General

A life-saving tool for rural workers

OPPD field employees who work alone in rural areas have a new life-saving safety tool at their disposal when they’re up in a bucket truck.

Line crews, street lighters, troubleshooters and automation technicians recently received self-rescue kits that they can use to lower themselves from buckets in an emergency.

The kits add another layer of protection for workers who find themselves stranded high in the air during service work. OPPD field workers endure all kinds of weather, including severe winter storms and frigid temperatures. Getting stuck in a bucket could become dangerous could be dangerous in those conditions. The kits could also save a life if a bucket ever caught fire.

OPPD prioritized its rural workers for the kits because many work far from services that could help them in an emergency, said Ray Knott, area supervisor at OPPD’s Louisville Service Center. In the Omaha metro area, emergency assistance – firefighters, police, even other OPPD Service Centers – is usually only about 15 minutes away.

By contrast, rural workers may find themselves on a job 75 miles from the nearest OPPD Service Center. OPPD’s service territory covers 5,000 square miles, stretching from rural Burt County to the north all the way south to the Kansas border. Some areas have spotty cellphone service and roads that are easily blocked during major snowstorms.

Another layer of security

“When you’re out by yourself and something happens, and it’s cold out, you might be waiting two hours before someone can come out to help you,” Knott said.

OPPD already has safety procedures in place to protect workers, Knott said, including a buddy system for solo workers anytime temperatures drop below 15 degrees.

Kevin Schulze, an OPPD senior safety tech specialist, said the utility purchased the kits as an added layer of safety for its rural workers. The kits are small and weight just four pounds, but are rated to hold up to 310 pounds.

Kits went to workers in the northern and southern rural areas of OPPD’s service territory, outside of the Omaha metro.

How self-rescue kits work

The kits consist of a rope, straps, rappelling device and locking carabiners, all stored in an insulated bag. One carabiner attaches to a sturdy metal rail on the bucket as an anchor point.

Users connect themselves to the rope with a different locking carabiner that hooks onto their work harnesses.

The carabiner attaches to a handheld rappelling device that grips the rope. By squeezing a lever on the rappelling device, users can relax the friction on the rope for a slow, controlled descent to the ground. The device also has built-in panic safeguards: release the lever or clench it too tight, and the device locks back against the rope to prevent the user from falling.

“There’s a sweet spot right in the middle that allows you to drop,” Knott said.

Workers recently got to test the new equipment during a training session at OPPD’s Syracuse Service Center.

Joe Brinkman, a journeyman line technician based in Syracuse, had a close call a few years ago. A hydraulics issue on his truck left him stuck in an elevated bucket. It happened in the middle of a storm down by Brock, a tiny village in southeast Nebraska. In that instance, fortunately, a passing farmer stopped to help.

“This works really well,” Brinkman said of the new kits. “I definitely could have used it that day if the farmer hadn’t been there.”