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iPi Monthly Forum for Utility Professionals
The iPi monthly forum is where you can get answers to questions you have from subject matter experts like David McPeak, Jim Vaughn, Danny Raines and other utility safety and ops professionals like yourself. Forums will include industry specific topics, challenges, trends, and solutions along with best practices in leadership, operations, and safety.
Launched in 2020, the clearinghouse is a centralized database that stores near real-time data about commercial drivers’ drug and alcohol violations.
Does Positive Feedback Improve Safety?
Our client is an international utility company with more than 10,000 employees that provides electric and natural gas to 20 million U.S. customers. Their vision is to achieve a generative safety culture in which both employees and leaders are actively engaged. Characteristics of a generative safe…
Mitigating Heat and Cold Stress with FR/AR Clothing
Within the utility industry, employers have long looked to flame-resistant (FR) and arc-rated (AR) garments to help protect workers from injury due to flash fire and arc flash. Because these garments are designed using specially engineered, self-extinguishing fabrics and are certified to rigorous testing standards, they can help prevent or lessen the severity of injury.
Utilizing FR/AR garments…
Best Practices for Bucket Truck Rescue
Bucket trucks are among the most frequently used pieces of equipment in a utility’s fleet. Because of the common use of the trucks, it becomes easy for operators to become complacent in their equipment, inspection, operation and rescue plan – often defaulting to the last job safety analysis with limited consideration for the task at hand and the work environment.
In a frequent scenario, one of …
August – September 2022 Q&A
Q: Is it ever OK to put a man basket on a crane? My understanding is that OSHA 1926.1400, “Cranes and Derricks in Construction,” states doing so is prohibited.
A: For our readers, the rule you are referring to is 29 CFR 1926.1431(a), which begins, “The use of equipment to hoist employees is pr…
From My Bookshelf to Yours: ‘The 8 Habits of a Highly Effective Safety Culture’
Not long ago, Utility Business Media Inc. published my book, “Frontline Leadership: The Hurdle.” Researching and writing the book helped me learn to appreciate and apply knowledge and wisdom from other writers. In this article, I want to share some highlights from “The 8 Habits of a Highly Effect…
June – July 2022 Q&A
Q: Why does grounding alone not prevent static discharges, and why don’t we have to ground all flammable dispensing drums and stations?
A: “Flammable” is a relative term, and some of the written standards are detailed to the point that they can be confusing. The best thing any facility can do …
Most Popular
Mechanical Equipment Rules for Qualified Workers
Workers performing tasks involving mechanical equipment near energized power lines and equipment have exposure to hazardous step and touch potentials. In the preamble to OSHA 29 CFR 1910.269 and 1926 Subpart V, the agency describes 19 fatalities that involved derrick trucks, aerial lifts and othe…
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BECOME A BETTER LEADER
Frontline Leadership – The Hurdle
Utility Business Media, Inc. publisher of Incident Prevention Magazine is excited to announce the publication of Frontline Leadership – The Hurdle and Frontline Incident Prevention – The Hurdle both written by David McPeak, Director of Professional Development for Incident Prevention InstitutE (iPi).
These books are based on iPi’s popular Frontline leadership training program and are a must read for utility industry leaders. Learn More
Frontline Incident Prevention – The Hurdle
This book is your essential how-to guide on recognizing hurdles and developing effective run-ups to soar over them. You’ll learn how to lead and protect people rather than manage robots. You’ll also learn critical lessons about self-reliance and risk tolerance that culminate in proper application of the hierarchy of controls. Reading and applying the insights from this book will make you, your team, and your organization safer.
iPi have taken it a step further. You can add The Art of Safety course and downloadable workbook to your experience. Find out more more about this course – The Art of Safety
Learn to understand, lead, develop, and protect people.
That is the Art of Safety!
June – July 2022 Q&A
Q: Why does grounding alone not prevent static discharges, and why don’t we have to ground all flammable dispensing drums and stations?
