By Mike Wagner, journeyman lineman
My name is Mike Wagner, and I’m one of 33 lineworkers at Southeastern Indiana 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.
Lineworkers are ranked as one of the 10 most dangerous jobs in the country. The lineworkers at Southeastern Indiana REMC work rain or shine, in often challenging conditions to ensure you have reliable electricity.
The danger
A lot of people know linework is dangerous because we work near high-voltage electricity. Move just 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 person next to you. We often work on energized power lines, and you can’t always tell they are energized by just looking at them. You’re working with an element of danger that requires 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 worst. I’m often working in storms with rain, wind, extreme heat and cold, in the dark, or on the side of the road next to fast-moving traffic. Yes, it’s dangerous, but that’s what we’re trained to do.
Many may not realize it, but we undergo years of training before we can officially be called a lineworker. We typically start as a groundperson, helping crews with tools and keeping job sites safe, then we transition to apprentice status, which typically spans four years. After an apprenticeship, with more than 8,000 hours of training under our belts, we transition to journeyman lineworker status — that’s when we’re considered officially trained in our field.
But the education is ongoing. Lineworkers 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 lineworker are physically demanding, but you won’t hear any of us complain about that. I know what I signed up for — loading heavy materials, climbing poles and in and out of buckets. A lot of times, we go places the trucks can’t, so 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.
It’s worth it
One thing that makes this job worthwhile is the camaraderie. My co-op 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 teammate beside you safe and the lights on for everybody else.
I take a lot of pride in my work. Even when it’s cold and wet, I know I’m working to keep people warm. 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.
Southeastern Indiana 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 normal life.
