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  1. #1
    LinemanRocker Guest

    Default 2 man patrolling question

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    I read somewhere (can't remember where) that patrolling requires 2 men, one paying attention to the road (the driver) and the other checking out the lines. Can anyone help me to find some documentation on this? We've had a recent issue where supervision has denied help to a lineman that asked for it while he was patrolling a circuit that was out.

  2. #2

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    troublemen can work alone to make emergrncy repairs and to safe guard the public. so they must be able to find the trouble to fix it. There is nothing in osha to prevent this so unless your own safety rules document something you better get busy. but a company is pretty sh*ty to deny a man help if they request it.
    ________________________________________
    "better to be lookin down than lookin up"

  3. #3
    LinemanRocker Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by BULLogna View Post
    troublemen can work alone to make emergrncy repairs and to safe guard the public. so they must be able to find the trouble to fix it. There is nothing in osha to prevent this so unless your own safety rules document something you better get busy. but a company is pretty sh*ty to deny a man help if they request it.

    I understand that troublemen can work alone in the event of an emergency or to safeguard the public, that is not the issue. The issue is patrolling a circuit or tap due to an outage with 2 people. There is a rule or law or statute somewhere in the U.S. that states it takes 2 men in order to do it safely. I believe it is OSHA and I know this because the company I work for has been fined in the past by OSHA for not adhering to the rule. I've actually read the rule myself, so I'm positive it exists. You shouldn't be so quick to misconstrue laziness for safety.

  4. #4

    Default No rules I know of!

    I'm not certain where you got the idea anyone insinuated laziness from Bul's reply. Maybe you need not jump to conclusions and comprehend what you're reading. I didn't get that from his post what so ever!

    He is correct. Troublemen all over patrol by themselves. You do understand the concept of troubleman? OSHA doesn't determine how your company nor mine will patrol a line, or run trouble tickets.

    If you have a lot of ground to cover in a back woods right of way, then common sense would dictate that you would need more than one person. Drop one person off to walk the line and the other person drives to the next pick-up point. Leap frogging etc.....

    What would be your reasoning behind OSHA dictating how many people need to walk, or drive a line? I realize that things can happen, but that's anywhere and at any time. A patrolman should understand this and take the appropriate precautions. There has been a lot of line patrolled by the lone patrollman without any incidents.

  5. #5
    LinemanRocker Guest

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    We patrol alone all the time. I'm not saying it can't be done, we've been doing it for years. Linemen have also been breaking safety rules for years. Maybe you've just never heard of the rule, but I've recently been informed that the DOL statue roughly says that while patrolling, the driver needs to be paying attention to the road, not the circuit. The 2nd man will be operating the spot light and looking up. We had an incident in which the company I work for was fined by DOL for the lone troubleman getting in an accident while patrolling. Maybe it was a night time issue. I'm not exactly certain. Ignorance is bliss.

  6. #6

    Default Dol ?

    In Kentucky we don't have a stupilation of having two people to patrol while driving, could it be a department of transportation thing that you are refering too. Curious.

  7. #7
    LinemanRocker Guest

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    This could be true, it was either IOSHA, DOL, IURC, or InDOT. I was hoping to get out of the tedious task of having to read through everything. I guess no one that's viewed this thread has seen or heard of any documentation.

  8. #8

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    we had a rule like that for a while a NE (working lol) supervisor rear ended a public vehicle while patrolling and the garage superintendant put out a rule that patrolling would be done with two people, one driving, one looking, as soon as that super moved on the other supervisors came up with the old "I don't remember that rule"

    I would be interested to know if in actuallity we are breaking federal rules by patrolling by ourselves.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    South Arkansas
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    Quote Originally Posted by grizzlybuck View Post

    I would be interested to know if in actuallity we are breaking federal rules by patrolling by ourselves.
    Ditto! If we have 2 men patrolling, we're in 2 different trucks , starting in 2 different places working toward the middle....

    be hard to have 2 men patrolling after hours here...not but 2 of us in town, and the other hardly ever answers his calls/phones....unless his lights are out......even when he is first up for trouble!!!!! Nearest other guys are 35+ miles away!!!

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Trbl639 View Post
    be hard to have 2 men patrolling after hours here...not but 2 of us in town, and the other hardly ever answers his calls/phones....unless his lights are out......even when he is first up for trouble!!!!! Nearest other guys are 35+ miles away!!!
    2 men patrolling in one truck would sure throw a wrench in your companies manning procedures

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