A FIRE BURNED THROUGH THE MOUNTAINOUS AREA EAST OF EUREKA, CALIFORNIA, and destroyed a wood-pole line. Pacific Gas & Electric (San Francisco, California, U.S.) called upon transmission troubleman Russ Rylee and transmission lineman Wade Swanson to fix the damaged line. Because the terrain was so steep and covered with shale, the utility had to fly the linemen by helicopter to every location. The linemen were held in place by rope until they could tie themselves off to trees.

“We set up a rope system with fall protection, so we could move back and forth to change out the burnt poles and get the lines back up and energized,” Swanson says. “We replaced 42 poles this way.”

Rylee and Swanson are just two of the linemen who are working to construct and rebuild the U.S. transmission grid, which is being expanded at a rate not seen in many years.

Transmission investment in new lines and maintenance of existing lines was sluggish from the 1970s through 1999, according to the Edison Electric Institute Survey of Transmission Investment (May 2005). This trend reversed in 1999, and according to the survey, from 1999 to 2003, annual transmission investment by investor-owned utilities increased 12% annually and totaled nearly US$18 billion over the period. Looking ahead, the study shows a projected expenditure of $28 billion in transmission infrastructure for the period of 2004 to 2008, a 60% increase over the earlier five-year period.

These expenditures reflect the results of changes in the electric-utility industry, whereby the transmission grid is now called upon to transmit wholesale electric power over long distances, a function for which it was not originally designed. Longer lines are being built at higher voltages (such as the 765-kV 550-mile [885-km] line in West Virginia being built by American Electric Power) or are in the planning/approval stage.

James “Lefty” Sutton, a journeyman lineman and area manager for Henkels & McCoy (Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, U.S.), expects to see more new transmission line built in Pennsylvania than at any other time since 1970. “The demand for power and reliability is putting a lot of work on the street,” he says. “There are 500 miles (805 km) in the planning right now, from West Virginia to New Jersey, to be completed around 2011 to 2013.”

These changes in investment result in more work for transmission linemen than at any time in the past 30 years. For this work, they rely on modern, highly productive construction equipment, tools and techniques not available to the older generation of linemen who did much of their work by hand. However, they also rely on the traditions, specialty training and no-nonsense, get-the-job-done attitude passed along by their predecessors.

The following is an account of some linemen who specialize in transmission construction and maintenance. The linemen discuss how they were introduced to the trade, what projects they are working on, where they have seen changes in their work procedures and equipment, and what skills they consider the most important.

JOINING THE TRADE

Many linemen are introduced to their trade through another lineman who is a family member, friend or neighbor. Others may have been hired by the local power company in one capacity and then moved into line work.

A typical lineman is Stan Lipinski, a line foreman with Utility Lines Construction (ULC; Belleville, Michigan, U.S.). His brother's next-door neighbor worked for Detroit Edison (DTE; Detroit, Michigan). When the neighbor told Lipinski DTE was hiring apprentices, Lipinski applied for a job with the utility.

“I got into this business the way most people do,” he says. “This is the kind of trade that if you're not exposed to it, you don't even know it exists.”

Similarly, Doug Dixon, a construction manager with InfraSource Inc. (Media, Pennsylvania), had a contact in the utility industry. His dad worked on a transmission project in Minnesota, and when he graduated from high school, he went to work with him as a groundsman on a 500-kV project.

Dixon has three brothers who also followed their father's footsteps into the trade. Both he and a brother each have a son who is a lineman. And Dixon's wife, Lisa, is also a journeyman lineman with InfraSource.

Lance Ravis, a foreman with Henkels & McCoy, also was introduced to transmission line work by his father who worked in transmission construction as a welder. Starting as a groundsman, he has worked his way up to foreman. Ravis now works with his father on a 230-kV project in Pennsylvania. He also has a brother who is a lineman in underground distribution work.

Hank Buero, a supervisor with ULC, came to transmission work from DTE, where he worked as a lineman for 27 years, mostly in distribution. He was introduced to the trade by an uncle who was a DTE dispatcher. Buero also has an uncle who is a lineman and a son-in-law who is a substation operator.

ON THE JOB

All linemen interviewed for this article are currently working on projects to expand and maintain the grid that include changing out the attachment hardware for static wires on lattice towers, replacing rusted arms on towers in a wet location, setting concrete structures for a 230-kV line, building a 345-kV line in Texas, and washing insulators as part of a seasonal maintenance program.

The project Ravis is on involves taking down old lattice structures to replace them with monopole steel structures and adding a second circuit to the 230-kV line. “We're pulling in new wire on one side of the new Myers poles, and we'll be adding a second on the other side as a whole new circuit,” Ravis says of the project, on which Sutton also serves as an area manager.

Lawrence Tow, a transmission supervisor for Georgia Power Co. (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.), is changing out dead-end insulators hot on a 500-kV line. “The porcelain is cracking, so we're changing every insulator and jumper strings on every dead end in this section,” he says. “We're using an Altec 93-ft (28-m) barehand-rated bucket truck, a 150-ft (46-m) insulated Condor bucket and a 156-ft (48-m) steel Bronto Skylift.”

