Anchorage Assembly to consider $1.2 million safety review contract for water and sewer utility

The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday, Oct. 6, will consider a contract worth up to $1.2 million for Nortech, Inc. to check the safety programs of Anchorage's water and sewer utility crews against how they actually work. If approved, the work would run through the end of 2028.

The utility's performance report logged a 2024 recordable injury rate of 1.68, below its goal of 4.60.

Nortech would survey fall hazards across the utility's main operating facilities and suggest ways to reduce them, along with inventorying confined spaces (enclosed areas like tanks), writing entry procedures, and conducting job hazard assessments and safety policy reviews, according to the Assembly memorandum. The review would follow the inspection logic of the OSHA Field Operations Manual, the federal safety inspectors' guide.

Two firms bid on the contract. A four-member committee scored Nortech above Bradstone Holdings, LLC on May 15. Safety Manager Joseph Debets recommended the award, and Mayor Suzanne LaFrance submitted it to the Assembly.

Water and sewer operating budgets would split the cost evenly. This year's share is $224,348. The 2027 share of $496,928 and the 2028 share of $478,410 remain subject to appropriation.