The Multiple Challenges of Underground Construction and Maintenance

?Distribution Underground Electric and the construction and maintenance of these facilities is a multi-faceted and necessary part of the complex utility infrastructure in the United States of America. There are multiple methods for installing these facilities, and these methods are almost as diverse as the demarcation lines used to determine which work group is responsible for the installation and maintenance of these various facilities. In some regions, Underground Residential Distribution (URD) construction and maintenance is performed strictly by Lineman, while in the same region at a different utility, URD work may be split between Splicers and Lineman based upon cable size, presence of conduit, or length of conduit along with a few other factors. Another region may have rules regarding the presence of Confined Spaces and handholes. There are also some areas where the Cable Splicer is responsible for all URD construction and maintenance. Besides URD we also have Underground Secondary Voltage Networks, underground construction as the first up-feed from a substation (which can span many miles of cables running through manholes), and Heavy Underground construction found in most large, and some small, metropolitan areas. Clearly this is not a complete list of the various underground work types, various work groups and their responsibilities. There are places where a Network Mechanic does not splice primary voltage cables, and Splicers do not work on Network cables and Protectors, and other areas where a Splicer would do both. The point is there are many underground work types across the Country. As technology and a traveling workforce has changed our industry, the regional differences in similar underground work types have presented many challenges for both the utility and the contractor. I believe one of the major challenges has been a lack of standardization across underground distribution construction and maintenance, and the fact that many underground work forces have been allowed to be reduced as “out of sight, out of mind” underground systems have either been ignored or have previously been reliable enough to slowly deteriorate while the local work force has diminished in size, though this is not true in all places. Many systems in major metropolitan areas were installed between the late 1800’s and the early 1960’s. Long before utilities shared ideas or engaged in benchmarking which, I believe, is the main reason for the differences. Plus, every utility invented electricity and the modern distribution system…just ask them! As I previously pointed out, there are multiple underground construction and maintenance facets across the regions which are performed by multiple work groups. The diversity in training these various groups is where some if the biggest challenges may lay. At one time almost all skill training for these various work forces was performed “in house” at the various governing local utilities. But, in recent years the decline of “in house” training and the resulting shrinking workforce has caused many utilities to seek the assistance of outside contractors. Some of these reasons are due to the required costs of maintaining an “in house” training group and center along with the required materials. The dichotomy of the lack of “in house” utility training and workforce resources, and the addition of outside contractors is the differences in the training received. Where the internal utility workforce receives the specified training for the specific work group and type, as well as the local utility’s specifications, the outside contractor workforce has generally received a more “blanket” style of training since the contractor has the potential to work on multiple utilities, co-ops, and municipalities in their specific region. Due to these differences, there is a margin of error for understanding, quality in workmanship, and some of the intricacies of the specific utility specifications. I’m not saying that all outside contractors are poorly trained and that all inside utility workers are better trained. We have all been around long enough to know that there are good and bad workers in and out of utilities and contractors, everywhere, regardless of their training. Recently there has been a shift in some utilities to let this last bastion of normally untouched underground work go to outside contracting. Which has not happened without some internal disagreement. I have met with many utilities who are considering the addition of more outside contractors to supplement their already understaffed or dwindling workforce. The primary concerns raised always seem to be quality of work, training, support, tools, and equipment. All are valid points which need to be addressed by any contractor who may desire to jump into the underground construction and maintenance arena. Generally, a contractor may respond that the utility requirements for tools, equipment, training, and support will be a sizeable upfront investment for a workforce, therefor the contractor will seek a long-term contract in order to recover some of the required up-front investment. The best solution may be a mutually beneficial agreement for the utility and the contractor.

?I’m going to take a step back for a minute back to my earlier comment about the standardization of underground facilities. I clearly understand that the vast number of utilities, municipalities, co-ops, etc.. across the USA cannot suddenly change their systems so every system is operating at the same voltages. I get it, that simply is not possible. But, just posing a question, is it possible, for example, to have the specification for all 12KV #2 elbows, regardless of the manufacturer, to be the same? It’s a big stretch…I know. So, the question then becomes; if this was done, would it lead to more system reliability across the Country? The current workforce which is willing to travel more than it ever has before, would then have some standards to follow regardless of where they go to chase money. Now, there was a time when constantly traveling was a great way to run away from your poor reputation before it could catch up to you. But, since Al Gore invented the internet…it has become more difficult for poor employees to run from a bad reputation, thankfully. Back to my point about more parallel standards. I believe the long-term effects would be beneficial for the utility as well as the contractor, and a more reliable system is what we all strive for. Also, some parity in training would be extremely helpful. If utilities were willing to share some of their preferred training methods with the outside construction programs, more strides could be made towards quality in those regions. In saying this I understand that utilities are not in the business of training contractors. And that is definitely not what I’m saying should happen. If it did, my job would quickly become obsolete, and we certainly can’t have that!

