Samuel Blanchette

Over the course of my line clearance career I have gained skills in leadership, keeping crews productive, making sure everything is going smoothly and everyone is doing their job as best and as safe as possible With my shorter time in the line construction field I learned to try and learn as much as you can from your peers and coworkers around you There is usually something that i have been doing and it worked but learning from others I would find easier ways of doing the same task which would make the job more efficient and safer

To go into more detail about what I learned with my time as an apprentice and also what I have learned as a bucket operator doing tree work is that above all any amount of electricity demands a certain level of respect and should not just aimlessly be worked around, proper training is important seeing as an accident can happen in a blink of an eye Most of what I have learned would be how to avoid problems when it comes to working around electricity, how to look for faults, recognizing a potential issue, and working with others on how to rectify the issue to ensure safety for everyone is at the top of our list I learned how to use my rubber gloves and sleeves to be able to work around certain levels of electricity safely along with my insulated tools Learned a bit myself on how to hook back up a service wire from a utility pole back to a house and check voltage at the meter to make sure that there are no issues going forward such as low voltage due to a back connection either at the pole or home I used a dvom a few different times when it came to checking meters or hooking up new street lights on the pole around the western part of the state When it came to the bigger off road wires and structures i was learning how to deconstruct and reconstruct entire structures while the lines above me were still hot and managed to do so safely every time with the help of the lineman teaching me While doing all of that I learned how to splice in new sections of wire to make the existing ones longer, and also learned how to install dead ends on the end of a wire to stop it at a pole, then install jumper loops to connect to the other side of the structure to ensure a safe angle of the structures could be achieved