Take Time To Offer Thanks & Show Support

Alabama has many challenges affecting electric service, but our lineworkers are ready to tackle them all. They brave the elements at any time and under any circumstance to make sure power keeps flowing, and they deserve recognition.

Congress officially designated April 18 as National Lineworker Appreciation Day, and North Alabama Electric Cooperative celebrates its Lineman Appreciation Day on the first Tuesday in June. However, we urge members to join us in celebrating these skilled and selfless professionals all year long. Take time to thank lineworkers for taking on important — and often dangerous — tasks that keep everyone safe and ensure the integrity of our electric system.

Being a lineworker is a risky job. Besides the obvious hazards these skilled workers face handling high-voltage lines and scaling utility poles, they also confront all sorts of animals, difficult terrain, traffic and extreme weather.

When outages occur, even late at night and in the middle of a storm, they answer the call. Sometimes, an outage might simply turn out to be a member’s tripped breaker or a connector that needs replacing, but lineworkers are ready for anything, thanks to skills sharpened through years of intensive training.

Lineworkers undergo 6,000 to 8,000 hours of training over about 4 years. It’s a long journey, starting out with preapprentice study, followed by apprenticeship, on-thejob training and finally journeyman certification. While there are vocations with a similar training-time investment, few involve the level of potential danger lineworkers face. And before even getting started, lineworker candidates must meet an important basic requirement — no fear of heights.

Many calls electricity providers get are for power outages caused by wildlife — usually squirrels, birds or snakes. Other calls involve fallen limbs. But the calls received in April often involve storm damage. According to the National Weather Service, early March through May is peak tornado season in Alabama, with the largest number of these violent storms occurring in the month of April. The damage from tornadoes can be extensive, but lineworkers have the skills and determination to make repairs and restore service.

Thank you lineworkers!