As part of the American Public Power Association’s ongoing efforts to help member utilities to maintain high levels of safety, Greg Labbé has joined APPA as a Senior Operations Safety Specialist, effective Feb. 3.
Labbé is coming out of retirement to take on the new role at APPA after working at Louisiana public power utility Lafayette Utilities System for 39 years.
In his new role, Labbé will be responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of key APPA member safety programs and groups, including the APPA eSafety Tracker application, the APPA Safety Manual, the APPA Safety Committee, the APPA Safety Awards of Excellence program, and OSHA grant programs.
He will provide technical and analytical assistance and support to APPA members and staff on member-service related regulatory, and compliance issues as directed and serve as a technical product manager in developing safety software applications and services for members.
“On day one, Greg will be able to leverage his wealth of experience to take APPA’s portfolio of safety programs and resources to the next level,” said Scott Corwin, President and CEO of APPA.
“While safety has always been a priority for the public power community, we know that it requires an ongoing focus to maintain high levels of safety for our members,” Corwin said.
At the end of 2024, Labbé retired from LUS as the Electric Operations manager at the utility.
Labbé held several positions in the Electric Operations Section. He began his career at LUS in 1985 as a Substation and Communication Technician, then moved to a Substation and Communication Foreman, Transmission and Distribution Foreman, Transmission and Distribution Operations Supervisor.
Labbé was responsible for the day-to-day operation of the electric transmission and distribution system including Transmission and Distribution Operations, Field Operations, Energy Control, Substations and Communication, Facilities Management, and the Warehouse.
He has served on the APPA Engineering and Operations System Planning Committee as chair. He is also a past member of the APPA RP3 committee and the Screening Task Force.
He is a past member of the APPA Mutual Aid Working Group, APPA Safety Manual Revisions Task Force and was on the Advisory Board for SLCC Line worker program.