This one is for you Lloyd

[darkgael]

Hard at work.

[Land_Owner]

Gotta have balls to stand in that raw power and trust your fellow linemen for safe passage. And that photo is on a clear day. Try it at 2:00 a.m. on a Monday morning in 45 mph wind, driving rain, wet to the core, and 4,500 homes on this circuit alone.


My home was on an independent line and scheduled as last to be served. They do multiples before individuals. So I got out the 13-foot fiberglass step ladder and attempted to reset the fuse.


Zzzzzz-pop! Lightning. I did not know there is a fusible link in there. However, the Power Company rescheduled me for "right now" so I wouldn't kill myself or someone else while trying again. It was not exactly a play stupid games, win stupid prizes moment, but could have been. Lesson Learned. Call a Professoonal or perhaps die by your own hand.

[Lloyd Smale]

he's climbimg alright but all thats on that pole is telecommunication equipment and wires. only power is 120/240v for his box. worse place i worked for pole congestion was green bay. ive worked in bigger citys but most had more upgraded stuff than green bay. worked one pole tat on the way up had 4 secondary take offs, two level of 3 phase 7200vt with transformers on each side of the pole, than 0ne 12500vt 3 phase with 69000 transmissions on top. ALL HOT and 3 of us had to climb through all of it and hot stick the 69kv to replace the 3 insulators. that one had even me puckered, it was one of those jobs i was in charge of but couldnt have my men doing it while i sat on the ground so myself and my 2 lead lineman did it. later at their shop their superintendent handed my 200 bucks and said take your boys out. he said in the last 15 years he lost 2 very experienced lineman on that stretch of line doing the same thing. one that cut out climbing and fell into hot conductor and the other that made a bad move by putting a steel insulator tie in his back pocket so he wouldnt have to carry a hand line up to bring one up and the tie hit hot 12500 and killed him instantly. he said he was a bit nervous about sending hayseeds from the UP up that pole but his guy that was there with us told him we were the most professional crew he ever worked with. his line foreman kind of dropped his head when the super said he'd never seen a line foreman on a pole on even an easy job. i didnt work that way. i was on a pole at least one or two times a week and when anything sketchy came up i always was in a bucket or on the pole. guy that runs that crew today came up as an apprentice with me and runs it exactly the same. hes probably the thing im most proud of in my career.   

Hard at work.

[ironglow]

  I don't play with that stuff..  That's just what guys like Lloyd are paid to do !

[ulav8r]

My dad retired before bucket trucks came into use locally.  He had quit climbing in his mid 50's but 2-3 years after he was working as a foreman and was called out to climb to retrieve the body of a lineman that had been electrocuted.  Now all the crews use bucket trucks.


While he was still climbing he worked lots of overtime in bad weather.  When I was about 8 I saw a climber up a pole just as a lightning storm hit.  Luckily he was not hurt but it was close.

[moamonkey]

Hell, I don’t really even like dancing with 110v in the safety of my own home.

[Lloyd Smale]

we didnt climb near as much as the old timers did because we did have bucket trucks, but up here in the forested north theres lots of line through the woods that you cant get a truck to. ive done 69kv rebuilds where we had to hike 3 miles to a staging area and carry parts in with our argo and on our backs. cant imagine the job those old guys had setting those 50 foot poles clearing right aways and stringing wire with horses and manpower. just the bugs in that area are so thick theyd give you nightmares. there are also even today that equipment on a pole make it hard or impossible to get a man in a bucket close enough. bucket trucks also brought a new danger to lineman. working equipment hot. bucket trucks are insulated from ground so its safe to work energized lines. that sad people get killed in them when something like a head or other body part makes contact with ground. its why you will always see a lineman working hot wit rubber sleeves and gloves and a non-conductive hard hat. in the old days when i started it was rubber gloves and a ball cap and on 2400v or less we worked it with just leather work gloves, id like a dollar for every serious poke i took working on 120/240 connections on houses in the rain. one knocked me right off the roof! but the truth is most lineman retire without scars. its like any other job. you train to be competent and safe. that said try to find just one lineman that wont admit that the grace of God at least one time saved him from being planted. but then most loggers, law enforcement officers, steelworkers soldiers, and i can go on and on, can say the same. yup it was dangerous but we were making over a 100k a year in the 80s and how many non college educated people made that.  heck most 4 year degree people didnt. had my ma a bit angry in 198. she had a teaching degree and a masters in special education. i got promoted to lead man that year (2 steps below what i retired as) and made 500 dollars short of doubling her wage. but then i wasnt sitting in a warm school with clean fingernails and the biggest danger a paper cut, still didnt sit well with her because she put alot of store in a college education. she actually balled when i came home 2 weeks after graduation and told her i enlisted. i had basically a free ride offer at 2 university's but my stomach turned at the thought of 4 more years of schools and phony teachers that werent as smart as alot of their students. that day in 84  she had no argument. i was bring home checks as big as her teaching job and dads civil service job combined. 

My dad retired before bucket trucks came into use locally.  He had quit climbing in his mid 50's but 2-3 years after he was working as a foreman and was called out to climb to retrieve the body of a lineman that had been electrocuted.  Now all the crews use bucket trucks.


While he was still climbing he worked lots of overtime in bad weather.  When I was about 8 I saw a climber up a pole just as a lightning storm hit.  Luckily he was not hurt but it was close.