Have any of you?

[grunt]

I have been a hot app for about 3 months after being a cold app for a year local iou and have been struggling and been making some mistakes for example i left a cap off a fuse, i was making up a tx and thought a butting tri plex was dead and thought i needed to tie it to the tri plex i was making up to the new tx and i was skinning the hot legs ( that i thought was dead ) i boomed over to skin the hot legs ( that i was making up ) and i got them together and knocked out a fuse on the tx that the butting tri plex was on , and i was setting a pole and was handling the butt and almost pushed into pri. These are the mistakes i have made in three months . what i was wondering is have any of you struggled in the beginning or am i in the wrong business? I love what i do and want to be a good lineman.
Ps i posted this in the Apprentice & Wanna be's but really want the old hands opinion thanks

[Pootnaigle]

I have been a hot app for about 3 months after being a cold app for a year and have been struggling and been making some mistakes for example i left a cap off a fuse, i was making up a tx and thought a butting tri plex was dead and thought i needed to tie it to the tri plex i was making up to the new tx and i was skinning the hot legs ( that i thought was dead ) i boomed over to skin the hot legs ( that i was making up ) and i got them together and knocked out a fuse on the tx that the butting tri plex was on , and i was setting a pole and was handling the butt and almost pushed into pri. These are the mistakes i have made in three months . what i was wondering is have any of you struggled in the beginning or am i in the wrong business?
Ps i posted this in the Apprentice & Wanna be's but really want the old hands opinion thanks

You maybe oughta remember ya kaint chop wood without makin chips. Sounds to me like yer lettin yer hands work a lil faster than yer head...... N that aint a good thang in this trade. Slow er down a tad n think on everthing before ya do it, N if yer unsure ask.Some of lifes best lessons come from uh ohs just like what yer talkin about.

[topgroove]

If anyone here ever say's they never had a flash they're lying. We've all had a pole set where we made a primary contact, thats why we wear rubber gloves when we stick the pole in the hole. every one of us have forgot something. All the PPE we wear and rubber hose and blankets are there for one reason... to save our butts when we have an opps. I've seen more stuff that become truck secrets that I could write a book.

I remember hooking up a 500 thousand copper parrallel feed into a 100kva padmount one time when I was an app . I had both nuetrals conected and stuck one hotleg in the block. The foreman came over and said that looks like $hit! I'll show you how to do it kid. He grabbed the other end of the parrallell hotleg and wrestled with it for a while and than stuck it in the wrong block! We both had our faces about a foot away when we found out how big an explosion a 100kva padmount can muster. I remember both of us on our backs looking up at the blue sky. I can't believe neither of us were hurt, other than some burnt facial hair.

I guess the point I'm making is everyone makes mistakes were human. Just always wear all your safety gear thats one mistake you can't make.

[rcdallas]

I have been a hot app for about 3 months after being a cold app for a year local iou and have been struggling and been making some mistakes for example i left a cap off a fuse, i was making up a tx and thought a butting tri plex was dead and thought i needed to tie it to the tri plex i was making up to the new tx and i was skinning the hot legs ( that i thought was dead ) i boomed over to skin the hot legs ( that i was making up ) and i got them together and knocked out a fuse on the tx that the butting tri plex was on , and i was setting a pole and was handling the butt and almost pushed into pri. These are the mistakes i have made in three months . what i was wondering is have any of you struggled in the beginning or am i in the wrong business?
Ps i posted this in the Apprentice & Wanna be's but really want the old hands opinion thanks

Poot gave you some good advice. You need to think about what your doing. Wear your rubber gloves, if it's not grounded it's not dead. You have to look around at everything around you...did you notice that extension cord across the road, do you hear that generator, did you notice that case ground is broke on that energized transformer, etc...

Don't do something your unfamiliar with and uncomfortable doing...during the tailboard it's just as much your responsibility to be involved as everyone else. I see quite a few that never ask questions and have zero involvement.

Someone should be observing you, in fact my utility it's a SHALL to have an observer while working primary and you SHALL communicate with the observer.

If your foreman is letting you set poles in proximity of energized conductors without the use of rubber gloves you need to rethink who your working with.

Piss on that monkey see monkey do shit.

[grunt]

I was wearing my ppe and was not working pri and i do ask alot of questions i just have every a class telling me a different way to do something or telling me to do something else all together. as a c class i can only work pri that is dead and grounded or off an eight foot stick

[Trbl639]

All of us have had the uh oh's like you mentioned....it's part of the learning process in this trade! Good advice from the other guyus, and I'll tell ya the same......Slow down, pay attention, and the only Dumb question in this trade, is the One that you Don't Ask!!

