Join utility safety directors, operations managers, and CUSP professionals at the premier utility safety event. Discover practical OSHA compliance strategies, expert-led safety sessions, cutting-edge PPE, and networking opportunities designed for power, gas, fleet, and telecom safety leaders.
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iPi Monthly Forum for Utility Safety Professionals
The iPi monthly forum is where you can get answers to questions you have from subject matter experts like David McPeak, CUSP, CSP, CHST, CIT, CSSM, Jim Vaughn, CUSP, Danny Raines, CUSP 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.
Three essential steps can reduce incident and injury risk in your zones.
6 Employer Best Practices for Effective Landowner Engagement
Transmission line construction is one of the most complex and politically sensitive infrastructure endeavors in the United States. Crews routinely work across dozens and sometimes hundreds of distinct land parcels, navigating a patchwork of easement rights, property histories and landowner temperaments. What happens when that navigation breaks down isn’t always a polite conversation at the fence…
Making Safety the Easy Choice
Walk through any industrial environment and you’ll hear familiar messaging: “Be proactive.” “Own safety.” “Follow the procedure.” Then step into the boardroom, where the conversation shifts to yield, uptime, injuries and cost.
We coach people on behaviors yet judge them based on outcomes, sending mixed signals to the frontline workers at the sharp end of the stick. People tend to rally faster and…
Are You Prepared for ‘The Big One’?
At NASCAR’s Talladega Superspeedway, Daytona International Speedway and Pocono Raceway, there is always talk of “The Big One” – a wreck that often characterizes the three-hour, 200-mph, 40-car races on three-lane-wide ovals. Of course, The Big One doesn’t happen at every race, which could be due to…
For Love of the Job
I’m so pleased that we now have various social media platforms to recognize lineworkers for the critical services they provide, not to mention the sacrifices they make to do so. When I worked storms in the 1960s and ’70s, my crewmates and I rarely received more than the occasional note of appreciat…
Generational Leadership
Successful safety leadership requires strong interpersonal skills, including the capacity to develop effective working relationships. Various issues can affect the quality of these connections. We are best served by leaving some (e.g., politics, religion) mostly out of the workplace. Others stir ou…
Why Haven’t We Moved the Needle?
During a recent Sunday service, my pastor spoke about problems faced by our country’s churches. I was struck by the similar challenges we face in the electric utility industry.
For instance, both churches and utilities see some of the same types of events recur each year. Our industry’s serious…
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Recent Posts
Explore the latest equipment, tools, and technological innovations engineered to protect field crews, maintain OSHA compliance, and streamline utility operations. From advanced arc flash PPE and flame-resistant (FR) clothing to specialized linemen tools, fall protection, and cutting-edge diagnostic testing devices, our featured utility product showcase highlights industry-leading solutions driving safety and efficiency across electric power, natural gas, and telecommunications job sites.
Whether you are sourcing bucket truck safety gear, work zone traffic control equipment, or IoT-connected safety technology, discover proven products reviewed and relied on by safety directors, fleet managers, and field operations leaders.
Safety Management
2027 NFPA 70E: Arc-Rated PPE Conformity Assessment Update
The NFPA 70E standard addresses electrical safety-related work practices, maintenance methods and administrative controls. It is subject to three-year revision cycles, with the recently published 2027 edition now replacing the 2024 edition.
Among the changes to the revised standard is one small…
Human-Centered AI and the Role of Design Thinking
Artificial intelligence is rapidly finding its way into the utility sector, with industry organizations exploring how it can be used to identify hazards, analyze incident trends, summarize procedures and support planning activities. These capabilities offer exciting opportunities yet also prompt un…
Vocational Mastery: The Final Practice of Personal Safety Excellence
This series explores five personal practices of safety excellence, including steps each of us can take to become as safe as possible.
The first article in the series was a reminder that we have personal accountability and agency in safety – enough to stop work and even walk off the job if cond…
6 Employer Best Practices for Effective Landowner Engagement
Transmission line construction is one of the most complex and politically sensitive infrastructure endeavors in the United States. Crews routinely work across dozens and sometimes hundreds of distinct land parcels, navigating a patchwork of easement rights, property histories and landowner temperam…
Human-Centered AI and the Role of Design Thinking
Artificial intelligence is rapidly finding its way into the utility sector, with industry organizations exploring how it can be used to identify hazards, analyze incident trends, summarize procedures and support planning activities. These capabilities offer exciting opportunities yet also prompt un…
Vocational Mastery: The Final Practice of Personal Safety Excellence
This series explores five personal practices of safety excellence, including steps each of us can take to become as safe as possible.
The first article in the series was a reminder that we have personal accountability and agency in safety – enough to stop work and even walk off the job if cond…
6 Employer Best Practices for Effective Landowner Engagement
Transmission line construction is one of the most complex and politically sensitive infrastructure endeavors in the United States. Crews routinely work across dozens and sometimes hundreds of distinct land parcels, navigating a patchwork of easement rights, property histories and landowner temperam…
Lifelong learning is a continuous act of self-preservation.
Vocational Mastery: The Final Practice of Personal Safety Excellence
This series explores five personal practices of safety excellence, including steps each of us can take to become as safe as possible.
