of the IVM BMP.
Best Management Practices
Utility Arborist Association Environmental Stewardship Committee
continued
As a part of this work, CNUC staff visited each plot and collected a list of species present, abundance of each, and tagged each with the matching Coefficient of Conservatism (CofC), invasive/native, compatible/incompatible, shrub/graminoid/forb, percent dominance, and bloom activity presence/absence. Additionally, the data was fed through the Right-of-Way as Habitat Working Group score card, Tier 3 (Tier 3 Scorecard) to determine the quality of habitat provided by the vegetative community at each plot. These metrics are now being leveraged as a baseline for Liberty’s system. As each plot receives maintenance, CNUC will return to resurvey the plots. This allows CNUC and Liberty to determine how the management activities are are impacting the vegetation communities, primarily identified by shifts in mean CofC, and the Tier 3 Scorecard. Through this work, CNUC CUF Chet Ellis has identified 600 unique species on Liberty’s ROW. Additionally, two state and federally listed species were recorded, and multiple new county records have been identified.
Liberty Utilities- Empire District (Liberty), a client of CNUC, reached out with a request to determine a way to quantify and track habitat on their Right-of-Way (ROW) to allow Liberty to participate in the Monarch CCAA and to better allow Liberty to contribute biodiversity data to their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report. CNUC and Terra Spectrum Technologies (TST) collaborated to develop a data collection protocol in FieldNote® to accomplish these goals. CNUC then established plots on Liberty’s system and an inspection protocol to measure and describe the vegetative communities.
BIODIVERSITY/NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
Rights-of-Way as Habitat Working Group
Philip Chen, manager of research and development, is an active member of the Right-of-Way as Habitat Working Group (ROWHWG) based at the University of Illinois- Chicago Energy Resources Center. The ROWHWG brings together partners from multiple industries in relating to transportation and energy to share knowledge and build capacity for habitat conservation on working landscapes. The group includes more than 400 organizations from across private industry, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and academia in the US and Canada.
NGEMC ROW Reclamation Project
North Georgia EMC, CNUC, and Jackson State University partnered to establish pollinator habitats along the ROW of northern Georgia. The purpose of the project was to create and promote plant communities for pollinators by reclaiming the ROWs for native grasses and lowgrowing vegetation while simultaneously increasing the safety and reliability of the power lines. The project had three major study sites located in the towns of Fort Oglethorpe, Ringgold, and Crandall. Interns measured study plots, completed scorecards, mapped points utilizing drones, and recorded audio. Field inspections captured visual observations of the site, while the drone footage created multiple models including how the study sites change over time. The audio recordings created a soundscape to tell about those specific site pollinator populations, other animals, climate, and human traffic. Looking to the future, the goal is to have electric companies all over the United States using these IVM methods to not only create pollinator habitat, but to also reduce the risk of vegetation-related outages. By completing this project, we hope to slowly regrow the fragmented grasslands of the southeast and boost the local native grasses, wildflowers, and pollinators populations.
26 Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
Recognizing the major declines in monarch butterfly populations, the impact an endangered listing would have on energy companies, and the positive impact that transportation and energy working lands could have in helping provide habitat the ROWHWG created through a national, multi-sector collaborative effort a Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) with the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) for the monarch butterfly. The CCAA encourages landowners and land managers to adopt measures to create net conservation benefits for the monarch butterfly and in return, the USFWS provides assurances to enrolled organizations that no additional regulatory requirements will be imposed beyond the agreement should the listing of the monarch occur. Through the CCAA, the ROWHWG expects to contribute 300 million stems of milkweed and 2.3 million acres of monarch foraging habitat over the coming decades. Never has a voluntary conservation agreement of this scale been created. It is the first-of-its-kind in terms of both geographic extent (includes 48 states) and its broad multi-sector collaboration including electric and gas utility companies, state departments of transportation, railroads, and renewable energy working lands. As a part of this CCAA, metrics and targets were determined, and monitoring tools and protocols were developed. The resulting deliverable created is the Pollinator Habitat Scorecard, developed by a task force that included CNUC leadership. Additionally, CNUC helped to fund the development of the scorecard. CNUC staff uses the scorecard as well. Read more about how CNUC CUF Chet Ellis has been utilizing the Pollinator Habitat Scorecard and other tools to measure habitat on Liberty Utility ROWs below.
Liberty Utilities ROW Habitat Monitoring Project
Fleet & Equipment
CNUC is efficient in our resource use. Approximately half of our employees work exclusively from the field, and several from their home offices and do not report to a physical office building. We do have two office buildings; one in California and the WSC corporate office is available as needed in West Des Moines, Iowa. The CNUC team has a fleet of company vehicles and ATVs to complete work across the country and in Canada.
