Episode 13 Line Life Podcast 13 6442a2e70a2ad

Electric Utility Operations

Line Life Podcast: Women on the Line, Part 2: Featuring Alice Lockridge

April 21, 2023

Alice Lockridge discusses the early history of women in the line trade and the challenges female lineworkers face in today's industry.

Amy Fischbach

Related To: Huskie Tools

Back in 1988, Alice Lockridge worked as an exercise physiologist in Seattle City Light's pre-apprenticeship program and helped to prepare some of the first female lineworkers for a career in the trade.

Our April 2023 Line Life podcast, sponsored by Huskie Tools, features Part 2 of our Women on the Line series. In this episode, she shares her memories of working in the utility industry in the late 1980s and discusses how utilities can successfully recruit, train and retain female lineworkers. For example, she advised companies to hire more than one female lineworker at a time and use gender-neutral titles when advertising for job positions.

To listen to the episode, click on the link below. Also, if you have any comments on this episode or suggestions for future podcast guests, email us at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you.

In 2009, Alice Lockridge organized an all-women lineworker crew to perform the flag raising inside the defunded Satsop Nuclear Plant Cooling tower as the starting session of the Energy Conference. These women were from around the Puget Sound Area and represented a full spectrum of skill levels from a fresh new apprentice to journey-level workers and a retired line worker. One was a veteran.

About the Author

Amy Fischbach | Amy Fischbach, EUO Contributing Editor

Amy Fischbach is the Field Editor for T&D World magazine and manages the Electric Utility Operations section. She is the host of the Line Life Podcast, which celebrates the grit, courage and inspirational teamwork of the line trade. She also works on the annual Lineworker Supplement and the Vegetation Management Supplement as well as the Lineman Life and Lineman's Rodeo News enewsletters. Amy also covers events such as the Trees & Utilities conference and the International Lineman's Rodeo. She is the past president of the ASBPE Educational Foundation and ASBPE and earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Kansas State University. She can be reached at [email protected].