The Hidden Risk Shift: Why Line Work Is Getting More Dangerous Even as Equipment Improves
The Paradox Facing Modern Line Work
By most measurable standards, line work should be safer today than it was a generation ago. Arc-rated clothing is more comfortable and more widely worn. Insulated tools are lighter, stronger, and better maintained. Work methods are more clearly documented, and safety rules are reinforced through training and audits. Yet serious injuries and fatalities continue to occur, often during routine tasks and often involving experienced linemen. This paradox suggests that the industry has focused heavily on improving protection while paying less attention to how risk itself has evolved.
Risk Drift and the Normalization of Adaptation
Line work rarely unfolds exactly as planned. Terrain, access, weather, and system conditions force crews to adapt in real time. Those adaptations are not shortcuts in the reckless sense. They are practical responses to constraints that procedures cannot fully anticipate. Over time, however, repeated adaptations quietly reshape how work is performed. Tasks drift away from their original safety assumptions, and because the job continues to get done, that drift rarely triggers concern. What makes this drift dangerous is that it feels reasonable. Each adjustment solves an immediate problem. The cumulative effect is harder to see. By the time an incident occurs, the gap between how the job was designed and how it was actually performed has grown far wider than anyone realized.
Production Pressure and the Push to “Find a Way”
Utilities operate in an environment defined by reliability metrics, outage duration targets, and public scrutiny. Crews feel that pressure most acutely during storm response and emergency restoration, when speed matters and expectations are high. The message is rarely explicit, but it is understood. Work must continue, and delays must be minimized.
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