Dragging brush for tree-trimming crews and feeding the brush into chippers month after month can become a monotonous, boring job. After a while, most groundsmen are ready for the next logical career step that will take them skyward and increase their paycheck. However, the thought of working in trees around energized power lines makes many quite nervous.

Which brings about the question: How can individuals who work around energized lines overcome their fear of electricity? Fortunately for utility workers in the Midwest, the training personnel at Ameren (St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.) have set aside time to train its employees and contract tree trimmers about safe working distances, cover-up practices and the basics of electricity. The fear subsides as they become more familiar with transformers, switches, cutouts and lightning arrestors.

Now I can understand why Ameren would train its own linemen, but why was it willing to invest its own time and resources to train contract personnel? Maybe a little history is order.

Ameren, like most utilities, preaches safety. But over time, the gospel of safety lost its luster, and Ameren found itself lower in the rankings in safety measures, including LWA (lost workday away) cases.

Three or four years ago, Senior Vice President Tom Voss challenged Ameren employees to step it up a notch. The utility selected safety targets as its key performance indicators. Bill Carr, regional vice president of energy delivery, became obsessed in “getting safety right.” Carr's enthusiasm was contagious, and soon Ameren's safety numbers began to improve and a whole new attitude toward safety emerged. Instead of responding to incidents with management-directed “accident investigations,” teams now perform “incident analysis.” This is a significant change in focus. Individuals involved in “incidents” now participate in the analysis and even “take to the road” to share their experiences with other districts.

A whole new safety culture has evolved. Each year, districts vie for the Eagle Safety Award, Ameren's equivalent to hockey's Stanley Cup. To further encourage safe work practices, individuals now accumulate points that are redeemable for gifts.

Bill Dampf, Ameren's energy delivery safety director, sees the safety recognition program as a way to encourage employees to get involved in the safety process. “Our teams are tasked with providing safety leadership within their work groups and keeping safety visible and constantly in front of our workers,” says Dampf.

Of course, safety does not exist in a vacuum, and field workers in other trades work near or around overhead or underground power lines. They can unwittingly become exposed to potential dangers they do not fully understand.

Ameren Superintendent Walt Overby gave me an overview of Ameren initiatives to provide training for outside personnel who work near energized lines. Ameren's staff now:

• Teaches apprentice pipe fitters about the hazards of working around buried cables.

• Educates firemen about the danger inherent when electricity, fire and water occupy the same space.

• Supplies training and materials to many telecom and cable company workers as they build out the Internet on utility poles and trenches.

• Provides Missouri Department of Transportation drivers with the knowledge needed to report dangerous situations including downed lines.

Ameren realizes that providing safety to people who work near underground and overhead power lines makes good business sense. Enlightened pipe fitters, drivers, communications workers and tree trimmers are less likely to get hurt or to damage utility materials and facilities.

One's attitude toward electricity is key. Dampf states, “To respect electricity is one thing, to fear it is another. With proper training, Ameren finds that an individual can replace fear with respect by displacing ignorance with knowledge.”