Don’t shake a stick at safety

At CoServ, safety is a top priority. Secondary is maintaining reliable service. To minimize service disruption, servicemen perform most maintenance while working on energized equipment.

These tasks are risky, but are even more dangerous if landscaping makes contact with equipment—creating an electrical fault. Certain faults are capable of generating temperatures four times greater than the sun and exploding with the equivalent force of 1.5 pounds of TNT!  Such heat/force can be deadly or leave an employee horribly disfigured.

To protect against shock, fire and explosions, our employees work with insulated “hot sticks.” Maneuvering these requires an area around equipment that is clear of obstructions. All CoServ transformers are labeled – requiring 3 feet of space on the sides and back of a padmount transformer and 10 feet in front (pedestals require 3 feet of clearance all around). We uphold these requirements to protect our employees and to comply with tightening OSHA and National Electric Safety Code standards.

If inspection of equipment on your property determines that it cannot be worked safely and requires landscaping removal, you will be notified with a door hanger. If you have landscaping near equipment, please transplant it within seven days, otherwise, a service crew will remove it for you—at no cost to you. If an immediate maintenance/safety need arises prior to removal, landscaping may be removed without notice.

Contact us, e-mail vegetation@coserv.com.