This month has not been a good one with the deaths of two of our young members and a couple of serious accidents which led to surgeries and extended hospital stays.
On June 14 we lost 24-year-old Mike Wigt to an at-home electrical accident. Details around Mikes fatality at this time are not all there except that he was in the process of installing a low voltage cable at his home in his electrical panel. The panel or conduit became energized while Mike was kneeling on the ground and in contact with the conduit. He was found by a relative who de-energized the panel and tried to revive him by performing CPR. Mike was a top step apprentice at Turlock Irrigation District and was due to top out soon.
On June 21 PG&E lineman Jon Christensen, 30, was fatally wounded while on the job installing a street light circuit. Jon’s death is being investigated by both PGE and CalOSHA and not much is known at this time other than he was in the process of installing a duplex that fed a street light circuit. Jon apparently came into contact with energized open wire secondary and collapsed into the aerial basket he was working out of. 911 was called and CPR was performed to no avail. Jon was a father to one child with the second on the way. Jon’s wife gave birth to their second child, a 9 lb. baby boy, the day after his death. She named the baby after Jon.
On June 20 a contract crew (United Power) was performing a transmission pole change out. The crew was in the process of lowering their tools to the ground when a 115kV insulator that was just installed came apart sending the conductor down and across an energized 60 kV line sparking a couple of fires. One lineman on the structure strained a knee and another on the ground got a little over heated which required an IV and some fluids. Both men were treated and released that evening.
On June 21 another contract lineman working in the Walnut Creek area suffered a broken pelvis and arm as a result of a fall from the pole he was working on. The lineman a traveler from Texas working for Intren fell approximately 25 feet as he was transitioning around the telephone area on the pole he was working on when he stepped into a crack on the pole causing him to fall. He fell away from the pole and landed on a concrete slab below resulting in the injuries mentioned. He has had surgery to have a steel plate installed in his pelvis and a rod in his broken arm.
On June 21 one of our members working for Frontier fell from a pole while attending pole climbing training at the yard in Elk Grove. She fell approximately 15 feet landing on her back. She was transported to the hospital where it was determined she had broken her left arm in 3 places. She was scheduled for surgery the following day to repair the damage and was expected to spend a couple of days in the hospital.
Peer 2 Peer Safety Campaign
On June 30 the Peer to Peer group is scheduled to meet in Vacaville to go over what specific training requirements the group felt would be needed for the safety stewards when they are implemented in the field. The training for these stewards are scheduled in July. The meeting however will be somewhat overshadowed with the recent loses and accidents we have experienced. These accidents have led to the recent bulletin from the Hold the Pull Campaign with flyers available for all work locations as a reminder to everyone to stay focused and help put a stop to these incidents: www.ibew1245.com/news-Local1245/Hold_the_Pull_Rev_6-28-11.pdf
The 1245 safety committee as well as staff members who are Journeyman Lineman have been asked to attend this meeting as well to discuss these recent events and look for ways to stifle this trend.
In other news Local 396 is working on scheduling joint presentations for NV Energy members in their jurisdiction. This still leaves a few PUD and REA properties to be scheduled; the expectation is that all properties will have been covered by the end of June.
PG&E and IBEW have met and discussed a near miss policy for Electric T&D and to discuss role of Safety Stewards including the ability of these stewards to conduct monthly safety meetings on company time for bargaining unit members only.
Gas Safety Meeting
On May 12, approximately 60 gas workers and IBEW staff attended the first IBEW Gas Safety meeting. In attendance were employees from PGE and NV Energy in various crafts that represented the gas departments within their companies. Multiple sets of notes were compiled with the goal to bring the issues that need to be addressed through the companies to the companies in an effort to get them corrected through the company and separate those from the issues we have some control over ourselves.
On June 23 a small group from this meeting met in Vacaville to move forward with the goal of identifying what issues from the May 12 meeting are issues our members have some control over and developing a Peer 2 Peer program for gas. Members from this committee were given assignments to work on before the next meeting in an effort to move this agenda forward. Dean Gurke has this assignment and is working with both Peer 2 Peer groups in the development and implementation of both of these groups.
PG&E FR Clothing Allowances
We are currently working on a new Letter Agreement for the 2011-2012 FR Clothing allowance with PG&E. The new letter on the surface will address the new annual allowance which will be the same as last year; however there will be some additional provisions in the Letter Agreement to address additional monies to the current allowance if employees find themselves with not enough clothing for their specific needs. This will start with their individual supervisor and if they are denied at that level it will be addressed by a 2 panel committee–one from PG&E and one from IBEW. The goal here is to help the company control the cost with the ability for our members to have a selection of clothing to choose from; however we want to make sure that everyone has the items needed to perform their jobs as required. Goal is to have the new allowance available by the end of this month and allow to the end of August to spend all outstanding balances employees may have. Keep an eye out for the communication from the company regarding this.
CalOSHA Article 12 Tree trimming standard revision
On May 25 and 26 both myself and Carl Lamers spent 2 full days as part of an Advisory Committee to review and make changes to the General Safety Orders that regulate the tree trimming industry.
On July 19 a smaller sub-committee will meet in Sacramento to address issues pertaining to the minimum approach distance (MAD) for non-line clearance tree trimming which I am a part of. This meeting will also include a representative of Fed OSHA to ensure compatibility with the Fed standard. When these issues are adequately addressed and the appropriate changes are made to the current standard I will provide a link to these changes for everyone to review.
Painters Grounding
This has been a long standing issue pertaining to the requirements to hang personal protective grounds and being a Qualified Electrical Worker (QEW). This discrepancy led to PG&E filing for a variance to the standard which has been under review for approximately 8 months now. This month on recommendations from their attorneys PGE withdrew their variance request without prejudice. What this means is they will not look to vary from the current regulations and look into ways to comply. By withdrawing without prejudice they will be able to apply for one again in the future if they feel the need to do so.
Near Miss
The Safety Committee is encouraging everyone to report all near misses to the committee through our IBEW1245 Safety Matters web page. Anyone with a near miss should sanitize the report to omit names and companies as the intent of reporting a near is to provide others with information about potential hazards that members find in the field in order to provide awareness to others of those hazards.
Submitted by,
Ralph Armstrong