Field Trip

Field trips are fun no matter how old you are. So I was delighted to go on a work field trip a couple of weeks ago. One of our contractors has been working through a major project just outside of town. The project began back in November with scoping and then installing new for a section of major line. The day that we went out was to watch the new lines being put on the poles.

So, safety first. Before setting out, we had to all be decked out in proper safety gear. So we got on our bright orange and blue overalls, steel-toed boots, and bright yellow hard hats. We did not end up needing them, but we also had ear plugs, safety goggles, and gloves.
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The portion of the line we visited was on the back section of a farm. Thankfully one of the project managers had left an extra orange vest on a fencepost to point the way :)

We had a quick safety briefing when we got there, so we know where we could go and what was going on. Then we were welcome to stay and observe as long as we wanted.

The crew was using a helicopter to put the lines on the poles. The helicopter would pick up a large drum with the cable on it. Prior to that day's work, each crossarm on the poles had been fitted with a clip to catch and hold the lines. So the helicopter would hover over each pole, until the line had caught in the clip and then carry on to the next pole, while the line unraveled from the drum. I was particularly impressed with the pilot's precision, as he spent very little time at each pole having to wait for the line to find the right spot.

We stayed for maybe an hour, as we saw the pilot string three of the six lines required for the new poles. It was interesting for me to see something in action as I have spent plenty of time helping to plan the work, but do not always understand all that is going on in the field. Being on site allowed me the opportunity to see the complete set-up and ask questions to see how it all fits together.