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11d •
HOLD THE PULL
CHEAP BIDS… HOT WORK… DEADLY MATH Lineman Bull$hit™ Academy Let’s start this new series exactly where it belongs… At the scene of the lie. Not the lie told after the incident. Not the lie buried in the report. Not the lie polished up in a boardroom and passed around like corporate wisdom. I mean the real lie… The one thing this industry has been dragging behind it for years, while pretending not to hear the chain rattling. Here it is… A whole lot of energized work is not being done because it is necessary. It is being done because the math got bad long before the crew ever showed up. That’s it. That’s the disease. And if this industry had any real stomach left for truth… we’d admit right now that one of the biggest root causes behind unnecessary exposure is the unholy marriage between unit pricing and lowest-bid cowardice. The Lie Starts on Paper Before the truck ever rolls… Before the briefing… Before the rubber gets checked… Before a man ever puts his hooks, sleeves, or gloves on… The lie has already started. It starts in the bid sheets. Unit sheets. Cost models. Procurement packages. All those neat little boxes where linework gets broken down into tidy categories for people who never have to actually do it. Pole change-out… Crossarm… Insulator… Transformer… Cutout… Dead-end… Reconductor… X units… Y dollars… next item. Looks clean. Looks efficient. Looks manageable. Looks like the kind of thing a power company can hand off to a contractor and say… “Give me your best number.” That’s where the bullshit walks in. Because linework is not clean. It is not predictable. And it damn sure is not uniform. One pole is roadside on firm ground with room to breathe. The next one is jammed in a backyard, boxed in with fences, telecom, trees, mud, bad access, traffic, and pissed-off homeowners. One piece of work is straightforward. The next one is one bad decision away from lighting a man up. But the paper treats them the same. That’s the first betrayal.
Pinned
Mar 1 •
SAFETY SUNDAY (March 1st 2026)
I’m not polishing this one... Assumption is how brothers die... Not because they didn’t know. Not because they weren’t trained. Not because they didn’t love this trade. Because somewhere… somebody decided to assume. “It’s dead.” “It’s already grounded.” “They handled it.” “It’s just secondary.” “We’ve always done it this way…” That right there is Lineman Bull$hit. And it gets people killed. The Arena Doesn’t Care About Your Reputation You can have 30 years. You can have a white hard hat. You can have every patch on your sleeve. The lines don’t care… Physics doesn’t care how respected you are in the yard. It doesn’t care how many storms you’ve run. It doesn’t care how confident you sound at a tailboard. It cares about one thing… Did you verify? Not assume. Not believe. Not trust. Verify. Familiar Is Where It Gets Bloody Storm response tightens us up. Unknown territory sharpens instincts. But that feeder you’ve worked a hundred times… That sub you can walk in your sleep… That “simple” secondary changeout… That’s where complacency stretches its legs. That’s where the whisper starts... “You don’t need to test it again.” “You already know.” “Quit overthinking it.” That whisper has put names on grave stones. Leaders… Own This Foremen. General Foremen. If you tolerate shortcuts… You authorize them. If you rush verification… You normalize it. If you get irritated when someone double-checks you… You just told that apprentice to shut up next time. Your ego is not worth a funeral… Say it again. Your Ego Is Not Worth A Funeral… You want a Brotherhood culture? Then make it normal to challenge the switching. Make it normal to test twice. Make it normal to slow the hell down. Because the crew mirrors what you allow… I’ve Got Blood on My Hands Too I’m not preaching from a clean place... I’ve felt that production pressure. I’ve wanted to keep it moving. I’ve heard “we’re good” and wanted to believe it. I’ve been part of the culture. And I’ve seen what it costs.
Pinned
Feb 10 •
What We Don’t Say Out Loud … Volume 2
Once you top out… we stop checking you. Here’s what we don’t say out loud… In this trade, topping out is treated like a lifetime clearance. Once you’re a Journeyman, the questions stop. The verification stops. The friction stops. Not because it’s smart… Because it’s uncomfortable. We don’t want to offend experience... We don’t want to challenge confidence... We don’t want to be “that guy” who slows things down. So we assume... We assume the hand still has it. We assume fatigue hasn’t crept in. We assume repetition hasn’t dulled judgment. We assume confidence still equals competence. And assumptions are cheap. They don’t cost anything… until they cost everything... We say we respect experience. But real respect would be holding experienced hands to a higher standard… not a lower one. Instead, we do the opposite... Apprentices get watched. Apprentices get checked. Apprentices get corrected. Journeymen get left alone… Even when their body language says something’s off. Even when the job feels rushed. Even when the plan is thin, and the pressure is thick. And when it finally goes bad… When a seasoned hand makes a “rookie mistake”… Everyone acts shocked. But nobody wants to talk about how long it had been since anyone actually verified the work. Nobody wants to talk about how many times we let “he’s good” replace “prove it.” Nobody wants to talk about how many close calls got brushed off because calling them out would’ve been awkward as hell. That’s not trust... That’s laziness wrapped in tradition. Judgment isn’t permanent. Skill isn’t static. And confidence, left unchecked, turns into arrogance real damn fast. If the only people being evaluated are the least experienced ones… Then, the most dangerous assumptions in this trade are wearing Journeyman tickets. That’s not Brotherhood... That’s abandonment... And every time leadership chooses silence over verification… They’re not respecting their people. They’re rolling the dice with them... BETTER... NEVER RESTS...
12d •
The Qualified Eyes Upon Us: A Reflection on Responsibility, Readiness, and Resolve
The Qualified Eyes Upon Us: A Reflection on Responsibility, Readiness, and Resolve In the world of electric power generation, transmission, and distribution, every arc, every switch, every climb carries weight not only in voltage but in responsibility. The title Qualified Employee is not a badge of seniority; it’s a declaration of knowledge, competence, and courage. A qualified employee is more than someone who knows how to do the work it’s someone who understands why the work must be done safely. OSHA defines this person as one knowledgeable in the construction and operation of the electric power generation, transmission, and distribution equipment involved, along with the associated hazards. That definition doesn’t just live on paper; it lives in the field, in the quiet hum of a substation, in the measured steps across an energized right-of-way, and in the judgment that separates routine from risk. Who’s Watching Us “Who’s watching us?” isn’t a question of surveillance… it’s a question of integrity. The eyes upon us are many: • The apprentice looking for example, • The journeyman measuring trust, • The safety professional ensuring compliance, • The public depending on our power to stay on and our crews to come home. Each one expects that we embody the standard. That we are qualified, not just experienced. Because experience without understanding is exposure, and exposure without control is a hazard waiting to happen. Training and Truth OSHA reminds us that qualification is not a one-time certificate. It’s a continual demonstration. An employee must have the training required by §1926.950(b)(2) to be a qualified employee. Training isn’t a checkbox. It’s the ongoing rhythm of learning, mentoring, and testing the boundaries of what we know against what could hurt us. It’s the apprentice, under supervision, showing that they can perform at their level safely, confidently, and consistently. An employee undergoing on-the-job training who has demonstrated the ability to perform duties safely under the direct supervision of a qualified person is a qualified person for those duties.
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15d •
Boots
Hello to everybody here I am a trainee overhead lineman in the UK. I just want to put it out there. What boots does everybody wear. And any recommendations Many thanks Karl
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