Safety vs. Productivity
At a recent Line/EMT monthly safety meeting, co-workers and I discussed three separate incidents with a common theme. Incident 1A 12-kV primary separated into two sections and came down hot when a falling tree took it out. In a possible case of “rush to restore” mentality, an after-action assessment revealed that proper safe grounding procedures, […]
Saving L.I.V.E.S. is Our Daily Responsibility
Learning to see our jobs in the utility industry through the lens of safety is probably the most important task we can accomplish. Our employers, the customers we serve, our co-workers and – most of all – our families benefit when we safely arrive at and return home from our jobs each day. However, safely […]
Train the Trainer 101: The New Walking-Working Surfaces Final Rule
OSHA’s final rule on 29 CFR 1910 Subpart D, “Walking-Working Surfaces,” is finally here. It’s 26 pages of nine-point font equaling 21,675 words, and I read them all. It’s big, and if you include the preamble in your analysis, it is also complicated. It was just as hard to write about as it was to […]
Voice of Experience: Inspection, Maintenance and Fall Protection Guidance for Bucket Truck Use
OSHA 29 CFR 1910.67 is the performance-based standard that covers requirements when using vehicle-mounted elevating and rotating work platforms, including the bucket trucks we use in the electric utility industry. There are many types of buckets, and the task to be performed will determine what type of bucket is required. This standard even covers noninsulated […]
February 2017 Q&A
Q: We are a small, distribution-only municipal utility that has been looking into human performance. We are having some trouble understanding it all and how it could benefit us. Most of the training resources are pretty expensive. Can you help us sort it out? A: We can. Human performance management (HPM) has been around in […]