A: “Flammable” is a relative term, and some of the written standards are detailed to the point that they can be confusing. The best thing any facility can do …
Beyond Behavior-Based Safety: Why Traditional Safety Practices are No Longer Enough
Traditional safety management practices are built on the assumption that human behavior is rational and occurs primarily through conscious decision-making. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are, in fact, irrational by nature, creatures of habit and deeply influenced by past experiences….
Closing the Cracks with the FMCSA’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse
Slipping through the cracks has become much more difficult for drivers with the 2020 implementation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.
The following scenario paints a picture of how easy it once was for commercial driver’s license (CDL) …
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Safety Management
Closing the Cracks with the FMCSA’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse
Slipping through the cracks has become much more difficult for drivers with the 2020 implementation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.
The following scenario paints a picture of how easy it once was for commercial driver’s license (CDL) …
Beyond Behavior-Based Safety: Why Traditional Safety Practices are No Longer Enough
Traditional safety management practices are built on the assumption that human behavior is rational and occurs primarily through conscious decision-making. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are, in fact, irrational by nature, creatures of habit and deeply influenced by past experiences….
Mitigating Heat and Cold Stress with FR/AR Clothing
Within the utility industry, employers have long looked to flame-resistant (FR) and arc-rated (AR) garments to help protect workers from injury due to flash fire and arc flash. Because these garments are designed using specially engineered, self-extinguishing fabrics and are certified to rigorous…
Designing a Safe and Reliable Electrical Maintenance Program
The critical importance of power to every aspect of our world cannot be overexaggerated. It must be generated and distributed effectively to end users, and any disruption in that process means loss of operations, money and, in extreme cases, life. Therefore, the reliability of power creation and …
Beyond Behavior-Based Safety: Why Traditional Safety Practices are No Longer Enough
Traditional safety management practices are built on the assumption that human behavior is rational and occurs primarily through conscious decision-making. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are, in fact, irrational by nature, creatures of habit and deeply influenced by past experiences….
Mitigating Heat and Cold Stress with FR/AR Clothing
Within the utility industry, employers have long looked to flame-resistant (FR) and arc-rated (AR) garments to help protect workers from injury due to flash fire and arc flash. Because these garments are designed using specially engineered, self-extinguishing fabrics and are certified to rigorous…
Designing a Safe and Reliable Electrical Maintenance Program
The critical importance of power to every aspect of our world cannot be overexaggerated. It must be generated and distributed effectively to end users, and any disruption in that process means loss of operations, money and, in extreme cases, life. Therefore, the reliability of power creation and …
To achieve the next step change in safety, we must ultimately change how employees feel about at-risk behaviors.
Beyond Behavior-Based Safety: Why Traditional Safety Practices are No Longer Enough
Traditional safety management practices are built on the assumption that human behavior is rational and occurs primarily through conscious decision-making. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are, in fact, irrational by nature, creatures of habit and deeply influenced by past experiences….
Beyond Behavior-Based Safety: Why Traditional Safety Practices are No Longer Enough
Traditional safety management practices are built on the assumption that human behavior is rational and occurs primarily through conscious decision-making. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are, in fact, irrational by nature, creatures of habit and deeply influenced by past experiences. To create the n…
Using a Learning Management System to Augment Lineworker Training
“You can’t learn how to climb a pole by looking at a computer screen.”
That’s a sentence that has been repeatedly used in our industry to discredit web-based learning. And it’s true; in any skilled trade, neither distance learning nor classroom work alone can replace the skills and confidence g…
Does Positive Feedback Improve Safety?
Our client is an international utility company with more than 10,000 employees that provides electric and natural gas to 20 million U.S. customers. Their vision is to achieve a generative safety culture in which both employees and leaders are actively engaged. Characteristics of a generative safe…
‘But I Don’t Wanna’: 6 Sources of Employee Resistance
“I forgot.” “I don’t want to.” “It’s not that serious.” “It won’t happen to me.”
