By R. Bruce Wright
As Synebar Solutions’ consultants visit systems insured in the Hurtado & Associates Power program, we try to always ask about training in Hazard Identification and we encourage every distribution system to provide all of their staff members with some basic instruction covering how to spot open and obvious defects on the system that they might easily observe in their daily travels through the area. This type of training is easy to do and it can be very useful to you in both identifying issues before things go wrong and cause problems for you or the public. It also shows the world that you are making every effort to use all your available resources to prevent line problems. But, why stop with just your employee group?
Most systems in this program have subcontractors working for them. Using your subcontractors as extra eyes and ears can provide you with additional sources information about what’s going on in your system if you give them the tools to do so.
While some systems rely more on outside resources than others do, only a very few have none at all. Contractors cross the spectrum from meter readers to engineers. They often include ROW crews, trenching contractors, line construction firms, and pole inspection technicians. All of these contractors come to work in, or even on, your distribution system. They are there already; they have both the access and the interest; why not take advantage of that? You only need to ask, and then provide them with the necessary training, to tap into this additional resource.
Of course, different types of contractors may need relatively less or more guidance, but you can train even the least experienced meter-reading contract worker in the basic facts needed to spot the kind of open and obvious hazards you would want to have reported. After all, you all ready know how to train those members of your own staff, such as office workers, who have no real technical line work knowledge or experience and they get the message, right? Why not give these subcontractors’ workers this same type of instruction? You could even ask them to join the session you are doing for the staff if you prefer not to hold another, separate session for the contractors. Either way, you can give these workers the basic knowledge they need to spot these issues and tell them just how to get the information into the proper hands.
Many systems we visit are doing this for their contractors and most of them have a story to tell about a case where this paid off for them. Some have even set up formal programs to reward workers, often for the contract meter readers, for every defect that they spot and report. In some cases, hazard identification training and requirements for defect reporting have been incorporated into the formal provisions of the written contract. (You do require written contracts for all subcontractors, we trust.)
Another advantage of taking this approach is that by doing so you are sending a clear message to the employees of your contractors, one that reinforces the value of safety and doing things right. And, in the end, it is much more efficient and cost effective to take advantage of the assets you already have at your disposal than it is to go out and hire more help.