Jim Vaughn, CUSP
Addressing the Elephant in the Room
There is an elephant in the room that plays a role in the safety culture of our industry. That elephant needs to be exposed, even though it’s going to be tough to do. Based on a less-than-official count, 12 to 14 lineworkers have lost their lives on the job over the past six months. The […]
October-November 2025 Q&A
Q: We hear lots of opinions about whether a lineworker can lift a hot-line clamp that has a load on it. There is a rule that says disconnects must be rated for the load they are to break. We’ve been doing it forever. Are we breaking an OSHA rule or not? A: We have answered […]
OSHA-Compliant Employee Training
“Yes, we are OSHA compliant. Our apprentice lineworkers are trained and certified by a local line school, which guarantees that the training they deliver meets OSHA standards. Every six months, we send the apprentices to the school for two weeks of hands-on training. They also take online classes in between the hands-on sessions; the online […]
June-July 2025 Q&A
Q: Can you direct us to information regarding “fuzzing” or “noisy tester” voltage detectors? We’ve heard that with noisy testers, there’s potential for both false negatives (no voltage is detected although it’s present) and false positives (voltage is indicated where none exists). We’ve also heard a noisy tester can be triggered by induction on a […]
Equipotential Grounding is the Law
I’ve written about equipotential grounding for Incident Prevention magazine dozens of times over the past 15 years, both in this column and in the Q&A. Those articles have had thousands of views on Incident Prevention’s website, which suggests that their messaging should be getting through to industry employers and lineworkers – but my experience says […]
April-May 2025 Q&A
Q: I’m a municipal utility substation engineer, and I’m hoping you can help me with this question: Does an engineer taking photos in a substation fall under the OSHA 29 CFR 1910.269 work rules? A: The simple answer is yes. No matter your training or education, if you must be inside the fence to take […]
December 2024-January 2025 Q&A
Q: Here in Australia, we recently read Jim Vaughn’s “Trainer the Trainer 101: Substation Entry Policies” (https://incident-prevention.com/blog/train-the-trainer-101-substation-entry-policies/). We have a 415-volt substation on-site; its doors and cabinets are locked. However, we are not comfortable allowing entry to the substation without some control over who is able to enter and the qualifications they must have. Do […]
Are Your Employees 1910.269(a)(2) Qualified?
Employers in our industry must have policies and procedures in place that align with OSHA’s qualified worker requirements. Each employer also must be able to defend its interpretation of those requirements. Many can’t do it. This is something I come across in almost every OSHA and civil litigation case I work on. Whether it’s General […]