This is more for the aerial construction guys but is somewhat universal:
I helped start this section because when I first started in cable there was no safety, no hardhats, signs, cones, anything and think it's important to pass on some information that I've learned to help save lives. We all have heard at least 1 story of a person dying on the job, probably a lot more. The most important thing about safety is training and being able to adapt to the situation at hand. It doesn't take much time or money to get CPR/BLS training from the Red Cross and it may help save someone's life. OSHA 10 and 30hr courses are also a good investment to help prevent accidents.
The AED or Automated External Defibrillator was actually first designed for lineman to help restart the heart after a major electric shock and now has help save tens of thousands of lives. We are in one of the most dangerous jobs in the world and every little bit of training can help reduce the number of accidents and deaths. The AED is a great tool to have on a truck, as is burn gel blankets, fire ext, hot stick with cutout/disconnect puller, first aid kit and anything else that that can help save lives.
A lot of people don't know what to do when a boom contacts power. We may not have the time to wait for a electric company to come and turn the power off, more so in remote areas than in urban areas. One thing we can do is pull the cutouts/disconnects and stop the flow of power to the injured person or object that is at risk. THIS MUST ONLY BE DONE IN AN EMERGENCY, DO NOT MESS WITH POWER OTHERWISE. Say you have a guy that is in the bucket that contacts power, try to drive him out of power line. If unable to move the truck and the truck is on fire, DON'T EVER STEP OFF ON TO THE GROUND, jump with both feet off of the step and as far away from the truck as you can. Try to keep a hot stick, hot gloves and dielectric overshoes in the cab so you may be able to hit the lower switch and get him out of power.
On every job you should identify where power is feeding from and where the disco's are. Check the insulator and wire size to better understand the amount of power overhead, the more there is, the farther you need to be away from it. Traveling grounds should be used at every 1000', they only take 30s to install. On uninsulated booms, whenever your jigging strand, try to isolate it from the truck with rope or a fiberglass link stick. I've seen strand 3' away from power get sucked into primary and help in place like a magnet. Also strand brakes are a great tool to have at road crossings, they are very inexpensive ($20) and will help prevent a tractor trailer from pulling a poleline down.
A lot of guys tape nuts to the top of the T40 stick, while it may be easier to to get around, it may help kill you. Everyone knows that trucks in general can do weird shit so removing a simple safety device like that can cause a major catastrophe if a tree branch gets caught in it. Companies should have monthly training on such things like:
CPR/BLS
Aerial Rescue
Pole Climbing Safety
Confined Space Rescue
Basic Grounding and Isolation
ALS
This forum is new but the issues are old, if you guys ever have any questions about where to get training or equipment please feel free to email/PM me.
Importance Of Safety Training
Member #: 20347
Registered: 1996-2001
Posted:
113
Name:
Bull
Occupation:
Overhead Linemen
Location:
Easement
Personal:
early 40s
Experience:
~27 years
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