Help me out on electric lines.......

T

TeamTree

Location
Indiana
I am not a line clearance guy. I have been in the business for 15 years in mostly residential work. I usually steer clear of any primary electrical lines and try to avoid service drops if possible. I sent a crew out to put 3 trees on the ground while I had a meeting. I told them if they wanted they could fold the boom over and go under the wires and then up or they could climb the tree. The tree was more than 10 feet from the primary (one top wire, one bottom wire). It was a small tree and could be climbed easily.

My boss and I get a call from the foreman asking if he should call 911 because they knocked down the power lines. 1000 thoughts went through my head.....first, is everyone ok? yes....what happended???? Details were unclear. Told him to call 911 and we would head that way.

One of the crew members, who had a couple years of line clearance before he came on with us, took the bucket truck over the top of the primary and reached down......both lines touched the cylinder and blew the lines in half. I could not believe it.

I have never done anything like that and if it came down to going over the wires....I would call the electric department to get the lines covered, at a minimum.

I am was really suprised by this whole situation. My question is this a typical thing to do in line clearance work....to try to reach over wires???
 
In NJ yes, they reach over energized conductors. Minimum approach distances are still in effect depending on voltage. Covering the lines with additional insulation helps but very little. My best advice is to build a relationship with your local utility forester. My local utility company wants private tree contractors to contact them anytime there may be a tree and utility conflict. It is safety driven. The utility will always send an inspector to see if the utility needs to send a crew to assist in the removal process. Most of the time they will.The work ticket reads "TFR" Top For Removal. An Asplundh crew cuts the tree just below the neutral wire and leaves the resulting debris on the ground for you to clean up. Written permission from the landowner is also required. There may be little to no fee for the service but I recommend to never take the fee into consideration, its worth it.
Please, Please make sure you have a documented EHAP program in your organization. It would be one of the first three questions OSHA would have asked you if one of your employees was injured or worse during your recent incident. TCIA offers it.The fact your boss got a call "asking if" they should call 911 tells me many many things. The call to the boss was at least second on the list.I can go on, Dielectric test? CPR? Job safety briefing?...crew was lucky to say the least.
One last item, Those service drops that run from the pole to the house, "Avoid direct contact" is the approach distance. The best way to avoid contact is to call the utility company and ask for a service drop. Lineman arrives to disconnect the electric wire from the pole and coil it up by the house them comes back at a prearrainged time to reconnect it. Customer needs to know they will be without power for a time but it is safety driven. I have never seen a fee for this service from the utility company. A SERVICE LINE WILL KILL YOU!
Be safe
 
What Chip said.

Time to sit down with your crew and review safe limits of approach that the company is allowed. Did the guy who ran the bucket have certification for line clearance? I believe it doesn't transfer to the new company but I may be wrong. The fact that even with experience he ran into the conductors and caused the outage leaves me wondering about how good he was.

Definitely time for an EHAP course.
 
Ehap cert does not transfer from employer to employer. Without out proper documented ehap training from current employer your minimum approach distance is 10 feet. Reaching over power lines is a common practice, reaching between lines is prohibited.
 
Any info on what to do about trees that are literally touching the service drop to a house? Is it dangerous to even just touch the trunk while standing on the ground next to it? Is there a manner in which the tree be safely worked on, without having the line dropped?
 
Service drops are coated with insulation maintain a no contact minimum approach distance. Often times the coating wears from contact with trees and branches so respect them always. Clearing service drops for customers is a common selling point on proposals.
 
According to Table 2, a non-qualified Arborist is to maintain a 10'MAD from service drops as well. The "avoid contact" provision is within Table 1 for qualified line clearance Arborists and qualified line clearance Arborist trainees
 
I also echo Chip on this. We have ANSI Z-133 because a 17 year old kid working for a tree care company on a summer job was killed when he contacted a house drop. His mother took it to task to make the job safer so this did not happen to another mother's son. Ethel Hugg remains an honorary member of the ANSI Z-133 committee. Utility conductors are nothing to fool with, they are not forgiving. Get the training, save a life, possibly yours.
 
Qualified line clearance contractors must AVOID CONTACT with service drops. NON qualified maintain 10 feet. CALL the utility company and have them disconnect the drop for free. This is a no brainer. Why would I want to work around an energized conductor for any period of time when the potentially fatal hazard can be mitigated with a phone call??? It is an excellent selling point as well. Explain to the client the additional steps to make their property SAFE! No place for ego here by explaining how good one is working around electric lines. It' all good till it isn't.
 
Having a service drop disconnected is a luxury that I've never had. Although in many cases it would have increased efficiency and safety, one case imparticular that I had to wait for them to come and put the wires back up after they were pulled off.
 
The covering on service drops is not designed as Insulation it is just weather protection for the lines.

"Service drops are coated with insulation maintain a no contact minimum approach distance"
 
Actually...in an electrical sense the covering IS insulation. If not triplex wire would short out.

BUT!!!

We have to consider the covering as weather protection conceptually. If not, our minds would think of the wires as nothing more dangerous than extension cords.

This concept needs to be VERY clear in order to keep people alive
 
Also, be sure to have the boom inspected and be SURE they check the arch area. Electricity arch will make the metal weak and can burst and the holding valve does nothing with a cylinder rupture.

A utility has the duty to "Make safe" trees for a private contractor which is giving at least 10' clearance for all lines capable of being energized 750v & above.

Glad every one is safe and hoped they learned something in the process.
 
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