Working 69 KV

[Dbearman]

I dont want to sound like a dumb ass here guys but I need to be sure about this one. I have been a distribution lineman my entire career. We do have 69KV and 115 KV lines but no one has ever been certified to work on these because the Cooperative does not want to spend the money to do it . Anyway here is the question , I need to fix some broken pole grounds on the static wire on a 69 kV line . We even have a transmission bucket to do the work , as long as I maintain my minimum approach distance can I squeeze the pole grounds back on to the static with my class 3 gloves on ?? This may be a dumb question to most of you but I would appreciate the info . Thanks , Bear

[wtdoor67]

You don't even have to use your rubbers in my book. The induced charge on your body might cause it to bite a little. Used to do them climbing inspections on transmission all the time. Just put on your tools, put some staples in your bag and climb one structure after another stapling that ground wire and dobbing them wood pecker holes. Pretty boring.

[BULLogna]

I am sure my response will draw some fire. First of all there is no doubt the job would be safer deenergized. However you mention coop so I assume you have no loop feed? in that case, i have worked statics and ground wires while 69kv was hot. I feel the construction type and clearances per each job would dictate how hazardous the job is. If you are reattaching the ground at the static depending on the bucket, I would be very comfortable. If you are replacing the ground from the owl roost/peterarm you may want to think twice,depending on how much help you have. There is coverup, but i think it could give you false security having never used it. What does certified mean? Is that a coop thing? For the most part, I feel there is clearance enough for most ground/static work on 69. I bet there are guys out there that bare hand 69 too. and as far as class 3 gloves, your not actually working the 69, so are the heavy gloves more of a safety hinderance? Your greatest hazard would probably be dropping a tail and getting in series with the static and ground so I would ware my class 2s. Remeber, LOOSE TAILS WILL GET YOU IN TROUBLE.

[Electriceel]

Yep use class 2 gloves, we own and maintain our transmission line, on the 69 kv we repair broken grounds out of the basket wearing class 2's.
Be Safe

[Oldstyle]

I dont want to sound like a dumb ass here guys but I need to be sure about this one. I have been a distribution lineman my entire career. We do have 69KV and 115 KV lines but no one has ever been certified to work on these because the Cooperative does not want to spend the money to do it . Anyway here is the question , I need to fix some broken pole grounds on the static wire on a 69 kV line . We even have a transmission bucket to do the work , as long as I maintain my minimum approach distance can I squeeze the pole grounds back on to the static with my class 3 gloves on ?? This may be a dumb question to most of you but I would appreciate the info . Thanks , Bear

In our area we are taught to refer to the safety manual. If yours doesn't involve 69 KV then I would think it would be to osha standards. I don't like to rely on my bucket to keep me off hot 69. It's a machine that could fail anytime. Be safe!

[barehander]

Everyone has their own safety rules. We consider all overhead guy wire (static wire) 15kv and treat it as such. I think using no gloves would be a bad mistake....and if your company has a rule about closing a jumper or placing a ground on Dist. voltages by hand using rubber gloves then go for it.......
We can't use rubbers to attach a ground, and that's what you would be doing. What we do is take 2 tap clamps, attach one to the ground by hand, then use a stick to attach it to the static. Since it's a "static ground" and not a "ground ground", we can use rubber gloves or hang a ground.
I vote rubber glove...

Yes, we also Barehand 69kv.....

[wtdoor67]

I worked for 6 years on transmission maintenance crews. For about 5 years I worked on crews that only did transmission maintenance. We never even donned a pair of rubber gloves. Didn't even have any on the crews. This was 230 Kv down to 34.5Kv. Everything was of course sticked and we even barehanded.

My last year of this type of work we had rubber gloves because we did some distribution work.

How times and safety rules change.

I remember changing a lot of poles and arms while the lines were energized. The static or shield wire was handled in whatever manner was necessary. All leather gloves and the only discomfort was the induced charge on your body that would bite you whenever you touched ground or unbonded hardware.

[Edge]

What we do is take 2 tap clamps, attach one to the ground by hand, then use a stick to attach it to the static. Since it's a "static ground" and not a "ground ground", we can use rubber gloves or hang a ground.


Pretty much how we did it when I was on those godforsaken maintance jobs....

unless the pole ground was broke somewhere on the stick then we'd just leather glove it... that won't make much sense unless you "just take 2 more steps up"....

Edge

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