National Linemans Appreciation Day April 18, 2016

[SIM]

Folks,
 I am posting again this year regarding National Lineman Appreciation Day. The date is Monday April 18, 2016.

 Please take a moment and speak to these professionals if you have the chance.  You have no idea how far a simple  "Thanks for your work" goes toward making a day special.

 Next weekend I will once again attend my companies Lineman Rodeo 2016. I've done so for the last 11 years as a volunteer giving families and friends bucket rides. I will be operating a material handler bucket that reaches 65ft at its max altitude, I've operated buckets that would reach as high as 125ft. I've carried kids of all ages as well as spoueses, moms, dads, grandparents, a few folks with disabilities(some severe), and even a 90+ year old lady who acted like a 5 year old boy when offered the chance to go up "in a big truck". Two other linemen lifted this woman from a motorized wheelchair and fitted her with a harness. She couldnt stand on her own so we worked her harness into mine so that I supported her in the bucket. I will forever carry with me the "oooos and ahhhs" that she made as we went up.
 Then again, I have memories of so many storms that there isn't time to tell all I have to share. Storms, I have worked, have ranged in size from a five minute thunderstorm to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Never is working a storm comfortable, but then again some of us thrive on those. Rain, wind, lightening, ICE, snow, I've worked in most conditions imaginable and some you wouldn't believe. Its lights coming on that we see the tangible difference of our work.
 I could go on and on with stories. Some comical and others that scare the hell out of me to this day.

 So if you have the chance, take a moment and say a kind word to a lineman. It means more than you will ever know.

[Maverick]

 

[pipz]

Very nice Sim. I am glad to see you enjoy your work and have some fun at the same time. Well done! 

[Bizman]

I'm in the belief that you're part of the chain making it possible for me to play AH from the other side of the world. 

[Blooz]

Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q20Hj4FWbc

[Bodhi]

Seems like a hard and thankless job.  I know my family has been thankful numerous times for their services. 

[BuckShot]

Seems like a hard and thankless job.  I know my family has been thankful numerous times for their services.

Me too. When they are clearing the lines across my property, I ask then to leave the wood and they leave it in nice piles.

~S~

[SNO]

  LEBER DENMAD AY

[Gooss]

Cool. My son just got accepted to school in CA.  I'm delighted he has a career plan.

Still waiting for National Janitorial Supply Sales Manager Day.

HONK!
Gooss

[Hajo]

My father worked for the Ohio Edison for almost 40 years.  No bucket trucks.  They used spikes, leather gloves with large rubber gauntlets inside and a canvas bucket with a rope handle to carry tools.  They actually climbed the poles.  I remember he took his equipment home and hung it in the garage.  I was about 11 years old and inquisitive.  So I put the spikes on and the belt and decided to climb the telephone pole in the corner of our lot.  Top of spikes were up to my knees.  Anyway I got up about 20 feet when my mother saw me out of the window.  Climbing wasn't so bad but setting the spikes to get down was a bit tough for an 11 year old.  My father came outside and patiently talked me down telling me what I should do.  I came down safely.  I should have fell...........it would have been less painless then the whipping I got.

Do you remember "No Posting" signs on telephone poles?  Reason my Dad told me is so that no one would drive nails into the pole!  A lineman descending could not plant his spike completely if it hit a nail the result being that a Lineman could fall.  He only fell once thank God.  He got stopped but his chin was scratched pretty badly.

I remember a few years before, this is a true story.  My father came home crying.  I did not know why.  To see a WWII veteran and a father in tears and saying nothing upset my brother and I.  I never thought my Dad would ever cry.  after Dad went back to take a shower I asked my Mom what happened.  I remember the News paper headlines the next day in the Youngstown Vindicator.  The Edison was pulling new lines on Pleasant Valley Road across telephone poles.  Apparently the lines got crossed up,  Men were on Poles in various places to assist the stringing.  The power was not turned off correctly, a few lineman died.  Some were still up on the poles with the lines in their hands and unfortunately they had succumbed.  One lucky to be alive lost an arm, he lived in our neighborhood.  All total there were 5 involved in this incident (injured or worse).  My father was sent to climb these poles and bring the men down along with others.  What made it worse for him was this (he described it to me)  He reached to grab a deceased lineman he had known for years.
He grabbed the deceased lineman by his gauntlet and pulled him to the pole, he was dangling.  When securing the hand of his fellow lineman's glove,  he was burnt so badly that the skin separated and stayed in the gauntlet and the deceased lineman fell about 30 feet to the ground.  From that day forward well, he was already a decorated WWII vet, but to us a bigger hero for doing what he did for our family.  And for suffering an incident that I could never ever take.  He climbed in snow, and rain and wind when there was a power emergency.  He got called out in the middle of the night, and went to other states that had catastrophic incidents. I know how important linemen are and what they face daily.
God Bless them all!

[SIM]

Hajo,

 Many linemen climb poles daily and in conditions that could only be described as formidable. The equipment is a lot safer today, but climbing a pole is still climbing a pole. Hooks/gaffs are sturdier than in years past and a LOT lighter for the wearer. My company no longer uses the "old" style safety belt. Nowadays we use a belt called a "Bucksqueeze". As long as the belt is intact, you will not fall from the pole. The job is leaps safer than it was when I started 26 years back, but it will still kill you without remorse.
 Electricity is the only thing known to man that you can not see, smell, hear, feel or taste until it is too late. Ive lost some friends in this business, have a few others that should have died but by the grace of God are still alive to tell their stories. My company has rules/procedures in place for everything we do, and new rules are written all the time. Our rules have been regularly described as having been "written in blood". Ive told folks time and again, follow the rules and this job is safer than riding in a car.
 Years ago I helped to get a man off a pole. He is alive today, but the price he paid has been severe at best. I will never forget what I witnessed and I don't think anyone that reads this thread would really want to hear about it.
 Signs on poles are illegal by state law in some states, but the yard-sell/services for hire/lost pet morons routinely tack a few to the poles in the area. Ive cut out a couple of times because of those nails, but luckily did not fall far. Folks please dont use those poles for advertising! It makes a linemans job all the more dangerous!