If your employees are forgetting, ignoring, pushing back against or actively resisting the protections you’ve put in place to ensure their safety, then you know how frustrating it can be to get them to follow the …
Worksite Safety
The Case for Enhanced First-Aid Training for Lineworkers
Imagine you are working in a remote wilderness area on difficult terrain. The job involves setting poles, running wires, trimming trees, operating heavy machinery and working at elevation in track bucket trucks or hooks on a pole. The potential for serious injury is present, and extrication will …
June – July 2022 Q&A
Q: Why does grounding alone not prevent static discharges, and why don’t we have to ground all flammable dispensing drums and stations?
A: “Flammable” is a relative term, and some of the written standards are detailed to the point that they can be confusing. The best thing any facility can do …
Best Practices for Bucket Truck Rescue
Bucket trucks are among the most frequently used pieces of equipment in a utility’s fleet. Because of the common use of the trucks, it becomes easy for operators to become complacent in their equipment, inspection, operation and rescue plan – often defaulting to the last job safety analysis with …
Heat Injury and Illness Prevention: Past, Present and Future
On October 27, 2021, OSHA published in the Federal Register an advance notice of proposed rulemaking for heat injury and illness prevention in outdoor and indoor work settings. This followed OSHA implementing an enforcement initiative on heat-related hazards and the development of a National Emph…
June – July 2022 Q&A
Q: Why does grounding alone not prevent static discharges, and why don’t we have to ground all flammable dispensing drums and stations?
A: “Flammable” is a relative term, and some of the written standards are detailed to the point that they can be confusing. The best thing any facility can do …
Best Practices for Bucket Truck Rescue
Bucket trucks are among the most frequently used pieces of equipment in a utility’s fleet. Because of the common use of the trucks, it becomes easy for operators to become complacent in their equipment, inspection, operation and rescue plan – often defaulting to the last job safety analysis with …
Heat Injury and Illness Prevention: Past, Present and Future
On October 27, 2021, OSHA published in the Federal Register an advance notice of proposed rulemaking for heat injury and illness prevention in outdoor and indoor work settings. This followed OSHA implementing an enforcement initiative on heat-related hazards and the development of a National Emph…
5 Safety Factors to Consider in Unfamiliar Territory
On a routine workday, it’s likely that you are in a familiar place. The people and the system around you? They’re probably familiar, too. But when we as lineworkers are asked to respond to storms or other emergencies via mutual aid or a storm call, all that can change quickly. Suddenly, we may find ourselves in unfamiliar territory. So, in this month’s Tailgate Topic, let’s review five safety factors we must consider when on a foreign property.
Bob Dunderdale, CUSP
Getting Safety Communications Right with SBAR
Utility workers know getting communications right about safety – especially in pre-work discussions such as job hazard analyses, plans of the day and tailboards – is vital to going home safe. It can also be difficult to accomplish. However, we have seen firsthand the effectiveness of training lin…
Nathan Boutwell, M.Eng., CSP, SMS, CIT, CUSP; Robert J. Cornet, Ph.D.; and Michelle Mannering, Ph.D.
90% of Safety Rules are Written for 10% of the People
Ninety percent of all safety rules are written for only 10% of a company’s workers. Now, that is a bold statement, particularly from someone like me, who has been involved in making safety rules for over 30 years.
First, let’s take a minute to look at how safety rules have historically been ma…
Rayford “RL” Grubbs, CUSP
Simplifying Tasks to Improve Worker Safety
Jeffrey Sullivan
Powered Industrial Truck Safety
Charles Keeling, CUSP
4 Questions for Continuous Improvement
Jesse Hardy, CSP, CIT, CUSP
Chainsaw Safety Practices for Rights-of-Way
Luis Ortega, CUSP Emeritus
If I Could Do It All Over Again
Terry Ehli
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