?Back to the heart of the conversation. The multiple parts of underground construction and maintenance each pose multiple safety, work practice, and hygiene challenges. Possible exposure to biological hazards, asbestos, lead, concentrated chlorine, wildlife, a curious public, vehicle traffic, de-watering processes, city permits and work hour restrictions, night work, theft, etc... This is another list which could go on for a very long time. Parts of these various challenges exist on every underground system I have ever worked on and there is required training for many of these issues. Some of the required training is OSHA mandated and specific hours of training are required to meet these standards. There is nothing better than sitting through a lengthy Confined Space class. Wait, yes there is! Teaching a lengthy Confined Space class! Also, I am a Dirty Tattooed Underground Rat and have been since I entered the underground department at ComEd in Chicago in 1991. Since then, I have taken great pride in my “Cable Splicer” title and the work which I have performed in multiple States across this beautiful Nation. Okay, okay I’m a little off track again. Back to the multiple challenges and hazards of our shared work type. Another problem facing both utility and contractor is the resistance of some field workers to follow health and safety rules, which are in place for their own protection. I used to work with a guy who has drilled a hole in his respirator so he could still smoke a cigarette while he sweated connectors while building PILC splices. “Don’t worry kid if the cigarettes don’t kill me, something else will.” Best safety attitude ever! Admittedly, I was not always the poster boy for safety throughout my career. We would break just about any safety and work practice rules if it meant we could go home a few minutes earlier. Which is ridiculous logic, I know. So, this problem will almost always exist since many people in the field are willing to cheat the rules to leave early or finish a job early. And if you believe people in the field are not, you’re lying to yourself. Now, in recent years safety, PPE, and safety attitudes have greatly improved. But the human factor and the desire to finish a job early and relax, or the sheer frustration of a bad day taking place in bad weather can also lead to some poor safety and quality decisions. The various factors for the challenges of safety, quality, human factor, and the unplanned for variables are almost infinite. Is there a simple solution here? Unfortunately, the answer is a resounding “no”, though there have been some recent strides forward in human performance and emotional intelligence training which are helping. In my humble experience, the reason is simply due to the human factor and desire for comfort and ease. Far too many people are willing to short cut on safety and quality to end a bad day or a bad job a few minutes early. I say this for a few reasons. I said before I personally have cut many safety rules and have witnessed many others do the same. And no offense to anyone in attendance, but if you believe that this does not happen in your organization, you may want to double check, minus a few exceptions. And right now, the people who have never worked in the field are reading this and thinking, “why the hell does anyone want to do this work?” Which, at times, is a very good question. There is a bit of insanity involved, no lie. But I believe that my fellow Cable Splicers, like me, likely would not trade our shared craft for something less challenging. Which has always led me to question my previous observations about the human factor of safety and my fellow Cable Splicers who take deep pride in our shared craft and strive to complete the best quality of work under extremely difficult situations, but don’t always apply that same level of pride to our personal safety. Why? I always thought that part of the reason was the inherent danger of the work which we have all learned to live with. Part of living with this danger is using humor to deal with it. Every day we know we are going to work and dealing with shit that can kill you, literally. We all know the dangers are there and many of have seen the negative results of these danger gone wrong. So, as humans we minimize it through humor and displacement. A co-worker once said to me, “It’s there and we all know it. We live with it and then make fun of it to keep it from making us paranoid. What else are you going to do about it. We are like men amongst snakes in these manholes. You could get bit anytime. It’s the job we chose.” And the truth is, he is absolutely correct. We are all aware of the danger, but we still get up every day and go do the job, regardless.

