Flagger trainees practice flagging skills in the parking lot of IBEW 1245’s Weakley Hall in Vacaville.
Photos by Rebecca Band
Joshua Thomason practices flagging during the training.
As part of a pilot program launched last year, IBEW 1245 has begun training and dispatching flaggers toperform traffic control at select PG&E worksites. More than a dozen aspiring flaggers joined the full-day Cal-OSHA certified training in Vacaville in hopes of securing one of the openings PG&E will be filling in the Sacramento area in the near future.
According to IBEW 1245 Business Rep Joe Osterlund, the union hopes to spread the traffic control training program to other cities in the coming months as part of the ongoing effort to bring PG&E’s flagging work back in house. Presently, PG&E spends $40 million a year on contractors to do the same work.
Learn more about the pilot program.
Mike Ward practices flagging during the training.