Cooperative Principles
Safety Has Nothing To Do With Luck
BY KEBY THOMPSON
Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a series of stories on how Iowa's local electric cooperatives really work and how they're different (and better!) than other types of utilities.
It's twenty degrees below zero. The wind is blowing 45 miles an hour. No one wants to be out in this kind of weather but the power has gone out, and you're worried about keeping your family warm.
So you make a call as you watch the snow fall outside your front window. Soon, you see a crew from your local electric cooperative coming down the road, ready to restore your power in the middle of the storm.
"Out in rural areas, when it's almost impossible to see across the road, our members take comfort in the fact that there's someone coming from their electric co-op sometimes traveling as much as 45 miles just to restore their service,"says Steve Long, manager at Humboldt County Rural Electric Cooperative. "Of course, as a co-op member, when you're buried in snow or lightning has just struck your transformer, safety isn't the first thing on your mind. You want your power back on, and so do we.
"It's never an easy job," he says. "When ice snaps a power line or takes down a pole, these situations are dangerous at best. And that's when the electric co-op's safety training program really pays off. It's often the moment of truth handling these adverse situations for all the hours in the classroom and out in the field doing hands-on safety training."
Dennis Corcoran, director of safety and loss control for the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives (IAEC), says the statewide organization's commitment to safety training at local electric cooperatives runs deep. In fact, his department offers training on more than 30 safety topics a year. Corcoran, along with Jay Nelson, assistant safety director, and Bob Risser, instructor, log more than 110,000 miles a year working with safety coordinators and conducting safety workshops on topics as varied as pole-top rescues and exposure to blood-borne pathogens.
Paul Sams, operations superintendent at Consumers Energy in Marshalltown, believes that the unending "hammering home" of safety concepts is necessary to turn good safety habits into instincts. He values the work the statewide association does in helping deliver effective safety training sessions. "At least 75 percent of our safety training comes from the IAEC," says Sams. "Having started out on the line, I appreciate the fact that my linemen receive the same consistent and effective training as does every other electric lineman across the state."
This consistent safety message offers peace of mind to electric co-ops in an emergency situation, when asking for help from other co-ops. For instance, a line worker on loan from a co-op in a crisis situation follows the same core safety procedures as the hosting co-op's line workers. This provides a safer working environment, as well as greater efficiency in repairing line damage and restoring lost power.
In addition to regular monthly safety meetings conducted by the statewide association or the individual co-op's safety coordinator, co-op crews often get other safety training.
"It's important that our crews know the ins and outs of the equipment they use," says Gary Freeman, operations manager at Consumers Energy. "From the smallest wrench to operating the bucket truck, safety training is designed to do what it says to keep people safe. Demonstrations conducted by a manufacturer's representative on how to use their products more safely and efficiently are just as important as our scheduled monthly safety meetings. Knowledge is everything, especially when it comes to safety."
Like Humboldt and Consumers Energy, many of Iowa's electric cooperatives are diversifying into areas such as home security, satellite TV, wireless Internet, propane, natural gas and even fuel cells. That means that the co-ops' crews are going to be involved in doing equipment installations, which require a whole new set of safety procedures and additional training.
But no matter what jobs they're handling each day, it's pretty obvious that Iowa's local electric cooperatives are concerned about keeping their people safe while they work to provide co-op members with affordable and reliable electric energy.
Sometimes, lightning does strike twice.
Gary Freeman, operations manager at Consumers Energy, has seen some pretty interesting safety situations during his 40 years of co-op tenure. "I've seen winter winds blow so hard," says Freeman, "they'll blow a bucket truck right down a country road. And one time, during a flood when the small streetlights were submerged, I could see them glow just under the water line. However, I think the most interesting adverse situation I've been in is the time the lighting struck twice and I had the misfortune of being there when it did."
Not too many years ago, Gary was called out during a thunderstorm to repair a downed line that had been struck by lightning. "We're taught from day one to ground the line before attempting any repairs."
So that's what Gary did. He grounded the 7,200-volt line and then shimmied up the pole to start repairs. "Of course," he says, "this was in the middle of a live electrical storm and there were lightning strikes going on all around me. So I put a bolt in temporarily where the pole was chipped and the insulator tipped back, just to hold them in place. That's when the lighting struck the pole again, right next to where my grounds were."
Gary says the only thing that saved him that day was that he had grounded the line. And he had on his 7,200-volt gloves. "I watched a ball of fire burn all around my body and thought I was a goner," he says. "After it was over, I remember looking down at my hands and seeing the holes burned right through my gloves. Still, I never complain anymore about having to sit through safety training sessions about grounds and gloves. They saved my life."