Cooperative Living June 2022 - 24

CLOSER LOOK
●earn a L ⁹ Watching a Line Crew
by Paul Wesslund, Contributing Columnist
When the lights go out, safety
comes first for lineworkers
Y
ou can learn a lot about power
outages and restoration by
watching a utility crew at work
from a safe distance.
The first thing you'll notice is the
deliberate, careful pace. Team members
deploy signs to alert motorists. Th y
mark the work area with orange cones.
Th y wear hardhats and fire-protective
clothing, put on heavy rubber gloves
and spread insulating blankets over the
wires Those gloves have been tested by
a machine that blows air into them to
make sure there's not a pinhole opening
that could allow a deadly electric current
to pass through.
That morning, lineworkers likely
huddled at the back of a truck to discuss
what each of them would be doing that
day, with an emphasis on safety. It's a
best practice in the industry, so common
it's often called a " tailgate meeting " or
" toolbox talk. "
THE SAFETY HABIT
Th re are a lot of reasons your
electricity might go off, with weather by
far the leading cause. But to a lineworker,
all outage repairs have one thing in
common - safety.
Safety is common sense, but it's also
drilled into the utility workers. Co-op
leaders make it clear that skipping any
safety measure or procedure is a fireable
offense. Line crews attend lectures aimed
at driving home the importance of safety
protocols.
Th next thing you can learn from
watching a line crew at work comes from
seeing what task they're doing. Th re's
a good chance they're replacing old
equipment. Poles and transformers
wear out, and failing equipment is one
cause of outages. Th crew you watch
22 ● Cooperative Living ●
June 2022
●ower restoration can tak
a while because line crews
are focused on safety●
might be restoring an equipment outage,
or they might be switching an old device
to prevent a future outage.
You may see them replacing a downed
utility pole, a painstaking process of
removing the old and hauling in the new,
using trucks designed for the job.
TREES VERSUS LINES
Th pole may be down because a
motorist ran into it - another cause of
outages. Or it could be weather-related.
Wind, ice and fires cause about 80% of
power outages. One characteristic of
those natural disasters is that the damage
can be widespread. If one pole is down,
others could be, as well. Crews likely
will be repeating the pole-replacement
process, one job at a time.
It's also possible the crew you're
watching will be trimming trees. Trees
are a common cause of outages, as wind
and nearby branches can knock wires
to the ground. Electric cooperatives
devote time and resources to trimming
trees and shrubs near power lines.
Wildlife is a fairly common cause
of outages. Squirrels and snakes
routinely get into substations and
utility equipment with poor results
for critters and customers. Sometimes
crews need to investigate and correct
the cause, which can take a while.
ft en, the system will reset itself ft er
only a brief power interruption.
Lessons from the lineworkers?
Outages can be caused by a variety of
factors. Restoring power is an intricate
process in a complex utility system.
And safety, for crews and the
community, will always be the top
priority. 
Paul Wesslund writes on consumer and
cooperative affairs for the National Rural
Electric Cooperative Association.
co-opliving.com
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living June 2022

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