BE YOUR BROTHER’S KEEPER
IID linemen watch out for each other during dangerous work
SEELEY — When working around electricity, linemen working for the Imperial Irrigation District must always be vigilant for their own safety and for those working around them.
“Be your brother’s keeper,” Matt Vogel, IID journeyman linemen, told the Imperial Valley Press Thursday morning at a job site near Seeley.
Vogel and a five-man crew were replacing an aging wooden power pole in a residential area and had to be cautious because the work was being done on live power lines charged with 12,470 volts of electricity.
That much electricity, which is common in residential powerlines, can fry a person at a moment’s notice.
“It can cook you from the inside out,” Vogel said. “Electricity is always looking for a different path to ground. It is like a snake in the grass. It is always out there ready to bite you at any second.”
Routine maintenance
This five-man crew is one of about six working in the Imperial Valley. Separate crews with IID cover the Coachella Valley. Replacing aged power poles is a common practice for the crews, said Zachary Jantz, IID line-construction foreman.
“This pole is aged and past due, so we are going to go ahead and change it out,” Jantz said. “What we will end up doing is topping down and topping the linkage to the cable and phone companies. That way we will have a new pole and when they are ready they will come along and transfer the utility over there.”
During the process, the live power lines on top of the pole are draped with orange colored rubber insulation to prevent contact with the linemen hoisted in dual buckets atop a bucket truck.
“We cover everything up and stay insulated and isolated that way,” Jantz said.
A new pole weighing about 800 pounds lying on the ground near the old pole was prepped and hoisted into a hole a few feet away from the existing pole by use of a crane. The entire team worked carefully to move the new pole into place, having to dodge the existing pole, power lines and a nearby fence to get it into place.
“We are going to install a crossarm on this pole we have sitting on the ground and then we will take the whole thing up between [the existing lines] and transfer the conductors to the new pole,” Jantz said before it was hoisted. “When we are ready, we will wreck out the old pole.”
The entire process of replacing a pole can take up to about four hours, Jantz said, and power is not interrupted to IID customers during the swap-out, a procedure repeated by the crew hundreds of times each year.
During monsoon season, dozens of poles can go down at once due to high winds and microbursts, Jantz said.
“Some of the storms we’ve had, some of the microbursts — I think I’ve worked Highway 98 probably two different times where 30 transmission poles come down in one isolated area. There are poles down on top of semis. It’s just crazy.”
Safety precautions
Linemen receive rigorous training before being certified, Jantz said.
“They go through a four-year apprenticeship program, split between classroom work and on-the-job training,” he said, adding a good candidate for the job is “someone who is willing and able to work, likes to learn and doesn’t mind being outdoors. It probably helps if they are not afraid of heights.”
The top lesson the linemen must learn is to never “get in between anything,” he said. “You never want to create a path to ground.”
The linemen use specialized equipment and wear fire retardant clothing to limit the danger, Jantz said.
“We use rubber insulated gloves, we use rubber goods, line hoses and rubber blankets to cover everything up so we stay insulated and isolated,” he said.
“Our main source of protection are our rubber gloves,” Vogel added. “Those are our lifeline up there, so we check them every morning and make sure we don’t have any holes, rips or tears. Make sure your partner is checking his stuff out too. Everybody wants to go home safely.”
When touching the lines directly, the linemen use fiberglass tools. Fiberglass is not a conductor of electricity, Jantz said.
“Of course, we have to make sure that [the equipment is] clean and tested at least once a year,” he said. “We dielectric test everything. Same thing with the booms and bucket liners on the bucket trucks — everything is dielectric tested.”
Additionally, married men also take off their wedding rings while on the job since metal conducts electricity.
“We really don’t advise wearing any jewelry,” Jantz said.
Bottom line is following established protocols, he added.
“As long as we follow the rules and make safety a top priority, it can be pretty safe.”
Buddy system
The two linemen hoisted in the dual buckets are constantly on guard against unintentional grounding, Vogel said.
“There are always two of us in the air with the other one watching their back,” he said. “The observer in the bucket is really not doing anything but watching you as you are working on the line. So, if you are getting close to something you can’t see yourself, he can see and warns you. So, you stop put your hands back and take a look at your surroundings. You are both up there talking the whole time with each other and keeping each other safe up there. That is the main part of the game.”
They are dependent upon each other, and a spotter on the ground, Vogel said.
“Sometimes you are in a blind spot and the guy on the ground sees something. Everybody has to be alert at all times on the job — the whole crew. That is why it is important for us to mesh together.”
That camaraderie is one of the best parts of the job, Vogel said.
“You are working with the guys on the task at hand, doing something not everyone can do. Having a good crew and good people with you, it makes your day go by smoother. Knowing they’ve got your back.”
Jantz agreed. “Everybody is tight knit and watches out for each other,” he said. “You have to count on the guy next to you.”