Hollister, CA – On Wednesday, October 9, 2024, IBEW 1245-represented PG&E Compliance Inspectors participated in the first of its kind simulation training, designed and executed by IBEW 1245 members who are fellow Compliance Inspectors.
The “Lone Worker Rescue Series & Emergency Preparedness Training” took place at the Hollister OHV Park.
“Angry homeowners” confront the linemen during the training.
The hands-on training was the brainchild of a group of System Inspectors concerned about how to enhance the safety of lone workers who face an array of challenges in the field in the aftermath of the horrific accident of their co-worker, Kyle Kane.
Kane, a 19-year IBEW 1245 member, was working alone as a Troubleman for PG&E when he was pinned by his heavy truck and a gate for nearly five hours before being rescued by a security officer and transported by a medi-helicopter to a hospital. He defied the odds and survived with the support of caregivers, his wife, 4 children, extended family and union family, but he has a very long road to recovery ahead of him.
“After our fellow union brother Kyle was pinned for hours by a vehicle, we felt like bargaining unit input and action was overdue and necessary by our team in the lone worker space,” shared Chad Oliver, a System Inspector out of Fresno and co-chair of the southern Grass Roots Team.
Oliver, a 22-year IBEW 1245 member and 4 other chairs of Grass Roots teams at PG&E developed the idea at one of their monthly meetings of the Grass Roots safety team. With the support of 1245 and Cynthia King-Felix, PG&E Director of Distribution Inspectors, and PG&E Vice President Jason Regan, they took it to local Grass Roots teams and developed the training.
“We were able to perfect it. The actors were fellow employees from the Grassroots Team. Our internal traffic department grassroots joined the effort and supported as well,” he said.
Shane Bradford, Shawn Kelly and Courtney Culpepper participate in the PG&E Lone Worker Rescue Training in Hollister, Calif. on October 11, 2024.
Situational awareness, timely usage of available technology, including the inspector app and the SOS app, and good communication skills were some of the many elements of the training.
“We’re out here in Hollister Hills, one 4-wheel drive off road, lots of trails, winding dirt roads that split off in a bunch of different directions… You could get lost out here,” said Ken Rickner, a PG&E System Inspector out of the Stockton Division who helped design the training.
The linemen encounter a downed power line during the training.
He told the participating inspectors, “Pretend it’s the real world, how would we get {downed lines} de-energized, who would you call, what steps would you go through to safely clear the hazards to continue on with the rescue.”
The simulation included downed wires, a thicket of twisting dirt roads, and a pair of belligerent customers waving guns and threatening to shoot the inspectors. And that was just the first part, before one crew arrived to find a downed co-worker suffering from dehydration.
“We have a lot of tools available that we don’t always use,” said Oliver.
Shawn Kelly, a System Compliance Inspector for Bakersfield System Inspections out of Kern, appreciated the simulation, saying “It was a good training, especially … knowing your surroundings and having situational awareness.” He added, “A lot of us don’t think about safety precautions…We’re going to save someone but your situational awareness {is key.} You need to jump on that inspect app and plan your route before, look at your safety alerts to make sure you’re not going in behind a closed gate that you shouldn’t, because otherwise you could have two victims or three victims instead of one.”
The linemen encounter a rattlesnake as one of the obstacles.
Rickner noted, “A lot of the linemen come back with a smile on their face … Surprised. They’re familiar with the wire down scenario, but the customer issues took them back … a positive. We’re out there by ourselves a lot of times, and nobody knows where we’re at, so in the real world, this is a tool that’s going to help a lot.”
“This was an eye opener for many inspectors to be better prepared and more thoroughly utilize the tools we already have at our disposal for safer day to day tasks,” declared Oliver.
As for the IBEW 1245, Rickner summed it up by saying, “They protect our jobs, they fight for our jobs and our benefits, they’re here for us. I’ve been with the union for almost 19 years. So I’m happy to be part of it, happy to be employed here, and I like my job.”
Many thanks to the original group of five System Compliance Inspectors/Grass Roots Chairs who took the initiative to create the training: Chad Oliver, Greg Brown, Jim Lobo, Artie Lynch, and Ken Nickson and all who made it possible.
- Eileen Purcell, IBEW 1245 Sr. Advisor