Safety training held for electrical linemen

Earlier this week Sidney hosted a three-day safety training for electrcial linemen in the area, sponsored by Nebraska Rural Electric Association.

Several vendors also helped make this training possible by donating time and equipment for students to learn.

More than 60 linemen west of McCook and into Colorado and Wyoming came to Sidney to attend the safety training. According to Larry Oetken, job training and safety coordinator with the NREA, multiple different trainings are held in Western Nebraska and are sponsored by NREA.

The trainings are all targeted to make sure linemen are up to date on safety codes within their jobs. Trainings are also held in McCook for linemen in the Eastern part of Nebraska and surrounding states.

Currently, there is not a set amount of training hours each lineman must complete each year. However, each electric company finds safety trainings important and strives for their employees to attend and keep education hours up to date.

According to Oetken the trainings are important because the job is constantly changing with new technology available to linemen. GPS devices as well as drones are now being used in Nebraska in the field to help patrol lines. Even with all of the changes, safety remains number one priority to ensure linemen will make it home alive to their families after the job is complete.

Oetken said there is still a lot of interest in becoming a lineman in Nebraska. There are currently three schools in Nebraska that offer the lineman program. Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Metro Community College in Omaha and WNCC in Alliance programs all range from 12 months to 24 months for start to completion date.

Oetken has worked in the field for 35 years, and said the lineman community is unlike any other.

"The comradery between individuals in the field is unbelievable," Oetken said.

Although districts all have their separate territories, if a city needs help with something or has an emergency, a rural district would not think twice about helping them.

"We are not in competition" Oetken said. "You work to help your territory and all of the customers."

Being a lineman is hard work. However, linemen in Nebraska also believe in having a little fun. For the past five years linemen from across the state have participated in the "Lineman Rodeo." Different events are set up in Grand Island for linemen to compete in.

Each event is something they would do during an everyday job. The participants are scored on how safely and quickly they complete the event. Oetken said this is another example of the comradery in the lineman field. On average more than 800 spectators travel to watch the rodeo. Winners receive trophies and bragging rights for the year.

Nebraska is proud to currently be the only true public power state in the nation. This is greatly attributed to former Nebraska Senator George Norris. In the 1930s Norris called to bring electricity to rural areas throughout the country instead of just in town residents. The Rural Electrification Act stipulated the public and not private companies would own power generation and delivery systems.