The first article in the series was a reminder that we have personal accountability and agency in safety – enough to stop work and even walk off the job if cond…
The Petri Dish Effect: Shifting Our Focus From Root Causes to Root Conditions
Our industry’s persistent serious injury and fatality (SIF) statistics indicate that we are aiming at the wrong target, despite our best intentions. A small shift in our industry’s approach to incident investigations, however, could lead to meaningful change.
Decades of professional experience h…
Worksite Safety
Plan It, Brief It, Build It: A Guide to Safer Utility Work Zones
Utility work zones often place serious hazards on the same strip of pavement as your crew. Where a driver observes another row of traffic cones, a worker sees the hard edge of their worksite. Danger lurks in the space between those two perspectives.
Fortunately, industry employers can take three…
What Defines a Journeyman Cable Splicer?
The cable splicer’s role in the utility industry has broadened over time. Today, splicing work is performed by electricians, lineworkers and technicians, as well as individuals who have successfully completed manufacturer training programs. And while it’s true that many of these professionals are h…
6 Employer Best Practices for Effective Landowner Engagement
Transmission line construction is one of the most complex and politically sensitive infrastructure endeavors in the United States. Crews routinely work across dozens and sometimes hundreds of distinct land parcels, navigating a patchwork of easement rights, property histories and landowner temperam…
Manhole and Vault Inspections: 5 Critical Safety Steps for Underground Employees
Beneath every major American city lies a hidden electrical network that powers homes, hospitals and commercial industry. Manholes and vaults are the gateways to these underground systems, providing access to low-, medium- and high-voltage infrastructure essential to reliable power distribution. Bec…
What Defines a Journeyman Cable Splicer?
The cable splicer’s role in the utility industry has broadened over time. Today, splicing work is performed by electricians, lineworkers and technicians, as well as individuals who have successfully completed manufacturer training programs. And while it’s true that many of these professionals are h…
6 Employer Best Practices for Effective Landowner Engagement
Transmission line construction is one of the most complex and politically sensitive infrastructure endeavors in the United States. Crews routinely work across dozens and sometimes hundreds of distinct land parcels, navigating a patchwork of easement rights, property histories and landowner temperam…
Manhole and Vault Inspections: 5 Critical Safety Steps for Underground Employees
Beneath every major American city lies a hidden electrical network that powers homes, hospitals and commercial industry. Manholes and vaults are the gateways to these underground systems, providing access to low-, medium- and high-voltage infrastructure essential to reliable power distribution. Bec…
‘So Lucky’: Reflections on a St. Patrick’s Day Wreck
Editor’s note: In the following account, a bucket truck wreck blocks the only active traffic lane on an icy New York highway, posing an immediate safety threat. Nothing in this account should be considered professional crash response guidance. Readers should understand that untrained individuals who move crash victims could unintentionally cause them further injury.
While driving on St. Patrick’s Day this year, I discovered part of the New York State Thruway had been reduced to a single traffic lane due to icy conditions. I briefly considered taking the back roads instead, but heavy loca…
The Time is Now: Reevaluating Threat and Violence Exposures in the Field
A lineman’s work was relatively straightforward in the early days of our trade: We built power lines with wire and poles, making sure the big end of each pole went into the ground first.
Now, as I begin my 35th year in electric distribution, the line crew work environment is rapidly evolving. An…
Coaching Courage on the Front Line
From leadership development courses and culture workshops to human performance training sessions and OSHA refresher programs, our industry spends countless hours talking about safety. There’s one question I find myself asking each time I attend one of these events: How can we coach courage in ourse…
250 Years of Safety
Since we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary this summer, I thought it would be interesting to examine a brief overview of the last 250 years of safety. Let’s see where we started, assess how far we’ve come and renew our commitment to continuous improvement.
To assist with this project, I aske…
Why Haven’t We Moved the Needle?
During a recent Sunday service, my pastor spoke about problems faced by our country’s churches. I was struck by the similar challenges we face in the electric utility industry.
For instance, both churches and utilities see some of the same types of events recur each year. Our industry’s serious…
For Love of the Job
I’m so pleased that we now have various social media platforms to recognize lineworkers for the critical services they provide, not to mention the sacrifices they make to do so. When I worked storms in the 1960s and ’70s, my crewmates and I rarely received more than the occasional note of appreciat…
Safety Leadership at Every Level is Key to SIF Prevention
The electric utility industry experienced some catastrophic events during the first quarter of this year, including the deaths of multiple employees. I always feel incredibly sad when I hear about another serious injury or fatality (SIF). My heart goes out to everyone who has been impacted by these…
Easing the Transition to Utility Safety Leadership
Our industry’s frontline workers are commonly promoted to supervisory positions in rapid fashion. Some struggle with the transition as they discover that their new role involves far more than increased compensation, a fancier title and the keys to a company pickup truck. This installment of “Voice…
July-August 2026 Q&A
Q: How do consensus standards apply to the employer’s responsibility for safe work practices?
A: Consensus standards are part of a system that employers can use to develop their safety programs. The issue here is whether an employer can defend their programs. Compliance with a consensus standard does not necessarily ensure OSHA compliance; the agency has clearly defined consensus standards as…
May-June 2026 Q&A
Q: In the April-May 2024 issue, Incident Prevention responded to a reader’s question about the OSHA digger derrick exemption for licensed operators (see https://incident-prevention.com/blog/april-may-2024-qa/). Have you heard anything since then about exemption enforcement trends? For example, has OSHA indicated that it might more closely assess specific lifting activities?
A: OSHA 29 CFR 192…