Southern Company has earned the 2016 Industry Excellence Award for Safety from the Southeastern Electric Exchange for the company's "SO Safe" employee competition – a collaborative internal effort that generated more than 900 ideas to improve safety for the company and industry. SEE, an association of investor-owned electric utility companies, recognized Southern Company at an awards ceremony Wednesday, June 29 in New Orleans.

"The SO Safe competition was a natural extension of our company's commitment to ensuring the safety and health of all our employees," said Southern Company Chief Operating Officer Kimberly S. Greene. "Our employees together generated hundreds of innovative ideas to improve the most important part of our business – keeping the hard-working men and women of Southern Company safe."

SO Safe was launched in 2015 as an internal competition challenging employees to critically assess Southern Company's safety performance. The competition was designed to bolster the company's long-standing commitment to a culture of safety by institutionalizing an inventive spirit and encouraging collaboration across the enterprise.

Every employee across the system was invited to vote and provide rigorous feedback on the more than 900 ideas submitted, which culminated in six winners. The winning ideas are now moving to pilot stage for further development and possible implementation.