The WSC BSA team have been driving this relationship. As a team they collaborate with users to conceptualize capabilities, gather report requests, and complete troubleshooting. They quarterback conversations with subject matter experts related to system enhancements, product, and service recommendations, along with ensuring daily tasks and usual business within those systems can be completed unimpeded.
We are often the primary or direct link to WSC for our vendor partners and provide feedback and guidance on how our companies utilize their products and services and collaborate to provide considerations for them on any potential development needs that may exist or present themselves.”
Fuel Usage Geotab, together with WEX (a fuel card that helps companies save costs with automatic fuel expense tracking, employee spending controls, purchase alerts, and exclusive discounts) allows for the tracking of fuel efficiency. Some fuel is provided via bulk fueling which is not included in annual reporting at this time. Bulk fuel, when available, is an efficient way to prepare the fleet without spending excess labor time and resources to travel to the nearest fueling station.
Recycling
BIODIVERSITY/NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
27 Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
Of the 461 U.S. vehicles with the Geotab tracking technology, the fleet traveled 8,293,693 miles in 2021. For Canada, 2021 was the first year using Geotab on eight vehicles that travelled 11,300 miles. Unproductive idle time is currently being tracked along with miles per gallon efficiency.
Resource Use
CNUC and the entire WSC family of companies has had the opportunity to be front and center to several exciting things with Geotab. With the support and guidance of our Geotab reseller, Gridline, our companies were the first in the world to see and experience, pilot and deploy a Geotab/Lytx integration that allows the Lytx user interface to be visible interactive within Geotab. Our companies were recommended and selected as a participant in the Geotab Global Advisory Group. This group meets quarterly to “take a peek under the hood” of Geotab roadmap ideas and strategies, with an opportunity to weigh in on and collaborate on product and service decisions, business needs and pose questions to Geotab leadership and other Geotab clients around the world.
The WSC information technology department provides company devices to all WSC subsidiaries. They redeploy and fix devices as possible and recycle laptops, cellphones, and tablets at the end of their life. In 2021, 1,480 total pounds of E-waste was recycled with a local certified recycler, Midwest Electronic Recovery. Since implementing the program, WSC has recycled 6,054 pounds of electronic waste.
continued
Lucas Loftin, BSA Team Lead
28 Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement CONSULTING MAP *Hawaii isn’t to scale MN IA LA AR MO IL WI MI IN OH KY TN MS AL GA SC NC WVVA PA NY ME FL NJ NH VT MA CT RI MD DE WA OR NV AZ NM CO UT ID MT WY AK TX SD ND NE KS OK BC AB SK MB ON HI Tree AssetInventoriesInspection MAP KEY CONSULTING MAP
Resource Use: Begin a GHG inventory (following the GHG Protocol and Corporate Standard) with 2022 serving as the base year.
Impact Area: Establish a means to track total acres impacted through services. Fuel Use: Establish a baseline metric for unproductive idle time to inform future reduction goals for 2023.
OPERATIONS MAP
SUSTAINABILITYENVIRONMENTALGOALS
29 Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement OPERATIONS MAP *Hawaii isn’t to scale MN IA LA AR MO IL WI MI IN OH KY TN MS AL GA SC NC WVVA PA NY ME FL NJ NH VT MA CT RI MD DE WA OR CA NV AZ NM CO UT ID MT WY AK TX SD ND NE KS OK BC AB SK MB ON HI
CNUC supports activities that benefit our employees and add value to the communities where we live and work. Through monetary and in-kind donations such as labor or education, we’re able to support various causes and organizations that align with our values. We take pride in building and developing relationships with our employees, clients and communities.
Safety
Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
ENGAGEMENTCOMMUNITY
One Tree Planted
31 Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
CONTRIBUTIONS
$1K ANNUAL DONATION TO THE ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION TREE REPLANTING 60 VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTEDHOURSASA TREE FUND BOARD MEMBER AT $180/HOUR=$12,420 $5,000 DONATION AS A THEPARTNER“SILVER”TOTREEFUND $4,000 DONATION WITH A TOTAL OF 4 RIDERS ($1,000/TOUR DES TREES RIDER) $18,500 RAISEDTOTAL
TREE Fund
Arbor Day CNUC annually supports Arbor Day with volunteer hours across the country planting trees and educating the caring and importance of sustainably protecting our planet’s natural resources.
During the holiday season, on behalf our clients, we donated $1,000 to plant 1,000 trees in California in their honor. We are a distinguished partner of One Tree Planted whose contributions have been and continue to be essential to the reforestation, conservation and protection of endangered forests around the world.
Arbor Day Foundation Tree Replanting CNUC believes in supporting large scale replanting efforts that benefit our communities and our forests. We make an annual donation to support the Arbor Day Foundation’s annual initiative.
