ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area lineman vs. electrician

<quote>Also if you are going to go into HV work, you can more or less put money on being called out during nasty weather, rain, snow and all the rest.
While everyone else is reasonably warm inside thier houses, you won't be!.</qoute>.

That's a big 10/4 on the elements. Depending on your job description you most likely will be called out into the elements. But that does have it's rewards in the long run. The money's great, yet the hours can be long and hard up top of a 60' pole in the middle of a storm.

In addition, Construction specialitst are called up to work on storm repairs and it's not unusual to see 70-80 hours/week for 2-3 week periods.

Hope that helps answer a few questions

Luni

Wow Luni!,
Welcome bud!. .

Sorry fella's, had to take a little break from the WWW thing. Running a website and trying to keep up with everyday life can take a toll on ya.

Just getting back into things and doing some checking in. Looks like things have been kickin over here, just when I thought the world stopped spinning cause I stepped off.

Hope everyone had a great 4th.

Luni

hey straight edge you might want to consider why they get paid so much, the voltage is absolutly unforgiving you get hit once and its over. your body cooks inside out and you may get lucky and only lose a limb or two.

Thanks rizer,

I have checked out some of the linesman websites and noticed that just about every one of them has a dedicated page to the fallen brothers.

That does get me to re-consider the money.

I would have been killed many times by now if the voltage was any higher than 480V.

Hang on a moment!.
I've been a Line Mechanic for a few years now and just like Residential work, Line work can be as safe or as dangerous as YOU make it!.
One thing that I have noticed in the Safety Area, is the fact that some Lineys don't wear Gloves on HV lines.
I mean, you wouldn't put your hand in a Crocodiles mouth would you?.
And rizer, the reason us guys are paid at the level we are, is because it is really hard work!.
And another thing is, most of our Lines workers here hold Advanced Trade in Live Glove and Barrier work and some also hold licences in 110kV Hot-Stick work.
So we are in no way dumb people, our knowledge and experience keeps us alive!.

trumpy, don't recall calling linemen "dumb people". the work has a much higher risk of immediate death when the slightest mistake or as you put it lack of safety is involved. a recent documentary on linemen presented by the history channel showed what happen to one unfortunate linemen who had just topped out and didn't use his gloves he now uses prostetic arms to spray paint markings on under ground hv lines. i believe linemen are just as smart as the rest of us sparkys and have a whole lot more balls to do that kind of work. the trade has come a long ways since the days of henry miller when they used felt hats to warn them there heads were getting to close to the lines.