Patricia Roberts, a general foreman with InfraSource, is working on a new transmission line in Texas for CenterPoint Energy (Houston, Texas, U.S.) along with Dixon, who is a construction manager. Extensive rainfall has caused much delay on the project, which entails a 65-mile (105-km) double-circuit 345-kV line on steel lattice structures. “We've had a lot of wind and rain days and a lot of breakdown time,” Roberts says. “Tower setting is done, the last of the wire is installed, and we're going back through checking the towers for missing steel and torquing them.”

ADAPTING TO CHANGE

Contractors, power companies and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are emphasizing the importance of safety to linemen like never before. New grounding methods, use of modern aerial equipment, less need to climb than in the past and better training all contribute to an inherently safer work environment.

Vic Tomlan, a line supervisor with ULC, says safety is a No. 1 priority throughout the company. “If there is ever any kind of question as to whether anything can be done a safer way, the work is stopped, reviewed, and if it can be done a safer way, the safer way is implemented,” Tomlan says.

The company has upgraded all the grounds, revised procedures and trained all of its workers in the new methods. The grounding procedures have gone from bracket grounding to equipotential grounding, Sutton says. While it's more time consuming, it's the best way to protect the linemen, he notes.

Dixon also stresses that improved safety is the biggest change he has seen. “Work procedures have changed, such as 100% fall protection,” he says. “You used to be able to free climb up a structure or wood pole, and now you don't do that. Linemen not used to this felt hampered, but the younger linemen who started when this procedure was already in place have adapted to it. It's part of the training now.”

Dave Galloway, a foreman with L.E. Myers, remembers when they used to have to climb everything. Now much of the work is done out of aerial lifts, crane baskets or a helicopter. The younger linemen are also better prepared, he says. “They're being taught safer ways of doing things, and while it may slow down production a little bit, I know that it pays off in saved lives,” he says.

Rylee says the emphasis is to get the job done safely. “The production or speed is not the important thing,” Rylee explains. “The important things are to get it done right and do it safely.”

Another trend pointed to by Patrick Harrison of PAR Electrical Contractors Inc. (Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.) is improved equipment. A bucket truck with an elevator provides another stage of lift, which makes it more versatile. Also, he uses a robotic arm for barehand work such as changing out crossarms on a 69-kV line.

“They're time savers,” Harrison says. “You have less time on the pole and less time in the air, all making for greater efficiency.”

SKILLS LINEMEN NEED TO GET THE JOB DONE

The ability to climb a pole or structure is the most important skill for a lineman, Rylee says. “You have to be able to work effectively off a pole standing on those hooks, and you have to be able to think clearly while you're up there about what you will need to get the job done,” Rylee says. “You can't just walk over to your toolbox.”

Ravis concurs by saying that the need to climb can arise at any time. “Just because the truck breaks down doesn't mean you can't get the job done. You can climb,” Ravis says. “This needs to be stressed for the newer men coming through.”

Bob Horan, a senior patrolman with Southern California Edison (Rosemead, California, U.S.), stresses the importance of keeping skills up to date through constant training and study. He just completed a class for tower rescue, called “Ropes That Rescue,” where he learned to repel and to use ropes to rescue a hurt or incapacitated lineman and get him to the ground safely.

“We all need to keep studying and to listen to the guys who have been there ahead of us — the guys with the experience,” Horan notes.

For Dixon, the most important skill is making sure de-energized lines are grounded properly. “You've got to treat a de-energized line as potentially hazardous and ground it right,” he says. “Knowing where your grounds are and properly installing the right ground is crucial for safe transmission work.”

Swanson has always believed that the most important skill on any job is a good work ethic. “If you're willing to go out and work and find ways to get the job done, then you're going to succeed,” he says.

The linemen who are building out the U.S. transmission grid today are even better trained than their predecessors. As well as having improved methods for safety, they rely on modern, sophisticated equipment and tools to do their work. Often they have come to their trade through family connections, and frequently they put in long hours in harsh conditions to build and repair damaged lines. By their heartfelt comments and stories, we know they are not only highly skilled, but also truly dedicated to the lineman trade.

Utility Lineman Weds Under ITCTransmission Tower

Electricity was in the air when Vic Tomlan, general foreman for Utility Lines Construction (ULC; Belleville, Michigan, U.S.), wed Colleen Depauw under an electric transmission tower in Romeo, Michigan.

The couple met at the tower eight years ago while Tomlan was doing maintenance work on a high-voltage line. Tomlan approached Depauw about getting permission to cross her property to get to the line, and they've been a couple ever since.

When Depauw shared her preliminary plans for a tower wedding at a recent ULC company picnic, the event caught the attention of Tomlan's boss, Lee Ellis, vice president of ULC. Ellis contacted ITC Transmission (Novi, Michigan), which owns and maintains the high-voltage transmission lines and stations in southeast Michigan, to get permission for the couple to exchange vows under one of its transmission towers. ULC is the primary field contractor for ITCTransmission.

Not only did ITCTransmission approve the request to hold the wedding under the transmission tower, but it also approved a special dispensation to allow the wedding couple to skip wearing fire-retardant clothing, required while in close proximity of the electrical equipment.

Tomlan, who has been a utility lineman for more than 30 years, asked a fellow lineman and ordained minister, Ted Anderson, to marry them. Ellis gave the bride away.