Electric Safety Work Methods

Meet the Electric Safety Work Methods PDT. Learn more about the Safety Summit.

All session times are listed in Pacific time.

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

9:30 AM – 10:30 AM
Sustainability of Initiatives within Safety Programs
Why do some safety initiatives stick while others just fade away? Even with the best of intentions and a great rollout, some programs are just not durable. Join WEI members as we explore the common elements of both successful vs. not-so-successful initiatives.

There will be plenty of time for participants to share their own experiences, so bring your Safety Program initiative stories for everyone to learn from, good or bad.

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Specific Training Requirements for Non-Electrical, Qualified Line Clearance Journeyman
Speaker: Mark Foster, SR, Corporate Trainer Asplundh Tree Experts, Asplundh Construction, LLC
Provides an overview of Asplundh’s task-specific training program designed to allow non-electrically qualified employees to safely perform work within OSHA’s Minimum Approach Distance (MAD) of 10 feet as per the OSHA 1910.269 Standard.

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Task-Specific Training for Non-Electrically Qualified Workers
Speaker: Leonard Rondeau, Sr. Safety & Health Specialist, Salt River Project
Provides an overview of Salt River Project’s (SRP) task-specific training program designed to allow non-electrically qualified employees to safely perform work within OSHA’s Minimum Approach Distance (MAD) of 10 feet as per the OSHA 1910.269 Standard.

1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Leveraging Situational Awareness Tools to Mitigate Wildfire
Speakers: Jonathan Woldemariam, Director of Wildfire Mitigation & Vegetation Management, San Diego Gas & Electric Company
Brian D’Agostino, Director of Fire Science and Climate Adaptation, San Diego Gas & Electric Company
SDG&E focuses on proactive safety measures to mitigate risk specific to wildfire preparedness and response. Two key stakeholders will give you an overview of SDG&E’s approach and industry-leading best practices.

Thursday, September 2, 2021

8:00 AM – 8:45 AM
Managing Human Performance: From Hunter-Gatherer Society to High Tech Business
Speaker: James Martin, Manager, Health & Safety, Allteck Limited Partnership
Health and safety management is undergoing a significant paradigm shift as we progress into the second millennium. The program frameworks built and implemented in the latter half of the twentieth century took us a long way in improving safety performance. But the last twenty years have revealed that programs founded in control theory and hyper-focused on prevention have reached their limit of effectiveness. There is an emerging realization that we need to re-think the goal of zero injuries as our sole metric since we are still having fatalities in high-performing organizations. This presentation will discuss some newer approaches focused on human performance principles with the goal of building organizational resilience to help absorb system failures that cannot be prevented.

8:45 AM – 9:30 AM
Safety and Work Methods Roundtable
Moderator: Derek Johnson, Manager, Safety and Work Methods, FortisAlberta Inc.
Please join us for a round table session for an open forum to share and learn. This year’s session will highlight several topics regarding safety and work methods in the powerline industry. A few of the highlighted topics will cover:

1. Rated and tested rubber equipment
2. Fall Protection Equipment (FR rating, Types of Equipment used, fall distances/shock absorbers)
3. PPE used for connecting/disconnecting revenue meters (multiple voltages)
4. Face & eye protection for line workers (IR rating/face shields)
5. Boom Covers on aerial devices
6. Source /Load cable identification on underground facility switching.

This roundtable is intended to open conversation and allow all attendees to ask questions and identify any other topics from the identified list above. If there are any topics that you or your company would like to see discussed, please submit your questions or simply speak openly during the round table.

10:00 AM – 10:45 AM
Public Safety for 3rd Party Contractors
Speaker: Leonard Rondeau, Sr. Safety & Health Specialist, Salt River Project
Provides an overview of how Salt River Project (SRP) educates third-party contractors. The goal is to increase their knowledge when performing work near energized overhead and underground power lines to meet OSHA Minimum Approach Distances (MAD) as per the 1910.333 and 1926.1408 Standards.

10:45 AM – 11:30 AM
Lessons Learned Panel
Moderator: Leonard Rondeau, Sr. Safety & Health Specialist, Salt River Project
Speakers: Derek Johnson, Manager, Safety and Work Methods, FortisAlberta Inc.
Ray Duncan, Contractor Safety Services Manager, San Diego Gas & Electric Company
Join us in this closing session and learn how utilities such as Salt River Project, SDG&E and Fortis Alberta address safety issues like cave in’s, distractive driving, personal distractions and other safety issues within their utilities.