Don,
Good question.
The hot-stick has a different status mainly because of the seperation distance provided between the worker and the hazard.
Over here, hot-stick work has it's own training regime.
Like I said above, the only conducting part of the stick is the tip and the tool attached to the end of it, which you may notice is often shorter than 5".
A lot of training goes into using our collapsable and also rigid sticks here.
As John mentioned there are a lot of tools that we use on the ends of our hot-sticks.
I'll see if I can find a manufacturer link to some of the gear used.
I'm also trained in Live Glove and Barrier work, which is a lot "easier" than Hot-stick work.
LG & B is "hands-on" ,Hot-stick work is done from a distance usually 20ft here.
To sum up Don,
It's distance that counts.
I know I like it!. [Linked Image]