NLI: Northern Lights, Inc. > Inside Ruralite > NLI’s Safety Trailer Demonstrates Power Line Hazards

NLI’s Safety Trailer Demonstrates Power Line Hazards

Northern Lights lineworkers Nick Hagen, left, and Dan Wanous demonstrate the hazards of a kite contacting a power line. Photo by Kristin Burge

Typically, electricity arcing and burning are not what our lineworkers want to see around power lines. However, when it comes to our safety demo trailer, we demonstrate to our members what could happen and educate them on electrical safety.

Northern Lights lineworkers built a safety demonstration trailer to teach others about power line hazards. The trailer has been used over the past few years for events at NLI’s Sagle office. Firefighters and other emergency response personnel have attended demonstrations and discussions using the demo trailer.

The demo trailer allows lineworkers to show the hazards of power lines and what may happen if you touch a tree that has fallen across a road and is touching a power line. They also explain what precautions need to be taken if someone hits a power pole and a power line is lying on their car. Emergency first responder personnel are not trained to handle power lines and need to ensure the public is kept clear until an NLI lineworker arrives on-site to ensure the line is grounded and deenergized.

Also, lineworkers show what happens if a squirrel, bird, kite, mylar balloon, ladder, or tree branch contacts an energized line.

The demo trailer has a small section of underground cable that demonstrates the hazard of digging into a power line. Lineworkers can also connect a generator to illustrate the danger of incorrectly hooking up a generator and causing backfeed on NLI’s system.

The safety demo trailer is a great tool for educating members and emergency response personnel about the hazards of power lines.

See the safety demo trailer in action on April 21 at the Northern Lights Annual Meeting. Members in attendance will enjoy demos and can ask questions about electrical safety. It’s also a good time to tell the NLI lineworkers thank you for the hard work they do to keep power flowing to members.

Kristin MettkeNorthern Lights Engineering & Operations Manager Kristin Mettke is an electrical engineer and has worked in the electric utility industry most of her career.