Tingly

I often forget how dangerous our jobs working for an electric utility can be, which is never a good thing. But I get frequent reminders which help keep me on my toes. Especially when I think about those whose jobs are way more dangerous than mine on a regular basis.

There is a small percentage of linemen who are rock gods. They are linemen who have been approved to "work bare hand". If you've ever seen a lineman working on a line, he most likely was seriously suited up in personal protective equipment (PPE), a hard hat, safety glasses, gloves, fire retardant shirt, and insulated gloves over all of that. The bare hand guys are doing exactly what their titles says they are doing, grabbing on to live lines with their bare hands. Usually transmission lines, which carry enough voltage to not only kill you, but also not leave much to identify you. These guys fascinate me. I asked one of them what it was like. His reply, "Like holding a lightening bolt". Then I asked him if he felt anything, "Yeah, it's like a million little bugs crawling on your skin. All tingly." I'm pretty sure these men are insane.

I've got a super safe job in comparison. But still, I do enter into stations with lots of powerful equipment. The most powerful stations, right outside of power plants actually make me feel weird when I'm near them. There are different levels of access inside stations. Those who are not trained and are being escorted in, must stay a certain distance away, or in fancy speak maintain the required approach destance, from the equipment, depending on its voltage. I'm considered trained and can enter stations all alone and walk up to a station class transformer, hug it and kiss it, if I wanted.

Most of the dangers I face in a station can be prevented as long as I'm alert. In fact, I can safely touch most of the equipment since the outside is not energized. That's not true of everything though, and in general I don't touch. I worry mostly about tripping and falling onto something that is energized. We are trained, although I don't know if it would happen if I needed it to, that if we are falling not to reach out to grab anything. The idea being if we hit something that is energized, we will get voltage but should fall off. If we reach out and grab it, our muscles will tighten and we won't be able to let go, most likely resulting in our death. I also have to worry about lines that are down, holes, lines that are in the ground, and wasps. They LOVE electrical equipment.

We do have a ground grid that runs the entire station, meant to ground any loose electricity. It also keeps the fence from becoming energized. The grid is made of copper and is a popular item to steal. I don't find that amusing since my life depends on it being there. We are trained to look to make sure the grounds are on the fence gate before we touch it, but still. I know one guy who was getting ready to open a gate, key in hand, when a noise caught his attention. It was the rain hitting the fence and vaporizing. Some stooge had stolen the grounds.

Yesterday, I was in an old distribution station. The distribution stations don't have as much voltage in them, but it's still enough to kill you. I had walked up to one of the big station class transformers to get its serial number and noticed the ground was vibrating. Not unusual. Then I realized that it was more than that, my body was vibrating and my hands and feet were tingly....a bit like a million bugs crawling on them. I had a moment of panic when it dawned on me that I was receiving an unknown amount of voltage. I am pretty proud of myself for just standing there for a few long seconds. I obviously was not getting hurt at that moment, but if I did something stupid and touched something that made me a better ground than the grid, it was not going to be good. So, I assessed the situation, tingling away. Realized it was okay to back away and slowly did so. It took awhile for the unpleasant sensation in my hands and feet to go away, but I was fine.

Makes me pretty glad that I always take the time to hug and kiss everyone each morning before leaving for work.