BY CNUC RIDERS TOUR DES TREES
The Tour des Trees is an annual long-distance cycling adventure which serves as the primary public outreach and community engagement event for TREE Fund. The Tour des Trees serves to advance TREE Fund’s mission to explore and share the science of trees contributing to the lives of people, communities, economies, and the environment, and of the planning, planting, and sustainability of urban and community trees. (Treefund.org)
The TREE Fund is a charitable grant-making organization established to support urban and community forest, the utility rights-of-way that connect them, and the skilled professionals who plan, plant, manage and maintain them. (Treefund.org)
$100,000,000 APPROPRIATED TO THE HEALTHY STREETS PROGRAM EACH FISCAL
32 Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
Utility IndustryInvolvementAssociationArborist(UAA)andSupport
CONTRIBUTIONS
Urban Forestry and Promotion of Greenspace
Contract Spotlight
The Healthy Streets Program was appropriated $100,000,000 each fiscal year 2022-2026 with a goal of deploying cool pavements and porous pavements and expanding urban tree cover. A major use of these funds is directed at comprehensive tree canopy assessments in urban environments with a focus on low-income communities. These canopy assessments involve the inventory and assessment of trees on public facilities and locations in which trees need to be replaced or added. CNUC has been working with communities across the US in this work through our new Urban Forestry service offerings which are currently focused on urban forest inventories. This service offering is relatively new, but we expect it to grow in the coming years both with focused attention from our R&D team and with a potential increase in available projects through the creation of the Healthy Streets Program.
ELECTRIC POWER BOARD (EPB)CHATTANOOGA, TN
CNUC has six employees working on EPB property. In 2021, they planned work on 3,399 properties. Through that work, they made contact or notified 1,218 homeowners. 43% of the notification occurred via door hangers, 2% via telephone, and 53% were done face-to-face. This means that the six-person team at EPB each had in-person conversations with 108 homeowners on average in 2021. YEAR 2022-2026
continued United Way CNUC made charitable donations to various United Way events throughout the country. During 2021, the donation total was $1,400
One of the most important roles we play as consulting utility foresters (CUF) for our clients is that of customer communication and education. Through our work, whether through customer notification of planned work, responding to customer requests, or customer interactions following storm events, we are often the primary point of contact for our clients’ customers. In this front-line position, we are often the liaison between the customers, utility, and tree crews. We play an important role in building transparency and understanding of the work to be performed. In addition, we are offered an opportunity to provide education to utility customers about trees, tree biology, UVM, right-tree right-place, and many other important aspects of our work. From helping a customer understand why their tree needs to be pruned, to simply helping a homeowner to learn what tree species are in their yard, we are impacting lives and expanding knowledge of both UVM and the natural environment each day.
CNUC receives the Utility Arborist Association’s Partners in Excellence award on an annual basis. This award is given to companies that go above and beyond to support the UAA’s mission by volunteering, sponsoring, advertising, and by being a member.
&COMMUNICATIONCUSTOMEREDUCATION
Fiscal Year Urban Trees Pre 2020 1,167 2020 38,498 2021 12,066 TOTAL 57,731
Today the benefits of trees are no secret. Trees provide benefits from increasing property values to assisting with storm water management. Particularly in urban settings, trees also provide better public health outcomes. Trees reduce concentrations of particulate matter, the most damaging form of air pollution. They mitigate hot summer air temperatures both providing shade and releasing water into the atmosphere. That’s not all, many studies have also found that presence of trees adds to decreased stress levels and even helps to promote physical fitness. The benefits of trees are so well recognized as an urban asset that they were considered in the latest infrastructure bill. In the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law in November 2021 (117-58) provides funds for a grant program known as the “Healthy Streets Program”.
Inventoried
- Phil Chen serves as chair of the UAA Environmental Stewardship Committee (2019-present)
Members from all levels of the CNUC team write articles that are submitted to various industry publications on a variety of topics that appeal to that publication’s readership. Publications include the Utility Arborist Association’s magazine Utility Arborist Newsline T&D World Magazine, Arborist News, RE Magazine, and more – in both digital and print formats. Notable articles include topics on safety, diversity and inclusion, crisis management, continuing education, and more.
&COMMUNICATIONCUSTOMEREDUCATION
ECONOMIC IMPACT
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
33
- Phil Chen serves on the Iowa Urban Tree Council Board (2020-present) - Phil Chen serves as secretary for the Iowa Society of American Foresters (2019-present) - Derek Vannice served with UAA & ISA (1992-2011)
CNUC tracks and reports on diverse supplier spend annually. 2021: 0.15% Total Diverse Spend Small Business Supplier Spend 0.13 % Minority, Women, Veteran-owned Spend 0.02%
INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP - TCIA - Utility Arborist Association (UAA) - International Society of Arboriculture ISA Chapters – various chapters across the U.S. LEADERSHIP INVOLVEMENT - Randall H. Miller serves on the ISA Board August (2021-present)
- Randall H. Miller served on the Tree Fund Board (2009-2016 and 20172021). He served as Chair of the Board in 2015 and 2016 - Derek Vannice served on the ROW Stewardship Council (2013-present)
Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
Company Memberships & Certifications
CNUC distributes press releases to local and national news entities as well as industry publications in an effort to share information with industry partners and the general public. Many press releases are focused on CNUC promotions and appointments of leadership.
