Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers

Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers typically perform the following tasks: • Adhere to safety practices and procedures, such as checking equipment regularly and erecting barriers around work areas. • Drive vehicles equipped with tools and materials to job sites. • Open switches or attach grounding devices to remove electrical hazards from disturbed or fallen lines or to facilitate repairs. • Climb poles or use truck-mounted buckets to access equipment. • Install, maintain, and repair electrical distribution and transmission systems, including conduits, cables, wires, and related equipment, such as transformers, circuit breakers, and switches. • Inspect and test power lines and auxiliary equipment to locate and identify problems, using reading and testing instruments. • Coordinate work assignment preparation and completion with other workers. • Replace or straighten damaged poles. • String wire conductors and cables between poles, towers, trenches, pylons, and buildings, setting lines in place and using winches to adjust tension. • Attach cross-arms, insulators, and auxiliary equipment to poles prior to installing them. • Dig holes, using augers, and set poles, using cranes and power equipment. • Travel in trucks, helicopters, and airplanes to inspect lines for freedom from obstruction and adequacy of insulation. • Identify defective sectionalizing devices, circuit breakers, fuses, voltage regulators, transformers, switches, relays, or wiring, using wiring diagrams and electrical-testing instruments. • Install watt-hour meters and connect service drops between power lines and consumers' facilities. • Test conductors, according to electrical diagrams and specifications, to identify corresponding conductors and to prevent incorrect connections. • Place insulating or fireproofing materials over conductors and joints. • Splice or solder cables together or to overhead transmission lines, customer service lines, or street light lines, using hand tools, epoxies, or specialized equipment. • Trim trees that could be hazardous to the functioning of cables or wires. • Pull up cable by hand from large reels mounted on trucks. • Lay underground cable directly in trenches, or string it through conduit running through the trenches.