UGI Energy Services Blog

It’s officially winter! If you’re from the northeast U.S., snowstorms are likely headed your way. Though they can be magical and exciting, storms and other bad weather can lead to power and other outages. Outages can quickly become dangerous, sometimes lasting days or longer.

Outages can affect entire communities. They can disrupt communication, water availability, and transportation; close businesses like grocery stores, gas stations, banks, and more; cause food and water contamination; and prevent the use of medical devices or medicine refrigeration.

As a business owner, being prepared and knowing what to do before, during, and after a power outage can help keep your staff and customers safe.

Today is Energy Efficiency Day, which happens to occur during the Energy Awareness month of October! According to the Energy Efficiency Website – “The Energy Efficiency Day message is simple: “Save Money. Cut Pollution. Create Jobs.” Since the inaugural Energy Efficiency Day in 2016, this annual awareness event has been supported by hundreds of prominent organizations, companies, government agencies and others. Our goal is to share tips, tools and stories that promote the multiple benefits of energy efficiency, from lower costs to healthier homes. Energy efficiency is the cheapest, quickest way to meet our energy needs, cut consumer bills and reduce pollution. Energy efficiency is also an economic engine, supporting over two million jobs nationwide in manufacturing, construction and other fields – most of which can’t be outsourced overseas.”

Did you know that last month was National Safety Month? In 1996, the National Safety Council (NSC) established June as National Safety Month in the United States. The goal of this Summer Safety Month is to increase public awareness of the leading safety and health risks that are increased in the summer months to decrease the number of injuries and deaths at homes and workplaces. The areas of safety are split into 4 parts: musculoskeletal disorders, workplace impairment, injury prevention and slips, trips and falls. In the summer months, we typically see more dehydration and other heat-related illnesses due to the warm temperatures, car accidents and fatalities due to higher traffic volumes from vacationing, injuries from outdoor activities such as the swimming pool or bicycling, and more. By putting emphasis on these areas of safety in the workplace, an employer as well as the employee can protect themselves from injury or harm. Knowing that the following 4 areas are prominent when it comes to the workplace, one can focus on their prevention through education and training.

Spring has sprung! Gone are the days of frigid temps, snowy nights & having to heat up your car before going anywhere! (Okay, so maybe it did snow this week, but we can have high hopes it was the last one of the season!) Spirits are high and everyone is happy to be able to be outside instead of cooped up at home or in the office. Spring is an opportunity to start clean and refresh everything for the warmer months ahead. This goes for more than just one’s self and wellbeing – it also applies to the home & to the business! We have put together some ways to prepare your office or business for spring – and we hope this allows for a fresh start for this season.