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| Power Line Safety for Tree Workers |
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| Review these tips with coworkers at your tailgate or toolbox meetings before work begins. It will help your crew avoid potential hazards when working near overhead and underground power lines. |
| Order our COMPLIMENTARY
worker safety training kit.
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| Check for overhead power lines, poles, and guy wires before starting every job, and point them out to crew members at your daily safety briefings. Injuries or death may result from contact with any power line, even the lines that run from utility poles to buildings. |
| Follow the 10-Foot Rule |
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Never trim or remove trees within 10 feet of overhead power lines. Only qualified line-clearance tree-trimming contractors may work closer than 10 feet from power lines. These workers receive extensive training and perform rigorous equipment maintenance and inspection. |
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If you are not line-clearance qualified, you must keep yourself, all tools, equipment and vehicles at least 10 feet away from overhead power lines carrying up to 50 kV. Greater voltages require greater distances. Before work begins, call Southern California Edison (SCE) at 1-800-611-1911 to verify voltages and determine required safety clearances. |
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If you must work closer to power lines than the mandated distance, call SCE well in advance to make safety arrangements. |
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| In Case of Power Line Contact |
| If a tree, limb, tool, or equipment should contact an overhead power line or cause an overhead power line to fall, assume the power line is energized and take the following steps: |
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Do NOT touch or move the line or anything it is touching. Keep the public far away. |
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Contact 911 and SCE at 1-800-611-1911 and wait for utility personnel to arrive. |
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If the line should fall onto a truck or other equipment, don’t panic. Warn everyone, including other workers, to stay far away from the vehicle as well as the power line. |
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Always remember to stay at least 30 feet away from a fallen distribution line and at least 100 feet away from a fallen transmission line and anything they are touching, including the ground nearby. (Distribution lines are found on utility poles. Transmission lines are larger and typically located higher overhead, on tall metal towers.) |
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Anyone inside or on the vehicle should stay where they are until instructed otherwise by SCE or emergency officials. |
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Do not resume work or return to the equipment until utility personnel say it is safe to do so. |
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| Would You Like to Learn More? |
| More electrical safety tips, instructional videos, and training tools can all be found, at no charge to you, at sce.com/safetyonthejob. |
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