Training Development Articles

• Training Lineworkers

  By some estimates, as many as 50,000 new lineworkers will need to be trained by 2016. The Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) estimates that between 40 and 50 percent of the current pool of aging lineworkers will retire during that period. Coupled with adding 13,500 new positions because of growth, the industry will need to find and train more than 8,000 new lineworkers every year.

• Heard It Through the Grapevine

  When searching for ways to improve safety and safety culture, many companies administer safety perception surveys to identify areas for improvement. A common category that is probed is management’s support for safety. When positive perceptions are identified, many organizations will move on to other categories. However, it is important to understand what is influencing a positive perception within a culture if you would like it to persist.

• Introducing a New Certification Program for Utility Safety Professionals

  Learn about the advantages of becoming a credentialed utility safety professional in today’s transitioning workforce.

• Maturity Matters

  As a safety professional, immaturity matters because you are forced to deal with it daily. In spite of the challenges, your task remains the same – to navigate through the immaturity and do your job well.

• Seamless and Compliant

  Training gas and electric utility personnel for over 100 years, the not-for-profit Midwest ENERGY Association (MEA), established in 1905, has seen firsthand how the highest level of safety, operations, and leadership training for employees has become not only more important, but also increasingly challenging. Today, MEA continues to deliver to its members and other subscribers the best possible training in natural gas, liquids, OSHA, electric, and leadership subject areas. The organization also works in concert with its members to collaborate on the development of effective training programs.

• Succession Syndrome

  Why both technical and soft skills training are vital for first-time managers

• Distribution Dispatcher or System Operator?

  Information technology has profoundly transformed the electric distribution dispatching center. Historically, a dispatching center’s primary responsibility was to receive outage calls, assign daily work and communicate to field crews via the company radio.

• Training Second Point of Contact

  The second point of contact is common terminology that is utilized industry wide when discussing energized work methods, such as rubber gloving or hot sticking. Ignoring the hazards of the second point of contact is the primary contributor to electrical contacts while working with rubber gloves or hot sticks.

• Free Climbing vs. Safer Climbing

  San Diego Gas & Electric recently hosted a Western Fall Restraint Conference. SDG&E is moving forward in establishing safer climbing practices and knew they would benefit from bringing their western partners together to share what has worked for them in launching a new program, best practices, equipment concerns and overall experiences.

• Safety Information Superhighway

  Designing an integrated safety information system creates a platform for safety predictive modeling

• Effective Fall Protection for Utility Workers

  A review of the relevant standards and training that companies need to provide.

• How to Bulletproof Your Training

  Utilities, like other industries, are facing a new training challenge. Businesses that require a hands-on approach to training their employees are soon to feel the effects of an anticipated “knowledge transfer” due to the pending retirement of large numbers of baby boomers.

• Training for the New Century

  Experiencing high turnover?  Too many incidents?  The answer to these problems could lie in a new, innovative training program.

• When is a Lineman a Lineman? This feature's title is not a rhetorical question. There really should be an answer-a definitive, widely accepted answer we could all give quickly and consistently. There isn't and we can't, though we try with great confidence. When one of us comes up with something that sounds pretty good, another one of us disagrees.
• Learning Curve The OSHA Code of Federal Regulations (29 CFR 1910.269 Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution) requires employers to ensure that qualified personnel who perform work on equipment 50 volts or greater verify their knowledge of the regulations on an ongoing basis. To meet this important requirement, NSTAR Electric and Gas Corporation has implemented a highly successful self-service, computer-based learning program.