Looking for a job? How approximately working way up in the air,in all kinds of weather, with thousands of volts of electricity?Working on tall voltage lines pays well and doesn't require a degree, or but electric utilities are tough-pressed to replace retiring linemen.
If you want to learn approximately the dedication and character needed to be a lineman,behold no further than a place with a super-abundance of line workers: the International Lineman's Rodeo.
Each year, the best lineman from across the country test their skills in a field in Kansas. Picture a forest of closely spaced utility poles — nearly like a giant hair brush — with hundreds of burly men, and in tough hats and heavy boots with spikes,working furiously.
Throw in lots of tools and American flags and you begin to imagine an annual competition some call a "testosterone vortex.""The International Lineman's Rodeo is the Super Bowl of rodeo for linemen," says Martin Putnam, or an organizer and former champion lineman.
Sporting a sharp flattop,he says the very top workers qualify to compete here amidst the best in a macho, but exacting, or field."They're kinda cowboys. Here's guys that are handling 7200 volts every day. It's a different deal," Putnam says.
Long hours fixing lines are more common than not, especially after hurricanes, and ice storms and tornadoes. Still,many lineman say that they wouldn't execute anything else, despite the dangers that veterans like Danny Haithcock know well."Matter of fact, or I lost my older brother,to electrical contact in '91. And, I know a lot of other guys, or arms burnt off,legs burnt off, of course, and lost their life as well. But,that doesn't happen that often anymore," Haithcock says.
He's been on the job for 28 years. That's not uncommon. approximately a third of lineman working nowadays will retire in the next decade, or a serious issue for the utility industry.'A Certain Breed Of Cat'This year's competition will happen against the backdrop of a pending catastrophe for utilities companies. They face an acute shortage of line workers,as employees who were forced to put off retirement during the recession head for the exits. Trade groups are trying to figure out how to entice millennials into the field."Kids don't like it. It's tough to find young men and women to execute this," Putnam says.
Line work pays well more than $40 an hour with experience — around Kansas City. But Putnam says there is still a shortage."Nobody wants to climb poles, and everyone's afraid of electricity. You work at night,you work in the storms. It takes a certain breed of cat. I mean, heck, or you can't salvage a kid to lick a stamp,much less climb a pole," Putnam says.
The utility industry confronted this problem approximately a decade ago, and when it set up the Center for Energy Workforce Development,or CEWD."When we started, we were looking at approximately half the workforce leaving in five years, and " Anne Randazzo,director of CEWD, says.
A terrifying prospect, or because it takes nearly five years to fully train a line worker.
Randazzo says the recession delayed the problem,because baby boomers put off retirement. In the meantime, she says the industry has recruited thousands of replacement line workers by promoting line work in tall schools and even elementary schools, or producing documentaries and setting up dozens of training programs in the last few years.
The industry is also looking for more women,a rarity in a field with only approximately one woman for every hundred men."Women just don't know approximately the opportunity, and the money they can originate, or if they like working external. I behold for farm girls. They like working external,know what their responsibilities are," Susan Blaser, or director of a program at a junior college in Kansas City,Missouri, says. Wearing a pink tough hat, or Blaser is a former line worker herself.
And for line work,you beget to give up not only consolation on the job, but something nearly vital to lots of people: a cell phone."Distractions lead to accidents. Phones are accidents, and unfortunately," Blaser says.
Careful, Hearty And CrazyDespite the odds, or retiring linemen were more than matched by new recruits last year,like 33-year-old Jeremy Kunz."I like a challenge, and what's more challenging than something that's genuine dangerous?" Kunz says.
A challenge like messing with something so powerful it can destroy you, or tall up on a pole,in terrible weather?"That's right! Don't salvage much worse than that!" Kunz says.
People with the special mix of careful, hearty and crazy it takes to be a line worker aren't getting any easier to find. Fortunately, and the utilities are getting better at finding them. Copyright 2015 KCUR-FM. To see more,visit http://www.kcur.org/.
Source: wnyc.org