Tom Mb!!!

Did you guys end up catching up with each other for a brew or 2 when Tom was down MBs way?im sure you guys had a hoot!fill us in guys what did ya'all get up to?
 
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Tom was in Louisianna? Better there than here. -30C (+-5C) this past week. A little heat wouldn't be turned down.

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Crikey, I cant imagine cold like that, must have some whacko stubbie holders to keep ya beer from freezing. lol

Mark, MB, wazzup? Tom said he was going over your way "sorta", heck, if he was coming over this way we'd catch up and have a brewski or two ... we might even do some tree stuff.

Tom, where are you now? Home again? I think so coz ya just posted about your internet connection.
 
Hey guys give Tom some time to catch his breath! Living out of a hotel must get exhausting.
 
The project in Louisiana wrapped up and there was no more work going on for a while. I decided to come back to Atlanta to regroup and get moving.

For much of the time down there we worked dark to dark six and seven days per week. Not much time for socializing...or spending money thankfully :)

Butch and I never got together because it was so far to drive with only a little time for myself.

The very last job of the project was fitting in a way. There were two trees to come down that were near wires I was told. The supervisor had scheduled the line drop but it got postponed a couple of days because of rainy weather. When I got to the job to look at it I had to cancel the whole works. Both trees were less than 8' from the primary electrical lines. That meant that the crew that was going to take the trees down had just waited around for about 5 days for nothing. In a way, it was fitting to have the project wrap up that way. After spending a lot of time at Tailgate Safety meetings, once or twice per week, and talking with the crews and production supervisors...the 10' approach distance still didn't sink in. At least no one got hurt during this part of the project.
 
Would it have been safe to work using cover?
Good call, did you get a couple of these
rolleyes.gif
or were you dealing with intelligent people?
 
It's rare for utilities to cover wires for anyone but their own crews. It's done, but not often.

Many rolled eyes in the direction of Aerial Operations, you bet. But!!! No one got hurt on our watch and that's whats important. There were many climbers/crews that were not as skilled as i would have expected doing the work. We kept our eyes peeled and knew which crews to watch closer than others.

Most of the time the crews appreciated AO coming around. We'd give them suggestions, set lines and help whenever we could.
 
Tom, I'm not sure what the terminology means when you say primary's ... how many volts is that?

Is it regular to do wire work? If so maybe they need to do the electrical close approach ticket ... I can go 3' on most urban wires here instead of 10' plus the bucket truck operators I use are the same.

But doing it in the rain would have to suck.

The utility here in many cases on a TD will clear the tree well away from the wire however it's arguable and possible to have entire trees removed for free when the tree trunk is within the 10'. However sounds like your crew was the utility contractors ... which if the case doesn't make sense not having the tickets for close approach and bucket trucks etc???

I'm just a bit confused as to what happened.
 
To bad you guys didnt get to catch up,both running forums n all.

I know that MB was really keen to meet up,maybe next time.

Good to see saftey first on the powerline gig Tom.
 
For sure!

While looking down on a service lead, seeing the little shiney holes peeking out from abrasions and weather checks, I conjured-up a whole new meaning from the name TREEBUZZ.

Good thing I have the city electrical dept. on speeddial, who are more than happy to send a bucket over and get a $20 tip for lunch.

Sometimes I believe even thinking about an arc will trigger one.
 
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The primary lines are above the transformer and they're over 1kV. In order to work closer than 10' from them the climber needs to have EHAP training.

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Tom in all of the seminars I've attended the rule was closer than 10ft. to any conductor required EHAP training. This includes 220volt house drops.
 

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