Working Near Overhead Power Lines

Contact with power lines is a leading cause of workplace deaths in North America. Many of those accidents could have been avoided with safe workplace practices. Anyone who works around power lines needs to know how to work safely and responsibly to protect themselves, their crew and the public. The first step to working safely around power lines is to call the utility to determine voltages of all power lines in the project area.

Once voltages have been determined, you're ready to begin. Working safely around power lines takes planning and safe work practices.

• Safe work practices
  Tools and tips to help you avoid work place accidents involving overhead power lines.
• Accidental contact and first aid
  What to do in case of accidental contact with power lines.

Working near overhead powerlines

• The danger of overhead powerlines is that there is no protection on the wire. Electricity is looking for a path to ground, so if you contact an overhead wire you or the equipment you're operating can be its path to ground.
• Check with EPCOR or your local utility to identify voltages on any overhead lines and determine the required limits of approach.
• In Alberta, if the voltage is unknown, no work is permitted within 7 meters of energized electrical equipment.
• Once the safe distance has been determined, no work can encroach on this distance.
• Use caution when moving equipment or tools around overhead lines. This includes cranes, backhoes, scaffolding, or long lengths of pipe.
• If a large piece of equipment such as a crane runs the risk of encroaching on the safe zone, a designated signaller whose only job is to maintain the safe zone must be assigned.
• Your local utility may be able to install "line identification". This is a PVC pipe not used for protecting lines, but to make them easier to see.
• Lines may sometimes be temporarily moved or protected. Contact your local utility for assistance.
• Excavations in the vicinity of power poles can be dangerous. Soil near the base of a pole should not be disturbed with out consulting your local utility.
• A pole may need to be supported if the excavation is too close and too deep.
• Spoil piles should not be located under powerlines, this reduces the clearances and could create a hazard.
• If powerlines are contacted or torn down, stay clear - at least 10 meters - and call for help.