POWERGRAMS

6 discharges are clean, national accreditation provides the public added assurance that the company's environmental field activities have been performed with competence and have been properly documented. "Environmental data quality cannot be assured unless there are quality standards for all steps of the sample collection and measurement process," Sieweke said. "Achieving the FSMO accreditation was no easy task," said Bill Garre, supervisor of compliance studies. "It took two years to establish a strong quality-management system. It required teamwork and contributions from everyone involved in the process." Sieweke said aaining accreditation was "a group effort requiring everyone's buy-in to a new culture of performing our work." To strengthen quality control, the water field groups brought in outside assessors to conduct audits to make sure the 30 employees were geing it right by FSMO standards. When the A2LA came calling on Oct. 25-26, 2016, it was an important time of evaluation. The Alabama Power group passed with flying colors, with A2LA assessors finding no deficiencies, leading to accreditation being granted Nov. 7. "It was a monumental accomplishment to have no findings from the audit," said Supervisor of Water Field Services Jason Carlee. "They told us this seldom happens, especially among initial accreditation assessments," Sieweke said. "I am proud of our team for coming together, working hard and achieving this significant achievement," said Markell Heilbron, manager of Lab and Field Services. "It is a huge milestone in the history of Alabama Power's Environmental Field Services groups and a first for the utility industry." by Gilbert Nicholson Strong seals a water sample for further analysis in the laboratory. PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILLY BROWN

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