At Frontier Communications, all offices are having Automated External Defibrillators installed, and AED training is being scheduled to coincide with regular employee CPR training. The Company has created a policy on how to respond to active shooter situations and is establishing security measures for Frontier buildings. The new measures were recommended and promoted for over two years, and training will involve all 5,500 employees nationwide.
SMUD has a peer-to-peer program called SCORTCH that utilizes peer observations to create a matrix to identify risk categories and risk behaviors. The Company is also holding open forums concerning near-miss reporting in various work groups. The Company promotes open reporting in work groups, but it is unknown how many near misses actually occur. Health & Safety Committee member Mark Flanders is planning on retiring and will be leaving the committee in June. He is working to get a replacement to the committee.
At Modesto Irrigation District, a lineman choked on a piece of food while having lunch, and a crew foreman dislodged the food particle. This incident has happened twice to the same individual. MID has announced that CalOSHA FR rules will be released by April and that Fed OSHA rules do not apply in California in the interim. MID will wait for the ruling before making any FR changes, despite warnings from employees who tell them that the current FR rules established early in 2015 apply. MID management is adamant that they have studied the rules and they do not apply to them. MID is going to hire six new apprentices. The application process is just starting and a committee is evaluating the hiring process prior to interviews and practical tests.
PG&E Gas is looking at making changes to the safety green book and evaluating rigging practices in gas operations. This move is related to the recent fatality that occurred in Fall of 2015. Gas Ops has ceased the practice of splitting pipe due to unknown strains and stresses on the cable. Another concern is whether or not tailboards are being conducted properly. This was identified as a problem area after a Company audit found that tailboards were at times either not being conducted at all, not conducted with the spirit of safety in mind, or the process was not being followed conscientiously.
Utility Tree Service sent a health and safety inspector from Asplundh to check on crew work. The inspector asked for the training records on aerial rescue, and the crews could not produce any because the training did not happen. It has become Utility Tree Service policy for crews to not respond to an employee who makes contact with an energized line or becomes caught up in the line. The policy is to call 911 for emergency response, and have the utility de-energize the line. Most fire departments will not perform rescues in an energized condition. Tree trimmers at Utility Tree have a major problem with this policy because there is no way to respond immediately when contact happens. CPR must begin within 4-6 minutes to be most effective, waiting for EMS takes too long, and they cannot perform a rescue unless the line is de-energized.
PG&E Electric Restoration reports that a 16-person underground training class at the Livermore Training Center executed a switch log and a PMH stress cone failed when energized. The pad mounted line re-closer had locked out by ground fault. There was no injuries.
A lineman was moving the center phase on a three-phase angle pole when he made contact with the outside phase. No injuries reported.
While untying #6 solid hand tie during rubber glove work, the conductor separated and fell to the ground, causing 309 customers to lose power. No injuries reported.
While coordinating with the distribution operator on clearing a line through a tree, a T-man isolated two other locations successfully but incorrectly cut open the jumpers on the third location, leaving the line in the tree energized.
A journeyman was driving a full-sized bucket truck when a gust of wind pushed the vehicle causing it to veer off the highway and roll onto its side. The driver sustained minor scrapes and bruises.