National Lineman Appreciation Day is celebrated each year on April 18 and honors America’s electrical line workers’ hard work, innovation, and dedication. Our linemen maintain around 1,200 miles of line.

Jasper County is a long county and our personnel can drive quite a distance to work on different areas of our system. Outages can occur at any time. Hot, cold, day or night, and even on a nice sunny day, our linemen are ready to go to work to restore power. I have been in the office when we have had system damage. While our internal team works with the linemen to restore power as efficiently as possible, the linemen are braving the elements and getting the power back on safely. I mentioned tree trimming in last month’s article, and they are usually dealing with limbs that have hit the line or are laying on the line and causing outages.

Our linemen also work out in our community by conducting safety demonstrations and providing bucket rides at school functions. They drive our trucks in local parades and you can see them in our booths at festivals with the big trucks that the kids like to see. Many have even gone to other cooperatives to assist with storm restoration when needed. The dedication to maintaining our system can lead to time away from family, and it is much appreciated!

A typical day’s work includes installing new services and replacing poles and wires that are past their prime. Some of these jobs can be upgrades to our system to keep up with the growing electrical needs of our members. At the end of the day, they might stock and clean their truck. There is a lot of personal protective equipment involved when working with energized lines, and it has to be in good shape to provide protection.

We have testing companies that help with many of these tasks to help keep our linemen safe. Indiana Electric Cooperatives has a job, safety, and training department that your cooperative invests in to provide us with programs with subject matter experts in different areas of safety.

This is just a summary of a lineman’s work, and my hat is off to the men and women around the world who have chosen this profession. On April 18, think about the people who help enhance your life with an essential service and everything electricity makes possible.