Know when to say "Enough"

[electriklady]

I just came off storm duty......worked 32 hours in two days.........2 pm to 6 am..........

drove hundreds of miles in Tstorms-hail-fog etc

Was told, as is our policy, at 6 am to go home, sleep and be back in 8 hours.
8 hours to drive home, sleep, some food would have been nice, get up shower and be back at work.

Yesterday morning work up at 9 30 after a couple of hours sleep....called the dispatcher and said I could not do another 16 hour day.......I did not feel I physically capable of safely doing another 16 hour day.....My body said no and my brain finally conceded. Must be gettin old....this didnt used to bother me at all, but Friday night into the "dawn" hours was getting a little bit of a challenge to drive "safely" and make sound safety judgements, so I opted out. One safety item we often overlook while concentrating on ppe, driving, walking, climbing is the effect of too little sleep and food on the body, and I think it is time to start knowing what our personal limits are....and I knew I was at mine......I am not willing to get hurt or die at work because I ignored the warning signs.

[MI-Lineman]

Amen EL! Thanx to some of our easily persuaded and bullied locals we now have minimum response percentages we must maintain in regards to storms and call-outs OR BE DISCIPLINED! This "driving home and back durin rest" is BS!!!

For years we complained about OT and work goin to the contractors and now we got the majority of both BUT when we first were complainin about givin it out we weren't staffed this low either! I don't care how many customers we've lost and how low "new construction" is there's still the same amount of wire in the air and ground to maintain!! Whether it's 200 or 2 customers on a circuit, it still takes the same amount of man hours to bring the circuit back up after a storm!!!

God I can't wait for January's elections!!! My fellow coworkers know what I'm sayin!

[Highplains Drifter]

EL, you never stated what your duties where for the storm. On a line crew we usually have 4 to 5 and it is possible for one person at a time to get a twenty minute cat nap as the rest of the crew is restoring power. This is just part of team work. I remember on one heat storm we had a five man crew and we had the GF rent a motel room so that we could one at a time get away and get refreshed with a shower and clean clothes, I think we where working 40 hours on with an eight off on that storm.

[MI-Lineman]

This goes hand in hand. More contractors on the claim means more likely that the utility will run with lower regular full time staff numbers. It's the trap many utilities have fallen into over the last several decades. Eventually most find out too late that what was a great way to eliminate Labour Relation problems and benefit costs has another edge to it.

Contract linemen, that are reduced in force when the utility wants to cut costs without inferring costs, can be unreliable and expensive when the utility has to have manpower. Contract linemen can and will easily be tied up elsewhere because there was a low volume of work at home. When contract linemen have "dug into a job" that has reasonable overtime on a steady basis 500 miles from home they are reluctant to "drag up" for a 10 days of storm repair at home.

It also means the utility expects more out of their regular full time linemen.

You have hit the nail on the head! This is happening right now though they do seem to get contractors here on a storm but not so much the local ones as they are else where like you said. I wish now they would only hire a chunk of those contractors but I know if they did they'd want shifts? I'd rather work my self into the ground then go with shifts!

[Koga]

I have in years past worked 32 hours staight. Not many times but did. With hurrican season fast approachin its a good reminder I cant go like I use too. Around 18 hrs and Im ready for some relief. It aint worth the beatin I take,or gettin some one hurt or worse. Plus my patients tryin to explain why I cant flip a switch and get the lights on wear real thin after 14 hrs.

Koga

[electriklady]

During a storm I can be called in as either a hazard responder or for service restoration(or both)....hazard is first on scene to access the situation, find out if the scene is a public hazard, relay what needs to be done there and generally what is needed to start the restoration process, or stay and protect the public from the safety hazards associated with the scene. On storm restoration we actually go in and put up downed service wires at the house only....no pole work.

This storm I was strickly hazard responder.......and I work by myself. I drive ALL over(Friday I drove 250 miles) through 3 counties accessing either downed primary, secondary, trees or just plain verifying single no lights customers status. There are no chances for cat naps, even if you are sitting on a downed wire, I could not sleep as I would be too worried about the public getting into a ballgame in that situation........so when I am on.....I am on.........It is not physical labor(like our linemen) but the drving after so many hours is what gets to me.........I am no kid anymore, by any means.

We were shorthanded lineman wise and I felt so bad for the men who had to keep coming in and coming in......they were starting to look like walking corpses, somewhat like me when I looked in the mirror.......The older you get I think the more it takes a toll on you. I can remember in days past working days straight....one particular heavy wet snow storm....4 days out with about 2 to 3 hours sleep on the floor of an inn in front of their fireplace.......and it was not nearly as bad as it seems to be now. Whew.....

I started this thread for anyone that aspires to be a "superman" and ignore the warning signs that your body gives you to "hang it up" for awhile......that way there is always a tomorrow....otherwise, there might not be.

I love the storm money, but I prefer to live to spend it.

[rob8210]

So whats going on? Our rules here state 16 hours on 8 hours off. I just had to remind a local utility of that recently. And these are department of labor rules. Department of transportation says 13 hours driving, 15 hours on duty. Oh yeah and I am a contractor.

[Trbl639]

We always had HOG Law........16 hrs on, 8 hrs Rest...........you could go 18 hrs, with employee and management both agreeable, but uf you worked an 18 today, then the next two days could not be more than 16, then you could work another 18.........

I've worked more than the 18, but the boss knew when i had hit my limit, I was gone home to rest, and usually I told him when he asked if I would stay longer, that I was just scouting...if I couldn't fix it from the ground, I wasn't doing it..........did this cause I was in a one horse town...me...and it was a big storm, and was trying to find out what we had and how much help we were gonna need!!

You did the right thing EL.............after 1 ice storm, worked for so long, even with rest periods, that when it was over, I slept for damn near 24 hrs!!!

[swanny]

Just Read At Docs-office-working 24 Hrs Straight -without Rest-is Equal To Having 3 Ounces Whiskey In 1 Hour-been A Lineman-33 Yrs-and Have Been There-(re Hours Worked )in Bc Canada-16 Work-8 Rest-totally Agree-no Job-and I Enjoy -live For My Work-is Worth -ones Life And The After Effects On Family-friends-swanny