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iPi Monthly Forum for Utility Professionals
The iPi monthly forum is where you can get answers to questions you have from subject matter experts like David McPeak, Jim Vaughn, Danny Raines and other utility safety and ops professionals like yourself. Forums will include industry specific topics, challenges, trends, and solutions along with best practices in leadership, operations, and safety.
Reliable splices depend on qualified workers who deeply understand cable contents, construction and behavior when exposed to electrical stress.
Cable Identification and Cutting Safety for Medium-Voltage Splicers
A medium-voltage underground splicer’s ability to safely and correctly identify, test and cut cable is more than part of their job; it is a survival skill. These splicers must be trained to make their first cut remotely – every time – whether performing routine maintenance or responding to an emergency, even when the cable has been tested and grounded. This approach ensures the worker is safely o…
Overcoming Safety’s Blind Spot
“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” -Sir Ken Robinson
Innately curious and hardwired to seek order, humans often grasp onto the latest ideas and inventions that help us satisfy our need to understand the world around us. Don’t believe me? Consider geocentricism, or the now-obsolete belief that the Earth is the center of the universe.
In earlier mille…
March-April 2026 Q&A
Q: Why does an EPZ pole connection need to be close to the worker’s feet?
A: In an equipotential arrangement, if the bus is inadvertently energized, the length of the bonding cable from the grounded conductors to the structure will affect the voltage across the worker. The worker is only expose…
The Armor of Safety
Discipline equals freedom. That’s a leadership dichotomy that Jocko Willink and Leif Babin address in Chapter 12 of their book “Extreme Ownership.”
Similarly, in the Bible, just before instructing the Ephesians to don their spiritual armor, Paul urges Christians to live disciplined lives accordi…
Your Lineworkers, Your Legacy
I’m not sure how I became an analyst. It wasn’t something I planned for. Various types of analyst roles exist, but I primarily analyze incidents, breaking down and studying the elements of events to identify causes and effects. Incident analysis, done well, ultimately helps prevent undesired future…
Easing the Transition to Utility Safety Leadership
Our industry’s frontline workers are commonly promoted to supervisory positions in rapid fashion. Some struggle with the transition as they discover that their new role involves far more than increased compensation, a fancier title and the keys to a company pickup truck. This installment of “Voice…
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Safety Management
Accelerating Safety Through Technology: A People-First Approach
Utilities are investing millions of dollars in drones, automated monitoring systems and artificial intelligence applications. These tools offer unprecedented safety and operational advantages as grid complexities evolve – assuming crews willingly use them as intended.
New technology should make…
Confronting Data Bias to Improve Safety Outcomes
In safety management, data is often treated as objective truth. Leaders use incident rates, near-miss reports, injury trends and predictive models to guide them as they prioritize risk and allocate organizational resources.
Yet data can quietly mislead us, particularly when bias is embedded in w…
Layer by Layer: Leveraging FR Clothing Systems for Hazard Protection and Comfort
Layering flame-resistant (FR) clothing has long been a best practice among industrial athletes. In addition to providing critical hazard protection, this tried-and-true strategy enhances user comfort by enabling industrial athletes to add or remove clothing layers as their activity level or the wea…
Mental Preparation for Safer Work
Author’s Note: The first part of this five-part series (see https://incident-prevention.com/blog/when-the-system-isnt-enough-how-to-create-personal-motivation-that-saves-lives/) explored the notion of accepting 100% accountability for our safety at work. This article addresses mental preparation to…
Confronting Data Bias to Improve Safety Outcomes
In safety management, data is often treated as objective truth. Leaders use incident rates, near-miss reports, injury trends and predictive models to guide them as they prioritize risk and allocate organizational resources.
Yet data can quietly mislead us, particularly when bias is embedded in w…
Layer by Layer: Leveraging FR Clothing Systems for Hazard Protection and Comfort
Layering flame-resistant (FR) clothing has long been a best practice among industrial athletes. In addition to providing critical hazard protection, this tried-and-true strategy enhances user comfort by enabling industrial athletes to add or remove clothing layers as their activity level or the wea…
Mental Preparation for Safer Work
Author’s Note: The first part of this five-part series (see https://incident-prevention.com/blog/when-the-system-isnt-enough-how-to-create-personal-motivation-that-saves-lives/) explored the notion of accepting 100% accountability for our safety at work. This article addresses mental preparation to…
Turn ideas like “I am my brother’s keeper” into consistent behavior, not merely situational intent.
Spiritual Preparation for Safer Work
The previous articles in this series examined two factors that strongly influence personal safety. Accountability is the idea that meaningful improvement begins when workers accept responsibility for their own safety decisions. Through mental preparation, workers gain an understanding of the ways i…
Inspecting the Fifth Wire: Winning the War on Lineworker Suicide
Lineworkers confront daily risks many can’t imagine – arc flashes, falls, electrocutions and more. Yet there’s a silent, insidious threat currently claiming more lives in the electric utility industry than any physical injury.
We’re talking about suicide.
Safety professionals dedicate their c…
Worksite Safety
Anatomy of a Medium-Voltage Splice
Open the trench, vault or manhole. Strip back the jacket. Expose the neutrals. Remove the semicon and insulation. Crimp the connector. Rebuild the conductor shield, insulation and semicon. Seal the outside.
