SLEEPING IT OFF

A violent storm swept through the area in the last 24 hours and your power has been off well over 16 hours. Driving around your neighborhood, you see the Cherryland Electric Cooperative (CEC) crews out working not far from your house. Incredibly, while you are watching, they simply drive away seemingly quitting the job before they are finished. “What in the *&^%$#@, is going on”, you exclaim.

This scenario has happened in the past and most certainly will happen again at some point in the future. There are a few things going on underneath the surface that everyone needs to be aware of. First, most certainly be assured that the CEC personnel driving away in that truck are cursing under their breath as well. There is nothing a lineman likes more than getting the lights back on. Pile on a challenging storm and calling them off a job is sometimes like trying to get a meaty bone from a hungry dog.

The second and most obvious point is one of safety. It has been CEC policy for many, many years to try and limit our construction crews to just 16 hours of work in any 24 hour period. Sometimes we will exceed this when there is truly “just a bit” more work but more than 95% of the time, office personnel will call in the crews at the 16 hour mark. We have a long and proud relatively accident-free history that is concrete evidence this standard operating procedure is a good one.

Research also backs up this practice. A 2006 study by the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety found the following:

1. compared with morning shifts, work related injuries rose 15% during the afternoon and 28% at night;
2. Injury rates shot up 13% on the last hour of a 10 hour shift and 30% on the final hour of a 12 hour shift;
3. The average risk for injury was also 36% higher on the last night of a four-consecutive- night shift; and
4. 1 hour breaks during shifts reduced injury rates.

“Fatigue in the U.S. Workforce: Prevalence & Implications for Lost Productive Work Time” published in the January 2007 Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine adds more interesting findings to this topic such as:

1. 40% of workers experience fatigue on the job, costing employers $136 billion each year; and
2. Employees suffering from fatigue experienced a 66% rate of lost productivity due to health related reasons, compared with a 26% rate for rested employees.

Therefore, it should be easy to understand that controlling the amount of overtime worked is a key safety element for any business. One scary comment I read in yet another study was “a person awake for 22 hours is as impaired as someone legally drunk”. This is important due to the fact that our employees have to drive home AFTER the work is done. The rush is over, fatigue has set in and the body begins to shut down no matter how short the ride to bed is. This seals the deal for me.

Regardless of who or what is out of power, our first priority is to restore power safely and the 16 hour rule helps do just that.
We also make employees who have reached or exceeded the 16 hour point stay away from work for at least 8 hours. They need to be given ample time to get good rest rather than a catnap in a chair. During past large storms, we have been able to maintain good crew numbers with the assistance of contractors and neighboring utilities.

So, if you ever see us driving away, please remember this article. We absolutely hate to drive off with homes still dark but occasionally it must be done. Dark homes are lost revenue for us and an inconvenience for you but remember CEC employees must handle 7,200 volts of electricity to light them up again. Sometimes it’s best to sleep on it.