FEATURE ARTICLE
SAFETY BY DESIGN Learn how S&C’s products keep line crews working more safely.
Line crews work to restore power after a storm [Getty images]
T he wind howls, rain lashes sideways, and somewhere—BOOM!—the power goes out. As families and businesses hunker down and wait for the power to return, lineworkers must brave unpredictable conditions and high-risk tasks to restore power. While these crews show up like heroes, S&C’s TripSaver® II Cutout-Mounted Recloser, VacuFuse® II Self-Resetting Interrupter, and EdgeRestore® Underground Distribution Restoration System are quietly working in the background, helping them work more safely, and get the job done faster. “We know the challenges our customers and their line crews face every day. That’s why we deliver innovative solutions that make the grid safer, more reliable, and more resilient,” says Chad Morris, Senior Technical Trainer. “Our safety vision, that all incidents are preventable, extends beyond how our team members build these products. It is embedded in how we design them so our customers can keep the power flowing, their customers happy, and their crews out of harm’s way.”
SMARTER TOOLS OVERHEAD, SAFER CREWS ON THE GROUND
Nearly 80% of outages on overhead lateral lines are caused by temporary issues, such as vegetation, animals, and storms. Utility crews rush out to find and fix the problem when this occurs. With the TripSaver II recloser, temporary outages are automatically restored on lateral lines, reducing the number of truck rolls needed to repair a fault. “Truck rolls, especially unnecessary ones, can put crews at risk and increase the chance of injuries because they must locate, inspect, and replace the fuse, often in unfavorable environments. Reducing reactive responses like this isn’t just important for customer satisfaction and cost; it’s also essential for lineworkers’ safety,” says Chad.
One mid-size cooperative utility in the Southeast deployed 69 TripSaver II reclosers over 17 months, avoiding 588,800 customer minutes of interruption and eliminating 108 truck rolls .
8 Volts & Jolts | Volume 68 | Issue 2
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