Utilities and utility contractors highly value safety. However, labor shortages can sometimes corner field supervisors into making a judgment call about whether an equipment operator is ready for the task. If Foreman A believes an operator is ready after several weeks of training but Foreman B believes the operator still needs several months, who is right? Training directors can support their field supervisors by objectively preparing operators to be ready for hazardous or complex work.

When time is of the essence, especially during storm response to return power to customers, field supervisors need to have confidence in the skill set of their crew. The worst time to find out that an operator isn’t ready is when they’re on the job site with live equipment and other people around. Without the ability to objectively assess operator readiness or adequately train them for high-risk scenarios, gaps in training might only become obvious in hindsight after a safety incident.

What Does a Good Training Strategy Look Like?
In a perfect world, training programs would quickly get classrooms of operators to full proficiency. They would easily identify operator weaknesses and provide the targeted practice needed to address them. They would even allow digger derrick, crane or earthmoving equipment operators to practice the most dangerous scenarios they could encounter, including rare events such as equipment faults that require split-second decisions to avoid an accident. Any assessments of operator abilities would be objective, data-driven and fair. In an ideal world, training programs would be available 24/7, with no cost to fuel or maintain equipment.

Some of these goals may sound far-fetched. But with the right technology, these goals could become reality.

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For more on safety in the utility industry, check out Five Core Capacities for Sustainable Safety Excellence, Are You Making These 5 Heat Related Illness Mistakes?, and Using FR and AR Clothing to Mitigate Cold Stress.