For many utilities, scheduling each day’s construction and restoration work means manually organizing and keeping tabs on ever-changing crew schedules and resources. Managers meticulously update whiteboards dotted with color-coded magnets representing crews and trucks. Augmenting the whiteboards are often schedules pulled from a PC-based project management tool and a database management product. Adding to this challenge is the fact that different departments concentrate on restoring outages, while other groups manage day-to-day construction.
The process is...
Remote field operations present the safety organization with a myriad of challenges when it comes to ensuring the safety of the people that you send out to work in the field every day. Without a doubt, this includes the line workers, but it also includes nearly every member of the staff whose...
Utility workers and linemen work in one of the most mobile industries in the country. Think about it: utility workers are always moving from one project to the next as efficiently as possible. Since utility workers rely so heavily on their work vehicles, it is critical that they drive a vehicle...
Valuable state-of-the-art tools for electric utilities BY JOE CAYWOOD, Terex Utilities With all the challenging demands of a utility marketplace, increased understanding of ownership and operating cost, as well as utilization, fleet managers must work through several different scenarios when making...
Many fleet executives working at electric utilities have doubts about implementing global positioning system (GPS) tracking technology into their fleet operations. A number of doubts exist. For example, GPS technologies are designed to track a vehicle’s whereabouts; this can lead to trust issues...
A coalition of large energy consumers and ratepayer advocates has filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), urging the agency to prohibit transmission owners from independently planning "local" transmission projects exceeding 100 kilovolts (kV). The coalition argues...
Remote field operations present the safety organization with a myriad of challenges when it comes to ensuring the safety of the people that you send out to work in the field every day. Without a doubt, this includes the line workers, but it also includes nearly every member of the staff whose...
For many utilities, scheduling each day’s construction and restoration work means manually organizing and keeping tabs on ever-changing crew schedules and resources. Managers meticulously update whiteboards dotted with color-coded magnets representing crews and trucks. Augmenting the...
In June 2012, the Ontario Legislature unanimously passed Bill 8, the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, which, among other things, requires owners of buried infrastructure in the public right of way – including municipalities, universities, hospitals and private...
Utility workers are often subjected to challenging working conditions for hours at a time, yet are responsible for many mission-critical tasks. These workers must communicate with the entire organization while also representing the customer-facing side of their company. Equipping workers with...
Utility workers and linemen work in one of the most mobile industries in the country. Think about it: utility workers are always moving from one project to the next as efficiently as possible. Since utility workers rely so heavily on their work vehicles, it is critical that they drive a vehicle...
