In prior iP articles we have discussed effective methods of applying personal protective grounding to both overhead and underground electric utility systems. Proper application of the equipotential grounding method will ensure worker protection during an accidental re-energization or backfeed of the electric utility system. But what does your personal protective grounding practice do to reduce the hazards of induction? Is it possible your personal protective grounding practice is actually increasing the effects of induction? Let’s look at what we call induction, or what electrical engineers refer to as electric field induction and magnetic field induction.

In iP’s earlier installments of the Supervisory Series (April 2011, June 2011, August 2011 and October 2011), we discussed the importance of career development for lineworkers targeted for supervisory responsibilities. We also considered the supervisory skills required to be effective as a crew leader or foreman, including a full article on human behavior and communication skills. In the last issue we dealt with the concept of crew best practices.

In this installment, we will focus more on crew practices, specifically those concerning crew safety management.

Helen Keller has been quoted as saying that blindness separates you from things, but deafness separates you from people. While noise in the workplace usually does not produce the profound deafness that Helen Keller had, it can contribute to permanent hearing loss. As the quality of hearing aids has improved immensely over the years, people with mild to moderate hearing loss can often expect significant benefit from them. However, hearing aids usually do not improve hearing as effectively as glasses correct vision.

Have you ever noticed that management likes to show up to monitor the helicopter operations? Doesn’t it seem like all the attention is paid to helicopters, stringing operations and setting 500 kV transformers? Does the same crowd show up when one of your workers is trimming trees on the right-of-way (ROW) without a face shield or chaps? Or when someone is wearing an unbuttoned FR shirt with the sleeves rolled up? How about when you climb into a vault with an attendant that’s too busy texting his girlfriend to make sure that your air monitor was calibrated recently?