Articles and White Papers
*NEW ARTICLE* The 9 Key Elements of Safety Excellence
Read this ever-important article on just how vital a safety culture is by ISPC President, Ron Schenk, CUSP.
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*NEW ARTICLE* Compliance Training Versus Effective Training
Read this first person account by experienced trainer Tony Boyd, CUSP on the danger of the status quo when it comes to how we conduct safety training.
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*NEW ARTICLE* How Overcoming the "Burnt Toast" Syndrome Can Improve Your Safety and Training Results
Read this unique take on safety training by ISPC's own Executive Director, Mack Turner.
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*NEW ARTICLE* How to Create a Safety Culture by Ron Schenk
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An assessment of polyethylene insulator performance
Porcelain insulators have proven to be unsuitable for insulated conductor applications, simply because the di erence in dielectric constants between porcelain and polyethylene
will eventually lead to electrical erosion of the polyethylene
cable insulation. To solve this problem, electrical engineers are now considering insulators manufactured from high-density polyethylene that is compatible with polyethylene-insulated wire.
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Safety for Climbers: New Fall Restraint Systems
However you say it, climbers should no longer fall from climbing poles, towers, or structures of any kind. Regardless of skill level climbing poles, all climbers are susceptible to falls. Let’s face it, gravity is not just an idea, it’s a physical law. So how do we accomplish the task of keeping lineworkers safe while climbing poles? The answer is simple: 100% Fall Protection.
Ergonomics - Work Positioning & Tools
Powerline construction and maintenance is a rough and tumble career trade. Always has been. The people that choose this career like to be outside, working with their hands, building and repairing stuff. They use their muscles, arms, hands, legs and backs and they use them hard. Since the beginning, it’s always been a ‘given’: the stress of this work is going to hurt your body. We are not sure where, but over time, some part of your body is going to stop working well and maybe stop working altogether.
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Lineworker Training for Live Line Work
Increasingly, Utilities are expected to keep the electricity flowing, even during times of T&D maintenance. However, working on lines and equipment energized with high voltage electricity presents significant hazards to lineworkers who are not properly trained. Working on energized lines and equipment can be performed safely. To do so however, requires the lineworker to the considered ‘Qualified’ in live-line work.
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Training and Qualifications Standards for Lineworkers
The lack of standards in the Electric Utility Industry for Lineman training and qualification plagues us when hiring, managing safety or deciding which work assignments to give to which employee. Additionally, after a storm, as outside help comes in, can these new workers restore our system, without getting hurt? How do we know what they are qualified to do? It is singularly odd, in such a potentially hazardous occupation, that what qualifies one to be a Lineman should be so ambiguous.
Training Lineworkers - Communities to the Rescue
By some estimates, as many as 50,000 new lineworkers will need to be trained by 2016. The Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) estimates that between 40% and 50% of the current pool of aging lineworkers will retire during that period. Coupled with adding 13,500 new positions because of growth, we will need to find and train over 8,000 new lineworkers, every year. So, who is going to do this? You? Probably not.
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Evaluating Crew Supervisors
Do your crew supervisors know what they should know about effectively managing a group of lineworkers to construct and maintain high-voltage powerline systems?
Evaluating Lineworker Competencies
Do your lineworkers know what they should know about building and maintain high-voltage powerline systems?
Effective Pre-job Meetings
An important attribute for any leader is the ability to communicate effectively. That attribute becomes critical for effective leadership by field supervisors and managers. When preparing to perform hazardous work in the field, communicating effectively may even save a life or prevent an injury. This is the intent of the Pre-Job Meeting: preventing incidents.
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