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 appreciation from a customer, tucked inside our paycheck envelopes. It wasn’t difficult to feel unappreciated given the time we spent away from our families helping to restore power for others. Today we live in a different world. More than once, I’ve found myself wishing we had a social media outlet during my early days in the trade.
One thing that hasn’t changed since the ’70s is that lineworkers still love to talk and boast, which has prompted some especially interesting social media threads. I’ve often said that I could meet 30 people for the first time and easily identify every lineworker in the group within a few minutes. We talk about building lines, share stories about catching trouble, and recount incidents we’ve experienced or heard about; that’s just what we do. I can’t begin to tell you how many lines were built and how much trouble was caught during just one evening of conversation at the recent iP Utility Safety Conference in Orlando, Florida.
1980s Subdivision Work
Here’s one job-related story that I always enjoy revisiting. Around 1980, when I was the lead lineman on a three-man crew, the equipment operator, apprentice and I were tasked with installing a short loop and four transformers in a subdivision off Rivoli Road in Macon, Georgia. So, we loaded a new reel of 1/0 primary cable on the brick truck that pulled a Ditch Witch R65. We had a stake body and trailer with pads and transformers loaded on it. The job was to put in as much cable as possible and spot the pads and transformers if we couldn’t set them.
All the lineworkers I knew then liked to brag about how much we could accomplish. Because it was a busy time without many contractors, utility crews were responsible for getting everything installed, terminated and energized. Underground distribution (UD) subdivisions were booming; we couldn’t build the infrastructure fast enough in those days. We trenched on weekdays and terminated on the weekends in overtime, when there was lower risk of damaging other utilities. We also competed with other three-man crews to see who could do the most and earn bragging rights.
The Rivoli Road subdivision was perfectly laid out. We arrived before the gas or telephone company, which meant we only had to dig around sewer stub-outs and water lines. With few obstacles, we pulled out the 1/0 primary and started digging around 7:30 a.m. The transformers were set back on property lines, off the asphalt – good old red clay and no blue granite to deal with.
By lunchtime, we had pulled all the primary cable from the reel but still needed about 500 more feet to finish the last span, from pad #4 to the UD riser pole on the road. After loading a second reel and heading back to the jobsite, we installed 2,500-foot cable and all four pads and transformers, running no more than 30 minutes late that afternoon. The other two workers on my crew almost couldn’t believe it. We won bragging rights that day, then returned to the site that weekend to terminate the transformers and risers and make the loop hot. This was one time all three of us really loved the job.
Full Commitment Required
While attending a recent workshop, I met some people who are newly employed in our industry. Several of them got my attention by stating that they don’t really love their current work, including one gentleman who serves in a training and safety role. Immediately, I asked why he was still with the company given his displeasure; “money” was his quick answer. That response surprised me somewhat because after years of working on and supervising crews, I was elated when I finally landed a training and safety position. Doing so meant I could share everything I’d learned thus far with less experienced employees. That was decades ago, and I am still learning today. Change occurs very quickly, doesn’t it? It is worthwhile for us to stay curious and open-minded because there will always be more to understand.
As of June 6, I’ve been in this business for 59 years. I love the career I’ve had thus far and wouldn’t trade it for anything imaginable. Now, if I’d gotten my pilot’s license and started flying airplanes earlier, that might have altered my career path – but it wasn’t meant to be. I am grateful that both types of work bring me feelings of joy, satisfaction and accomplishment.
With that said, if you work in a safety or training role but your heart’s just not in it, now is the time to begin looking for a new position that better suits you. Our industry needs dedicated employees who are fully committed to the well-being of the workforce and want to make the industry safer; this is not the place for individuals merely interested in earning money.
About the Author: Danny Raines, CUSP, is an author, an OSHA-authorized trainer, and a transmission and distribution safety consultant who retired from Georgia Power after 40 years of service and now operates Raines Utility Safety Solutions LLC.
Learn more from Danny Raines on the Utility Safety Podcast series. Listen now at https://utilitysafety.podbean.com!