Electrical Workers Often Taken for Granted

It’s been said that the mail must go through during the worst of weathers imaginable (exempting Sundays and holidays). We all expect the same service for our electricity (including Sundays and Holidays).

When our electrical service is disrupted, we need it restored promptly, no matter what time of day or night. When the lights and power are back on, most of us don’t give a second thought to the men who work on the problem in sometimes harsh and always dangerous conditions to restore our most-taken-for-granted convenience.

I wonder how many citizens have passed by an electrical job site and observed a line crew standing around a pole seemingly doing nothing, and became irate about the size of their electrical bills, or upset that this bunch of guys might be wasting the consumers money. Probably no one ever realizes that they are carefully planning a dangerous pole procedure to try to eliminate some of the hazards of their “no mistakes allowed” profession.

It’s because of these dedicated line mechanics, who climb the power poles and handle the extremely dangerous high voltage lines, that we have the luxury of flipping any switch to produce light, run our modern conveniences and appliances, and have the comfort of air conditioners.

We can thank God for creating electricity, Ben Franklin for discovering it, Thomas Edison for figuring out how to generate and use it. . . . Shouldn’t we give some appreciation to those linemen who risk injury each day to distribute it to our homes?

Three linemen died in an underground vault in Pasadena, victims of a terrible accident that occurred while they were performing their normal duties in their extremely dangerous line of work that benefits all.

I hope these few words will prompt people to spare a thought for these men and their families, and the other linemen who have lost their lives this past year, the next time they nonchalantly flip a switch.

CHRISTOPHER FAIRCLOUGH

Azusa