3 Important Lessons Every Lineman Needs to Know
Every apprentice hears these on day one. Then a few years go by, the work gets routine, and somebody starts skipping steps because “they know what they’re doing” or they think they are a super lineman. That's usually when it goes wrong.
These three lessons aren't new. They're the ones that keep showing up in incident reports when they get ignored. Rain, darkness, 16-hour days and crews that don't know each other make all three easier to forget, especially on storm.
Communication is Key
You are your brother's keeper. Most bad days in the field don't start with a bad lineman. They start with two people who each thought the other one knew the plan.
Why it matters
One wrong assumption is enough. If the guy you’re working with thinks you are clear and they energize something you are working on, you could earn yourself a trip to the hospital.
Storm crews are mixed. You might be working with guys you met that morning, from a different company, who do things differently than you're used to and have different work practices than you.
Fatigue kills focus. By week two of 16s, everybody's sharp edge is gone. Talking it out is how the crew catches what one tired person misses.
Switching mistakes are permanent. Energizing equipment or performing the wrong switching step can get the in trouble, fired, or someone might not go home.
How to do it
Hold a real tailboard before every job, don’t just sign off. Cover the hazards, who's doing what, where the open points are and what changes if the plan changes. Sounds like something a manager would say but it really does help.
Use 3 part communication. When a switching order comes over the radio or phone, repeat it word for word and wait for confirmation before you touch anything.
Always confirm before energizing equipment or performing a switching step. Everybody accounted for, everybody clear, and don’t close without confirmation.
If the job changes, stop and re-brief. A new hazard means a new tailboard.
Speak up. If something doesn't look right, call it out regardless of your classification. You don't need to be the foreman to stop the job. The guy who's embarrassed for asking a dumb question is still alive to be embarrassed.
Always Test Before Touch
Electricity is invisible and quiet. You can't see it, smell it or hear it until it's too late. Never trust someone who says it's dead.
Why it matters
People make mistakes. Your foreman, the dispatcher or the switchman can open the wrong device or read the wrong print. Nobody's doing it on purpose, and it doesn't matter.
Maps and tags can be wrong. Field changes don't always make it into the system, especially after a storm tears things up.
The circuit you were told about may not be the one in front of you. Multiple circuits, crossed spans and tangled storm damage make it easy to grab the work on the wrong thing.
"It's always been dead" is a famous last thought.
How to do it
Test your tester. Check it on a known energized source, test the line, then check it on a known source again. A dead tester will tell you everything is dead.
Use the right tester for the voltage, and keep it clean, dry and in good condition.
Test every phase, every time, even if you just tested it before lunch.
Test right before you lay hands on it, not when you first got up there 30 minutes ago.
If the reading doesn't make sense, stop. Don't argue with the tester until someone figures out why.
If it's not grounded, it's not dead
Testing tells you it's dead right now. Grounds are what protect you if it comes back. Lines can heat back up without any warning from sources you'd never expect.
Why it matters
Backfeed. A homeowner's generator plugged into the house without a transfer switch can send voltage back through the transformer and onto your line. On storm, every other house might have one running.
Induction. A dead line running alongside an energized one can pick up dangerous voltage just from being close to it.
Equipment failure. A device can fail, flash over or close in when it shouldn't.
Circuit automation. Reclosers and automated switching can restore a line on their own. The system doesn't know you're up there and a tired dispatcher can forget to lock one out.
How to do it
Test first, then ground. Never install grounds on a line you haven't tested or you’re going to get a cute sunburn.
Follow your company's grounding procedure and use properly rated grounds in good condition. Inspect clamps and cables before you use them.
Put grounds where they protect you, so you're working inside the protected zone, not outside it.
Install grounds with a hot stick, and treat the line as energized until every ground is on.
If you can't ground it, work it hot. Treat it as energized with the right cover-up, rubber goods and procedures for the voltage.
Remove grounds last, after everyone's clear, and account for every set.