Lineworker safety
Training and teamwork at every level
When Randy Meredith was promoted to Kentucky Electric Cooperatives’ director of safety and training in 2021, he had a goal to work toward.
“When I was given the opportunity to take the lead of this department,” Meredith says, “(President and CEO) Chris Perry gave me a charge and the charge was: best-in-class safety program.”
As with anything best in class—and almost anything related to electricity—building a strong safety program is multifaceted and complex. There was no singular task or area to improve, but rather Meredith began to build on the foundation that had been established and add pieces that would strengthen the Kentucky program.
The leaders of that program are members of the statewide Safety and Loss Prevention Team, made up of Meredith and four safety instructors who travel to electric co-ops across the state to help with a wide range of training.
Ask Meredith what he’s most proud of so far, and the answer comes quickly: “I’m very proud to have the team … that we’ve had the opportunity to assemble. I’m sure there’s as good out there, but I don’t know that there’s better out there.”
Meredith is a 27-year veteran lineworker who joined the statewide staff in 2019 as a safety instructor. The four current safety instructors are Charlie Lewis, Jeremy Swift, Kevin McCarty and J.C. Lyons.
Lewis is a former teacher turned lineworker, who also worked in member services and safety at Inter-County Energy. Swift has worked for several cooperatives; most recently, he was manager of safety at Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative. McCarty began in contract line work and joined Fleming-Mason Energy as a lineworker, eventually serving as the co-op’s right-of-way and safety superintendent. Lyons joined the team in January and is a licensed Kentucky paramedic and a Basic-1 Kentucky firefighter who most recently served as the safety director for the Frankfort Plant Board.
“They are quality people, professionals, self-motivated, with the drive to serve the cooperative membership,” Meredith says.
All five members of the safety team are certified loss control professionals—a credential sponsored by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and the National Utility Training and Safety Education Association.
“If a co-op calls and needs help with teaching someone how to climb, all the way up to doing the energized primary work, we all have the experience and the capabilities to do that at any given time,” Meredith says. “One or all of us have had experience in any scope of work that that they will encounter on their system.”
Each instructor also has an area for which he is the point person: Lewis is the primary contact for mutual aid (when Kentucky co-ops need help from other states or other states need help from Kentucky co-ops following storms or other natural disasters); Swift is the point person for the Kentucky Lineman’s Rodeo; McCarty is taking a primary role in the apprenticeship training program; and Lyons is the main support person for Occupational Safety and Health Administration-related information.
Kentucky Lineman’s Rodeo
Perhaps the flagship event of the statewide safety program is the Kentucky Lineman’s Rodeo. Not a rodeo in the cowboy, yee-haw sense, but an annual event, since 2005, where lineworkers from across the state compete in teams or as individuals.
The 2023 lineman’s rodeo, hosted by Warren RECC, saw more than 100 competitors from 17 cooperatives across Kentucky. The two-day event featured four timed stations: hurt man rescue, transformer and streetlight change, capacitor change and skills climb.
Safety is in the spotlight at the rodeo, and competitors aim to complete tasks without any safety deductions. Next comes speed, but also important is the camaraderie.
“Everybody wants everyone to succeed,” says Barney Toy, safety/material coordinator at Clark Energy Cooperative, who has been involved with the rodeo since its beginning. “Of course you want to do the best, but you want the best for everyone else, too.”
The rodeo is a family event, and last year, Toy’s 6-week-old grandson tagged along.
“There’s really not a big discrepancy from your work family to your home family,” Toy says. “You care as much about them as you do— pretty much—your home family. And, you spend a lot more time with them than you do your family a lot of times.”
Teams from several Kentucky cooperatives compete during the 2023 rodeo in Alvaton. Photo: Wade Harris
“They are professionals”
The rodeo celebrates camaraderie, safety and professionalism—and that’s something Meredith says will move Kentucky’s safety program forward.
Going back to his charge of a best-in-class safety program, Meredith asked other statewide associations what pushed them forward, and a similar theme kept showing up: They took ownership of their apprenticeship training.
“They said, ‘These safety issues, these things that you’re dealing with every day on your crew audits and your observations that are deficiencies—it gave us the opportunity to train those away,’” Meredith recalls.
He and his team began a partnership with the Northwest Lineman College, an industry leader in lineworker safety and education. The curriculum is Department of Labor certified at both the state and federal levels.
Cam Richardson with Warren RECC competes during the 2023 Kentucky Lineman’s Rodeo, hosted by Warren RECC. Photo: Tim Webb
“We’re working toward education,” Meredith says, “and bringing education and professional training together … What we’re trying to do is create the understanding for the linemen that they are professionals and that there are standards of being a professional.”
Through a partnership with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, lineworkers who complete the four-year apprenticeship program can earn an associate degree.
“A lot of times, safety has just been a stand-alone word,” Meredith says. “We don’t wake up and go to safety, we wake up and go to work. But if we marry safe work practices and efficiency in the professional, orthodox work practices … that’s going to get us somewhere.”
The 2022 Kentucky Lineman’s Rodeo, hosted by Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative, as seen by drone. Photo: Chris Hayes
SAFETY AND SCHOLARSHIPS
With support from Kentucky Electric Cooperatives and Kentuckians who purchase lineworker-themed specialty license plates, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System is incorporating lineworker training and education into a degree program.
Representatives from the statewide association of Kentucky’s electric cooperatives presented a check for $50,000 earlier this year to college leaders at the main campus of Southcentral Kentucky Community & Technical College in Bowling Green. The funds represent donations tied to the lineworker Power For Your Community specialty license plates on thousands of vehicles in Kentucky.
