Lineworkers are ranked as one of the 10 most dangerous jobs in the country. The linemen at Jay County REMC work rain or shine, often in challenging conditions, to ensure you have reliable electricity. The following column was written by Duane Monroe, one of our eight dedicated linemen.
My name is Duane Monroe, and I’m one of eight linemen at Jay County REMC who work every day in all weather conditions to make sure our community has the power to live their lives. I love my job. It’s hard work, but it’s very rewarding. I hope this will give you a better look into what we face and more importantly, why we do it.
THE DANGER
A lot of people know linework is a dangerous job. Move the wrong way or lose focus for a split second, and it could be deadly.
You have to be aware of your surroundings and the safety of the lineman next to you (as well as crew members on the ground) at all times. We often work on energized power lines, and you can’t always tell they are energized by looking at them. You’re working with an element of danger requiring concentration, and there is no margin for error. The environment compounds the pressure, because when you need power most is usually when the weather is the worst.
I’m often working during storms with rain, wind, extreme heat, and bone-chilling cold. It could be in the dark, or on the side of the road next to fast-moving traffic. It’s dangerous, but that’s what we’re trained to do.
We undergo years of training before we can officially be called a lineman. We typically start as a groundman, helping crews with tools and keeping job sites safe. Then, we transition to apprentice status, which typically requires four years of training — including more than 8,000 hours of on-the-job training and coursework. When the training is completed, we become journeyman lineman and are officially trained in our field.
But, the education is ongoing. Linemen continuously receive training to stay mindful of safety requirements and up to date on the latest equipment and procedures.
THE PHYSICAL DEMAND
The daily expectations of a lineman are physically demanding, but you won’t hear any of us complain about that too much! I know what I signed up for — loading heavy materials, climbing poles, and in and out of buckets.
A lot of times, we must to go to places our trucks can’t. In that case, I might be hiking through the woods loaded down with 40 pounds of personal protective equipment. But that’s the job. Most of us are just glad to be outside.
THE SACRIFICES
There are some sacrifices to being a lineman. I’m often first on the scene of an emergency — seeing things that are devastating like car accidents, structure fires, and damage from severe storms. You don’t know what type of situation you’re going to face or when you’re going to face it. We get calls at all hours. I’ve missed a lot of family gatherings, but my family is very supportive, and it pays off in the end. We make sure there is nothing standing in the way of helping our friends and neighbors get back to normal life.
IT’S WORTH IT
One thing that makes this job worthwhile is the camaraderie. My co-op family is my second family, and the line crews are a brotherhood. In this work, you have to depend on the person beside you in life-or-death circumstances. It’s a culture of trust, teamwork, and service. It’s all about keeping the guy beside you safe and the public safe while keeping the lights on at the best rate possible.
I take pride in my work. Even when it’s cold and wet, I know I’m working to keep people comfortable. There’s a lot of satisfaction in hearing someone yell “Thank you” from the window after the lights come back on or seeing people flipping the light switches on their porches after an outage is restored. No matter how tired I am or how long I’ve been working, that feeling always makes it worth it.
Jay County REMC and its employees are members of this community. We live in the same neighborhoods. We shop at the same stores. Our kids go to the same schools. If your lights are off, there is a good chance ours are off, too. So, you can trust that we are doing our best to get the lights back on as quickly and safely as possible — so you can get back to your normal life.
