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Lineman Safety


Utility Safety Standards

Fall Protection Becomes Mandatory

New regulation removes “optional” to increase worker safety BY CRAIG FIRL, Capital Safety The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published updated rules and regulations in April 2014 that impact fall protection for the electrical utility industry. These new regulations,...

Grounding & Protection

Safe Grounding in Substations

How to guard utility personnel from shock hazards BY JEFF JOWETT, Megger In the power industry, safety is just as important a function as performance. Safety considerations, parameters, and methods of implementation are an integral part of any electrical system. A most important element is the...


Safety Best Practices

How Dangerous is Linemen Work?

Many occupations pose risks to workers, but few match the dangers that linemen face daily. Linemen play a critical role in maintaining and restoring the power grid, often working in extreme weather conditions, at significant heights, and around high-voltage electrical systems. Their work is...

Grounding & Protection

Lightning Strikes

In Canada, lightning flashes occur about 2.34 million times a year; with the highest levels of concentration during the summer months. While most lightning on earth is ground-to-cloud,  recent research has identified that the majority of lightning events to tall structures, such as wind...

Safety Best Practices

Safety Reports for Utility Workers

Protecting utility workers with documented reporting BY MIKE DOHERTY, PowerTel Utilities Contractors Limited Within the lineman trade, accountabilities for the documentation of various inspections, job safety analyses (JSAs), audits, safe work practices (SPGs), qualifications, safety meetings,...

Safety

Electric Utility System Standards

How Ontario regulation can improve electrical safety

BY BILL KHASHFE, London Hydro

According to an Ontario Electrical Safety Report, 35 percent of the province’s electrical-related fatalities in the past 10 years were attributed to power-line contact. Equipment specifications and electric utility construction plans within Ontario’s power industry, only a few decades ago, lacked regulation. Each utility developed its own policies.

Currently, the global economy has created a marketplace in which equipment is manufactured to...

Lineman Safety Articles