?We are all aware of the safety pyramid, with the bottom of the pyramid consisting of human performance indicators, slips, trips, falls, near misses, which eventually lead to more serious incidents such as sprains and strains, and injuries before finally reaching a fatality at the peak. Over the years various numbers of incidents at each level have been placed at different intervals as the positive indicator that something soon would go terribly wrong, and these numbers have been heavily debated and I’m not going to debate the numbers either. I am not in any way in disagreement with the safety pyramid, but I also believe that some of these events start at the top of a different pyramid. This pyramid represents the point where one bad habit or shortcut is witnesses by someone who may not fully understand the risk or the method which the person who actually engaged in the shortcut may have. For example, connecting live secondary cables while wearing leather gloves. Then, the person who did not fully understand the ramifications of this practice, duplicates this act in the field because they believed they understood the risk and method which the first person did. Then another person witnesses the same shortcut, with even less knowledge than the first person, but will eventually engage in the same shortcut which they had previously witnessed. Eventually enough people see this and begin to believe this shortcut is an accepted work practice. And this problem is compounded if the person who originated the shortcut is highly respected by their peers. “He’s been doing this forever. He must know what he’s doing.” This is compounded one more time since the person is highly respected and the people working alongside him are not about to question his safety methods or his ability as a Journeyman Cable Splicer.

?Pulling the thread of safety, quality, pride, and the challenges of underground construction and maintenance work a little further, we come to the long-term ramifications of cutting corners. The effect on system reliability is obvious but is not the only answer. Engaging in unsafe acts and cutting corners on safety and quality, which go hand in hand, places the generations of future Cable Splicers in jeopardy. A properly built splice in a confined space, or anywhere else, should outlast the life expectancy of the cable itself. We are all aware of the fact that currently there are in service cables which have been in service the early 1900’s. The guys who installed those cables and splices were a couple of generations ahead of us and are long since gone. The fact that they performed work like the work we perform today, without modern tools, generators, and equipment, and the fact that much of their work remains in service is a true testimonial to the quality of work, craftsmanship, and pride they poured out every day. Back when men were made of steel and ships were made of wood. We should all be striving for that level of quality and pride. I personally hope the work I have performed, and the splices I have built will stand this true test. If we truly take great pride in our work, we should take equal pride in our safety and quality standards. This is the challenge I would issue to my fellow Cable Splicers. Do your best to always do your best.

?Recently, although not as recently as some would like you to believe, there has been great effort put forth by many utilities to begin “undergrounding” many new and “at risk” facilities. Tremendous investments are being made to put more facilities in the ground than ever before. This type of work poses another set of challenges, depending upon type of “undergrounding”, for the utility and the contractor. A newer work type which typically has not been part of most formal training programs. There are also the complex problems the customers and businesses face as their property is altered during the installation phase while new cables and equipment is installed on their property, and then again during the equipment removal and restoration phases. Customer interaction during this process may be one of the most critical parts of the work, adding more variables to the challenges of underground construction and maintenance, training, field interaction, customer relations, employee experience levels, etc... Another potentially long list. A negative customer interaction easily has the ability to serious damage to the reputations of both the utility and the contractor. The company logos worn by employees as well as the logos which are clearly visible on the doors of almost every vehicle make it very easy for customers to know who to point to when they desire to lodge a complaint. And dealing with customer complaints is usually an entire department at most utilities. Therefore, customer complaints and the reputation of the utility are clearly important. Adding or relocating more facilities to the underground system clearly expands the system and at the same time increases the demand for a qualified and experienced underground labor force. The demand for this work force creates and, at the same time, addresses the current issue of work force attrition. The large gap between experienced employee and new employees is a serious issue faced by every aspect of the utility world. Cable Splicers, Lineman, Engineers, Designers, Foreman, Crew Leaders, Superintendents, etc... are all in high demand and all also have the ability to make or break any job where they may be working. Regardless of the other challenges faced from customers, right of ways, environmental, local permitting, material delivery, outage coordination, and more, a single act of carelessness, disregard for safety and quality, or anything similar can quickly derail any job. An errant comment, a misplaced or off-color comment between crew members which is overheard by a customer has the potential to cause serious damage to customer relations and the reputation of both utility and contractor. Besides the customer interaction there is customer safety to consider and plan for. Open pits, trenches, excess cable, Directional Boring equipment, excavation equipment, new pad mounted or submersible equipment, on and on, all represent a safety hazard for a customer or business which we must address while this work is ongoing. Truthfully, not every workday ends cleanly where these hazards can easily be packed up leaving no risk or hazards for these customers.

?The scope of underground construction and maintenance is clearly large and has numerous variations of work scope and type yet is filled with multiple challenges for all who work on these complex systems. Regardless of the various challenges, the power of personal accountability and the desire to perform quality work is the key to mitigating some of the long-term effects of short cutting safety and quality, which can all affect each and every facet of underground work. There are very few simple jobs or simple answers to the multiple complex underground work categories and challenges.

The opinions expressed in this article are strictly mine and do not represent the opinions of Quanta Services or any of its known affiliates.