Lineworkers participate in electric rodeo
The North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives
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Capital Electric Lineworker John Frey placed second in the hurt-man rescue competition during the Lineworker’s Rodeo. |
(NDAREC) sponsored an Apprentice Training and Safety (AT&S) rubber gloving school June 23-27. The school featured two sessions that gave lineworkers hands-on experience at different stations. For some, it was a new experience. For more advanced lineworkers, it allowed them to refine their skills.
More than 50 students, six instructors and several vendors participated in the school. Among those six instructors included two Capital Electric employees: Les Vietz, crew foreman, and Rick Dressler, lead lineworker. The station they taught was geared for apprentices and beginning lineworkers who needed practice dead-ending a single-phase line and placing a fused cutout in the line while energized.
All of Capital Electric’s full-time lineworkers attended the hotline school, including Mike Berg, John Frey, Steve Harrington, Jeff Holzer, Brad Johnson, Seth Lothspeich, Trent Stein and Dale Twardoski. During the two-day session, they reviewed how to change out a three-phase pole, cut in a breaker, change out insulation bells and other work-related skills. They also received classroom instruction on digger derrick inspections and light maintenance, and reviewed the proper procedures and inspections of hot line tools, cleaning and testing.
Berg, the newest employee on the Capital Electric line crew, says the two-day school was a good refresher.
“I learned tips and different ways of doing things from different people, so the school was helpful and interesting,” he says.
At the end of the hotline school, students participated in NDAREC’s first-ever competitive Lineworker’s Rodeo. Events included:
• a pole climb;
• a fuse-change with an extendo stick;
• and a hurt-man rescue.
First- and second-place finishers in each event received a gift certificate to Scheel’s Sporting Goods. Capital Electric congratulates Lineworker John Frey, who placed second in both the speed climb and hurt-man rescue. Wally Kalmbach, director of safety for NDAREC, said the winners in both sessions displayed a remarkable skill level and showed they are, indeed, “industrial athletes.”