PUBLICATIONS & PRESS RELEASES
During the 2021 fiscal year, CNUC employees completed 15 -presentations.“WeareaLifeline”
Ontario Vegetation Management Association Annual Meeting, Phil Chen - “The Efficacy of Utility Vegetation Management Cycles”- ISA International, Phil Chen - “An Overview of Utility Arboriculture”- Utah Green Industry Conference, Randall H. Miller - “Electrical Safety”- Michigan ArborCon, Randall H. Miller - “The New CNUC-UW-Stevens Point UVM Survey”- Wisconsin Arborist Association, Randall H. Miller - “The Revised IVM BMP”- New Jersey Arborist Association, Randall H. Miller - “The Revised IVM BMP”- Professional Vegetation Management Association Annual Meeting, Randall H. Miller - “An Overview of Utility Arboriculture” Utah State University, Randall H. Miller - “UVM on Federal Lands” Appalachian Vegetation Management Association, Randall H. Miller - “Tree Risk Assessment” State University of New York (SUNY), Sarah Lilley - “An Overview of Utility Arboriculture” University of WisconsinStevens Point, Randall H. Miller - “Electrical Safety and Industrial Incident Prevention” Atlas Tree Service Industry Specific Workshop, Randall H. Miller - “The New IVM BMP” Manitoba-Saskatchewan Integrated Vegetation Management Association Conference, Randall H. Miller - “Trees, Woodlands, Lawns and Right-of-ways: Best Practices for Biodiversity” USDA Forest Service Webinar, Randall H. Miller
REPUTATION
continued Today, we don’t have these precise metrics for each of our contracts but imagine that the EPB team is representative of CNUC on this aspect. In 2021, CNUC had 386 employees, this means as an organization we may have had face-to-face educational conversations with 47,752 homeowners in 2021 alone. Imagine the impact we are having and will continue to have in building transparency, trust, and understanding.
Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
REPUTATION continued
CAREER FAIRS Northeast division conducted two career fairs and southeast division conducted three virtual and one in person event in 2021.
CNUC engages in elementary school presentations to speak about the vegetation and forestry industry as a career option at a young age. Predominantly CNUC staff leaders will deliver guest presentations at universities and attend college career fairs. CNUC offers internships to college students. - Utah State University 2/25/2021 - University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point 5/4/2021
During the 2021 fiscal year, CNUC employees wrote eight articles. - Utility Arborist Newsline Op-Ed “Have UVM programs missed the point of IVM?”, Phil Chen - Utility Arborist Newsline “Spotlight on the Environment: 2021 Goals”, Phil Chen - Utility Arborist Newsline “The New IVM BMP”, Randall H. Miller - Utility Arborist Newsline “The New CNUC- UW-Stevens Point Survey”, Randall H. Miller - Utility Arborist Newsline “The Midwestern Derecho”, Randall H. Miller - Utility Arborist Newsline “UW-Stevens Point-CNUC UVM Survey Communications Section”, Randall H. Miller - International Society of Arboriculture Brochure “Avoiding Tree and Power Line Conflicts”, Randall H. Miller - Utility Arborist Newsline “Crisis Management: A Primer”, Todd Walker
YOUTH CAREER EXPLORATION & SKILL DEVELOPMENT
GOALS
Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
Youth Interaction: Create program to track career fairs attended.
Reputation: Continue to recommend that all management serve on an industry committee.
ENGAGEMENTCOMMUNITY
Contribution: Increase opportunities for employees to partake in volunteer events as a company and encourage volunteer opportunities outside of work hours.
CLOSING
The WSC family of companies and our employees strive to live out our values and will continue to improve our sustainable practices to ensure a safe and bright future for our employee owners. We’re committed to a better world for all, by investing in the communities we serve through innovation, integrity and teamwork. We want to ensure that the decisions we make today make a positive impact on our employees, clients, community and the environment.
An evaluation by EcoPractices®, a sustainability risk management tool from Sustainable Environmental Consultants, a sister company to CNUC (a WSC subsidiary) in partnership with WSC. This report is intended to showcase the sustainability journey of CNUC, dedicated to recognizing their responsibility toward their mission, vision and values for their employee owners, partners, clients, and the public. This preliminary Corporate Social Responsibility Report will be further expanded upon in the coming years to comply with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards.
APPENDIX
Safety Employee Well-being Environmental Sustainability Community Engagement
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