Sounds like when ya got the ends of the triplex together, you had both phases skinned back...(if ya didn't, not saying ya did, just read that into it)....I had a smart ass apprentice one time, and told him just to skin what he was working on, one phase at a time........but he insisted on skinning both, then making connections, till one day he got em together....was on the pot pole and blew a fuse, got his attention and he listened to me then.....

[grunt]

I did but only because i thought it was dead but i will not do it again and i will use a volt meter to verify if its hot or not next time

[Holsapple]

The best thing so far is you are holding yourself accountable, that in general is a breath of fresh air . Seems anymore guys are looking for someone to blame long before they admit fault. ( Lineman arn't born, they are made ) Keep your eyes open you can learn alot just by watching others and thinking one step ahead so you won't be putting yourself in a bind on a regular basis. If you are willing to learn and humble yourself any lineman out there will be more than willing to take the time and train you. When I was a 1st step app they sent me to stab steel on 200 ft towers. I went home that night and thought I will never make it. 13 years later. There is nothing I would rather do, or am more proud of than to call myself a Journyman Lineman. I wish you the best, and dont ever be afraid to ask questions.

[bones]

Aaaa...the first time you set yourself on fire is always the hardest:rolleyes:

[neil macgregor]

take your time, rome wasnt built in a day, good work is better than fast work

[grunt]

Thanks guys this isn't stuff you can talk about around the guys , they will never let me live it down. Its great i can talk here with no fear of judgment well at least the kind that can affect my career.

[Bear]

Aaaa...the first time you set yourself on fire is always the hardest:rolleyes:

Well it's certainly one of the most memorable. :rolleyes:

It's a special kind of educational experience where you learn a lot in a very short time.

[Pootnaigle]

Sonny Boy.......... Stevie Batts just handed you a golden peice of information. When sumpins gettin under yer skin Ya best not let everbody know about it or yer gonna live with it ever day. Linamen have long memories and it will always come back and bite ya in the ass.
Also pay attention and you will see that no matter how good or bad a lineman is or was he will always be remembered for his biggest screw up. Thats just a fact of life in linework.

[Bear]

Also pay attention and you will see that no matter how good or bad a lineman is or was he will always be remembered for his biggest screw up. Thats just a fact of life in linework.

I like to consider it as being "admired" for my biggest screw-ups. :D

[mscheuerer]

I have been a hot app for about 3 months after being a cold app for a year local iou and have been struggling and been making some mistakes for example i left a cap off a fuse, i was making up a tx and thought a butting tri plex was dead and thought i needed to tie it to the tri plex i was making up to the new tx and i was skinning the hot legs ( that i thought was dead ) i boomed over to skin the hot legs ( that i was making up ) and i got them together and knocked out a fuse on the tx that the butting tri plex was on , and i was setting a pole and was handling the butt and almost pushed into pri. These are the mistakes i have made in three months . what i was wondering is have any of you struggled in the beginning or am i in the wrong business? I love what i do and want to be a good lineman.
Ps i posted this in the Apprentice & Wanna be's but really want the old hands opinion thanks


Listen to these guy's! There is a wealth of knowledge here, all you have to do is ask. I have never in my career met or talked with someone in the trade who wasn't happy to pass on information. Double fold if it was about safety!

In agreeing with everyone else you need to slow it down a bit. First and foremost stop "thinking" things are dead! Check and verify your potentials accordingly everytime and try and kick that "think" habbit rather quickly. I don't want to see you graduating into the primaries with the thought of "thinking" something miught be dead. Secondaries can hurt too. Good luck and if you need anything ask!

[bones]

Also pay attention and you will see that no matter how good or bad a lineman is or was he will always be remembered for his biggest screw up. Thats just a fact of life in linework.


I'm saving mine for retirement:) You know the kind of screw-up that will make the 5 o'clock news in a major city. Question I have is, just how big are we talking to get chopper-cam involved? I'm thinking at least a naked suicide attempt atop a 500kv, bare minimum.

[topgroove]

I remember the ice storm back in 98. we had a 115kv line so loaded with ice it sagged down across interstate 81 shutting the interstate down. they had to get the highway open so a supervisor directed a line crew to cut the conductor. ten hundred foot h-frames in each direction went down like dominos'

[climbsomemore]

Ditto most of the advice so far... I you think you have a "problem" that's the first step to recovery :)

I cant tell you how many apes go through some low ebbs in that learning curve... we give you a little more leash... and stuff is bound to happen. See why they did'nt just turn you loose on whatever you had balls enough to try the first year or two?

The trick is learning from the mistakes....Stick around long enough and you will hear stories about some guys you admire the most... how (his name here) was F*cked up like Hogan's goat when he was an ape...