Keeping those hearts tickin'

[dwalla-walla]

You're right Old Lineman. Our safetey department showed them to us and I think we got one or two for the building first. A few months later, probably in the fiscal year after the first ones, they started distributing them to our trucks. We put them on our buckets first and sometime this year we got more for the trouble trucks and underground trucks. Somewhere along the way they plan to have one on all of our vehicles.

[BigClive]

B.C., thats great brother!!! except to where I got to the last sentence...??? Lets hope and pray you'l never have to use it on yourself unless you have a ground man that can apply it to you. Otherwise we may have to make up a billboard on your line truck that says: "ATTENTION: If you see me laying unconscious near my truck theres is an AED in the jumpseat. Grab it and place the wires on my chest and press button. Thank you." I saw those accident pictures you posted. Stay safe out there!

You can bet I'd show it to everyone I worked with and let them know how to use it. That way if something happened while I wasn't there they could use it themselves.

I'm not sure about using one on yourself. There have been many instances where a spark received a shock and remained conscious despite their heart being put into a state of fibrillation. One that comes to mind the guy was found in a sitting position with a packet of cigarettes and lighter at his side. They reckoned he got a bad shock and sat down to light a cigarette. Technically you could use it on yourself in that situation, but I think you'd really have to clench your teeth as you pushed the button.

[BigClive]

So which brand and model did Georgia power choose?

I ownder if there's a ruggedised version specifically aimed at linework. (There should be!)

You know how to really get the message home? Tell the defib companies there's a fat market just begging to be tapped and they'll set the salesmen loose on the utility companies.

[old lineman]

Big Clive I can't understand why you think these units should be built more rugged for this industry. They all come in their own fitted hard plastic case.
Specializing them would just drive up the cost.
They can only be used once a rescue has been completed, the victim is on the ground.
Trained workers who understand the capability and the necessity of this life saving tool would treat it with respect.
They will be transported in a designated space that is conspicuously labelled on each line truck and only brought out for inspection, servicing and for actual use (perhaps and hopefully never).
These things are in police cars, on fire trucks, used by ski patrols, in mines, in aircraft, and on and on.
I don't believe we need to have units specifically designed for this trade which will drive up the cost big time.
We should applaud any utility who commits to this program. Actually the cost of the units is the cheapest thing about them because the cost of training and re-training will far out pace the initial cost of the unit.
Let's just push where we can to get them and forget about trying to re-invent the wheel.
The Old Lineman

[BigClive]

I suppose that if they spend a lot of time in transit in other service vehicles then they are pretty rugged. With modern electronics there's not much to get knocked loose anyway. I was thinking more of a ribbed rubber enclosure, but then it's not like they are being used regularly like a meter.

[old lineman]

I suppose that if they spend a lot of time in transit in other service vehicles then they are pretty rugged. With modern electronics there's not much to get knocked loose anyway. I was thinking more of a ribbed rubber enclosure, but then it's not like they are being used regularly like a meter.

Now were thinking alike. The KISS principle.
The Old Lineman

[LinemansGF]

I completely agree with you guys on these difibulators, we were told that if one of these had been used on Vic that there was a good chance he wouldn't have died. But they were with the foreman's in their trucks and who knows where the foreman's actually were when he got electrocuted.

a sunday in nov , my brother ,lineman steve made contact withe 7200, ,,,this came 2 weeks after we practiced poletop resque,,,he was on the pole , we had backyard bucket and a man on the ground, we are still unclear as to exactly what happened, he was working on de energised secondary ,,it was a wind storm, we think a branch or vine made contact with primary to secondary. ,,but if it could go right it did , the first responder ,,after poletop resque was a police officer who had a defibbulator machine ,,careflight was on a return run ,directly overhead ,,within 3 minutes,he was bound to the hospital,,,he lost a finger ,,but we didnt lose him ,,we are so lucky,,I asked if we could have these devices ,,and they are thinking about it ,, what do they cost ,,,?

[BigClive]

Then perhaps you ladies are in a very good position to make yourself a thorn in the side to slow utilities to make them provide more to their guys.

I guess this must be a tough couple of days coming up for you. All our thoughts are with you ladies and your families over Christmas.

[thrasher]

Thought you guys might like to know our coop just purchased 3 AED's (one for each crew) and the price was $1,660 each including the carry case. Clive you might want to know the case is rated for submersion in water to 2 meters (6'6'' for us americans). These are from "ZOLL Medical" model AED Plus with the Pelican carry case. They are being assigned to the lead lineman of each crew, it will be his responsibility to take it out on the trucks they are assigned that day. Next year we will probably buy some extra for use in a major storm when we break the crews down into smaller groups. This is a start.

[BigClive]

Sounds like that might actually be the ruggedised linemans version.

(Incidentally, we work in both metric and imperial measurements in the UK.)

Is it this model?

http://www.zoll.com/product.aspx?id=75