Contact: NOVEC Public Relations, 1-888-335-0500, customerservice@novec.com
NOVEC Line Technicians Take Honors in State Competition
NORTHERN VIRGINIA -- Six Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative electric line technicians proved their high-level competence when they took honors at the Gaff-n-Go Lineman’s Rodeo on April 8-9 at the Meadow Event Park in Doswell, Va. They competed against 98 journey technicians and apprentices from investor-owned, cooperative, and municipal electric utilities in Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, and Kentucky.
In the individual apprentice competition, Jesse Taylor from Fauquier County won first place in the climbing-skills demonstration and third place in the hurt-man rescue event. Chris Bastien, from Prince William County, took first place in the hurt-man rescue event while Josh Mathis, also from Prince William County, placed second in the climbing-skills event.
In the journeyman competition, teammates Mark Windsor, Shenandoah County; Gerald Gardner, Stafford County; and Norman Tapp, Culpeper County, demonstrated cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the automated external defibrillator (AED) device to place third in the event. The team also placed third in an event that required them to climb a 40-foot utility pole and quickly replace equipment that had caused a mock outage.
This unique competition in Virginia allowed professional line technicians to demonstrate their highly skilled and dangerous craft. Although power lines were not energized, judges scored competitors on their speed, accuracy, and safety procedures. The rodeo’s name comes from the metal spike gaff that line technicians attach to their boots to help them climb wooden utility poles.
“Our line technicians are well trained, dedicated, and hard working,” asserts R. H. Ellison, NOVEC supervisor, system construction. “One thing’s for sure, our men know how to rescue an injured worker, perform CPR, and use an AED.” Ellison notes that Bastien and Taylor placed second and third in the CPR/AED event at the 2010 rodeo. “Those skills saved a life last September when a sales representative, demonstrating his equipment, was shocked accidentally with 7,200 volts. Chris and Jesse ran for the AED and used it to save his life. I’m very proud of them and all our guys.”
NOVEC President/CEO remarked, “We’re so proud that our apprentices and journey-level technicians excelled at the rodeo. I’m not surprised that the NOVEC teams and their coaches demonstrated, while in competition, the high level of skill that they bring to work every day in good weather, or bad.”
The Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives sponsored the 2011 Gaff-n-Go Lineman’s Rodeo. All proceeds will benefit VMDAEC’s scholarship foundation for college-bound high school graduates.