This splicing routine eventually becomes second nature for medium-voltage cable splicers…
Spiritual Preparation for Safer Work
The previous articles in this series examined two factors that strongly influence personal safety. Accountability is the idea that meaningful improvement begins when workers accept responsibility for their own safety decisions. Through mental preparation, workers gain an understanding of the ways i…
Cable Identification and Cutting Safety for Medium-Voltage Splicers
A medium-voltage underground splicer’s ability to safely and correctly identify, test and cut cable is more than part of their job; it is a survival skill. These splicers must be trained to make their first cut remotely – every time – whether performing routine maintenance or responding to an emerg…
Forecasting the Future of Utility Safety: 10 Predictions for 2026 and Beyond
As we stand on the precipice of a new era in the utility sector, it is clear the future holds transformative potential driven by relentless technological progress.
We are already seeing not just small changes but a complete overhaul. The horizon is replete with innovations aimed at redefining sa…
Spiritual Preparation for Safer Work
The previous articles in this series examined two factors that strongly influence personal safety. Accountability is the idea that meaningful improvement begins when workers accept responsibility for their own safety decisions. Through mental preparation, workers gain an understanding of the ways i…
Cable Identification and Cutting Safety for Medium-Voltage Splicers
A medium-voltage underground splicer’s ability to safely and correctly identify, test and cut cable is more than part of their job; it is a survival skill. These splicers must be trained to make their first cut remotely – every time – whether performing routine maintenance or responding to an emerg…
Forecasting the Future of Utility Safety: 10 Predictions for 2026 and Beyond
As we stand on the precipice of a new era in the utility sector, it is clear the future holds transformative potential driven by relentless technological progress.
We are already seeing not just small changes but a complete overhaul. The horizon is replete with innovations aimed at redefining sa…
Eliminate Hazard Awareness Delay
It’s 2 a.m. on an early fall day in Northern California’s Sierra foothills. The winter rains haven’t arrived yet. A large tree limb in the area snaps and falls on a distribution line, triggering a fault powerful enough to trip circuit breakers at a substation 15 miles away. Alarms sound in the company’s control center. At this time of year, daytime temperatures can still reach into the 90s and fire conditions still exist. The utility knows something has failed, but they don’t know what – or where.
It’s dark outside when dispatch notifies the troubleshooters; the sun won’t be up for another…
Unsafe Compliance: Why Checking Boxes Won’t Save Lives
In the nearly 15 years I’ve worked in the electric utility industry, I’ve witnessed life-altering injuries and helped to bury more than one coworker-turned-friend.
The toughest part for me to accept is knowing that most of those injuries and deaths were preventable. We were well-trained. Our com…
Managing Overload: An Essential Safety Conversation
When I consider the advancements in the construction industry over the past 20 years, the emphasis on safety is one that immediately stands out. Today, we continue to strive to elevate our safety awareness, knowledge, training and program development – but that is only one side of the coin. On the…
‘I Am a Good Putter’: What Golf Teaches Us About Safety Success
During my trip to Glendale, Arizona, for the most recent iP Utility Safety Conference & Expo, I received the single greatest piece of golf instruction I have ever heard. Now I want to share it with you, particularly as it relates to safety.
But first, you may be wondering how I obtained such…
Be the Light
“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.”
Light. We literally cannot live without it.
In addition to sustaining life, light can be used in various other ways, including helping us to see clearly and sanitizing unsafe conditions. That sounds…
Verbal and Physical Triggers
Think before you act.
That may be the single best piece of timeless wisdom we ever receive, especially when it comes to safety. And while it’s a simple concept, it’s not always our natural response, potentially presenting difficulties during job execution and task performance.
Keeping in mind…
Easing the Transition to Utility Safety Leadership
Our industry’s frontline workers are commonly promoted to supervisory positions in rapid fashion. Some struggle with the transition as they discover that their new role involves far more than increased compensation, a fancier title and the keys to a company pickup truck. This installment of “Voice…
‘Can I Be the Leader?’
Leadership continues to be a critical area of focus for utility safety and operations professionals. In my own career at Georgia Power, “Can I be the leader?” was a question I often asked myself and my employer. Now, in this installment of “Voice of Experience,” I am going to discuss the opportunit…
Don’t Cross That Line
In this installment of “Voice of Experience,” I am going to share a safety perspective that struck a real chord with me when someone offered it during a recent meeting. My goal in passing it along during this season of reflection is to prompt readers to contemplate and continue refining their safe…
Accuracy Above All: Authoring Articles for iP Magazine
For over 17 years, I have had the distinct privilege of writing for Incident Prevention magazine. I am genuinely honored that iP continues to publish my articles. My first column was about the four principles of distribution cover-up. At last count, I had written and submitted more than 100 article…
March-April 2026 Q&A
Q: Why does an EPZ pole connection need to be close to the worker’s feet?
A: In an equipotential arrangement, if the bus is inadvertently energized, the length of the bonding cable from the grounded conductors to the structure will affect the voltage across the worker. The worker is only exposed if they contact the phases and the structure at the same time. This is also the case with neutrals…
January-February 2026 Q&A
Q: We recently did some contract work in a manhole with live primary cables running through it. During an audit, the client’s safety team cited us for failure to have our manhole workers tied off to rescue lines. We had a tripod up and a winch ready for the three workers. What did we miss?
A: We have received similar questions over the years, usually due to a misunderstanding of OSHA’s enclos…