Power
Safety event urges Albertans to stay vigilant around power lines
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- Category: Power
- Written by Jacqueline Louie
Julie Hamilton’s son Tim was just 19 years old when he was killed in a power line incident 12 years ago. He was working at a summer job, helping put up a large tent for a corporate party.
Since Tim’s passing, his mother has dedicated herself to being a passionate advocate for workplace and power line safety, establishing the Tim Hamilton Endowment Fund, which raises funds for the Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada.
“There are days the pain is still raw,” Julie Hamilton told industry and government representatives who attended the second annual Power Line Safety Day, held at Calgary’s Fire Training Academy on May 25. “However, today is a good day to celebrate what JUST [the Joint Utility Safety Team] is doing—making a difference in this province, making Alberta a better place to live.”
Hamilton was a speaker at the Power Line Safety Day event, hosted by JUST, whose ongoing goal is to increase awareness of power line safety among Albertans.
The number of power line incidents in Alberta has been declining: in 2010, there were approximately 820 incidents, down from 843 in 2009. However, the severity has been increasing, as last year five people in Alberta died after coming into contact with a power line. That’s why, according to JUST, there is a need for ongoing power line safety awareness and education across Alberta, where people risk their lives needlessly around overhead or underground power lines every day.
“We really need to be vigilant about power line safety, 24/365,” says JUST chair Lyndsay Thorlacius. “We need to continue to be vigilant about raising awareness of how these deadly incidents can be prevented. By working collectively, we’re achieving more impact than if each partner worked independently to educate the public about power line safety.”
Power line safety involves everyone who is working around overhead and underground power lines in industries such as electric utilities, oil and gas, construction, forestry and agriculture. People don’t need to touch a power line to be injured or killed.
Large equipment operators and truck drivers, typically males between the ages of 18 to 50, are at high risk for power line incidents. Due to deadlines and pressures to be more productive, workers are often tempted to skip safety steps. Other contributing factors are retirements and a decrease in experienced workers after many operators left the province during the recent economic downturn.
“This trend has resulted in less experienced [workers] and fewer senior operators on hand to share their power line safety knowledge and experience,” Thorlacius says. “It’s a concern that has led us to expand our efforts to engage employers, who play a critical role in influencing safety behaviours among operators.”
In the early 2000s, there was growing concern in the electric utility industry, as well as in government, about power line safety issues. The province was recording high numbers of incidents—ranging in severity from long-term disability to death—in the transportation, construction, farming, oil and gas, forestry and telecommunications industries.
In 2006, Alberta’s electric utilities and the provincial government formed JUST to address the common safety issue of contact with power lines and to promote worker and public awareness to help reduce the number of power line incidents. Since 2007, JUST has included six partners: AltaLink, ATCO Electric, ENMAX, EPCOR, FortisAlberta and the Alberta government.
The mandate of JUST is to bring positive change in attitudes and behaviours toward power line safety in an effort to help reduce power line incidents. By providing ongoing safety awareness and industry education, JUST seeks to foster a long-term culture of power line safety in Alberta.
In addition to its “Where’s the Line?” campaign aimed at operators, JUST is now looking to help employers as they play a key role in educating employees and contractors on safety awareness. To this end, JUST has revamped its website to serve as a central resource for employers.
Launched in May as part of Power Line Safety Day, the website includes downloadable power line safety training materials and promotional items, plus safety news, articles and videos.
Before you start digging, underground lines need to be located by Alberta One-Call. Because overhead lines can be difficult to see, you need to apply to Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation before transporting high loads on public roads and also follow high-load procedures when moving a load.
Calgary-Mackay MLA Teresa Woo-Paw, parliamentary assistant to Minister of Employment and Immigration Thomas Lukaszuk, was another speaker at Power Line Safety Day. “Overlooking safety steps in the workplace can have tragic consequences,” Woo-Paw says. “Workplace injuries are preventable.”
JUST’s main message to Albertans: “Before doing any work, look up, look down, and always ask yourself: ‘Where’s the line?’” Asking this question—and knowing the answer—will help keep everyone safe.
JUST also reminds workers to “stay seven metres safe.” That’s because workers and equipment need to stay a minimum of seven metres away from any power line, says Doug Skippen, health and safety manager with FortisAlberta. “If you need to get closer, contact your local utility.”
Through these and other messages, JUST wants to increase awareness among Albertans of power line safety. Taking just a moment to think before acting could save a life, Thorlacius says.
