Morning tailboard. 6:15 a.m. Five crews gathered in the staging area, twenty-five people total, hands wrapped around coffee cups, breath fogging in the cold air. Headlamps throwing shadows against the truck beds and material trailers. Day eight of the rebuild. Structures 114 through 119 on today's schedule.

The project lead ran through the plan. "Transmission's been dead since last Monday. We pulled grounds last night per protocol in case the utility needed the circuit back. This morning, we'll reinstall bracket grounds at Structure 114 and Structure 120 before anyone goes up. Transmission stays dead all week. Distribution is a different story. We're clearing 12kV section by section using the flying bells. Today's distribution clearance is Structure 114 through 119. Fuses are out. Everything's isolated. Tomorrow we'll move the clearance to 120 through 125."

He looked at the crew leads. "Cullins, Vanhorth, Jacobs and Reg, your crews are on rebuild. Structure 114 through 119. Full pole replacements. Joey, your crew is on prep. Stage materials for tomorrow's work, Structures 120 through 125. Frame poles, organize hardware, get us ready to move fast tomorrow. Questions?"

Heads nodded across all five crews. A couple guys wrote structure numbers in their notepads. One asked about material delivery timing. Nobody repeated the clearance boundaries back. The project lead assumed everyone had it. Twenty-five people assumed they knew the plan. Five separate crews walked away with five slightly different interpretations of the same briefing.

By 9 a.m., it was full light but still cold. Bracket grounds were reinstalled at Structure 113 and Structure 120, protecting the transmission work zone. The rebuild crews were moving through the work, staying warm by staying busy.

Joey’s crew, the prep crew, was a quarter mile ahead. Three journeymen and two apprentices. Their job: deliver material bundles, stage hardware, organize tomorrow's work, and make the next day easier for the rebuild crews. They'd already dropped material at Structures 120 through 123. Structure 124 was next then they would frame their way back to structure 120.

One of the journeymen looked up at the existing pole. Full double-circuit structure. 60kV transmission on top. 12kV distribution underbuilt below. Primary riser running down to a pad mount transformer at the base. "Let's get measurements now for the distribution arm separation from transmission. We need to verify the riser's going to make up on the new pole. If we get that measurement tonight, we can prefab the structure tomorrow morning and set it in one shot."

One of the apprentices nodded. Made sense. Another journeyman agreed. "Transmission's been dead for over a week. Let's get it done."

The apprentice grabbed his hooks and started climbing. No EPZ grounds on Structure 124 yet. The transmission was dead. That's what mattered. He climbed past the 12kV underbuilt, didn't think twice about it. He positioned himself to measure the vertical separation between the transmission crossarm and the distribution arm below. As he pulled his tape, his shoulder brushed the 12kV conductor.

Contact. 7,200 volts.

The distribution underbuilt was still hot. Today's clearance was Structure 114 through 119. Structure 124 was outside that boundary. The apprentice locked onto the conductor. Three seconds. Then he jerked free and dropped 4 feet before his fall prevention caught him. His jacket was burned through at the shoulder. Second-degree burns on his upper arm and side. He slid down. Ambulance. Hospital. Surgery for the burns.

He survived. But he shouldn't have been on that pole in the first place.

The project lead said it at the tailboard: "Today's distribution clearance is Structure 114 through 119. Tomorrow we move to 120 through 125." But no one repeated it back. Crew Five heard "prep for 120 through 125" and interpreted that as "we can climb any of those structures." They were focused on the transmission work, the big poles, the dramatic rebuilds. The transmission had been dead for over a week. That felt safe. None of them thought about the 12kV underbuilt. None of them verified whether the distribution was clear on Structure 124.

The transmission was dead. But the distribution wasn't. Structure 122 was outside today's 12kV clearance. The underbuilt was energized. And nobody confirmed what "prep" actually meant before Joey’s crew walked away from the tailboard.

Five crews. One briefing. Nobody closed the loop.

Closed-loop communication isn't optional when you've got multiple crews working different scopes on a complex job. Say it. Confirm it. Make sure every crew repeats back their specific assignment. When you've got two voltage levels on the same structure, you verify both. Transmission dead doesn't mean distribution dead. Just because you're focused on the big work doesn't mean you ignore what's underneath you. If you can't confirm the status of every conductor on the structure, you don't climb. Period.

I investigated an incident three years ago that should've killed someone. A crew was replacing automatic splices with press sleeves on an energized 12kV circuit. Hot work. Rubber gloves, rubber hose, blankets, hot jumpers. Two linemen in the bucket, foreman on the ground. The sequence was clear: install hot jumper across the splice, install hot hoist and take tension, cut the conductor, install the press sleeve, release the hoist, remove the jumper. Standard work. They'd done it a hundred times.

Phase one went perfect. They talked through every step. "Jumper's on." "Confirmed." "Hoist is set." "Confirmed." "Ready to cut?" "Cut it." Clean work.

Phase two, same thing. Step by step. Confirmation at every transition. No issues.

Phase three, they got out of sync. They'd done it twice already. The rhythm was there. The confidence was there. One lineman installed the hot hoist and took tension. The other lineman was installing his end of the jumper. But the first lineman didn't wait for confirmation. He assumed his partner was ready. He cut the conductor.

Small arc. No jumper. The circuit dropped for a split second before the other lineman slammed his end of the jumper on. The first lineman knew immediately what he'd done. He looked at his partner. His partner looked back. Nobody said a word, but they both knew.

It was a tap line. Light load. The arc was small. If it had been a main feeder with heavy load, that arc would've been an explosion. He would've been burned. Maybe killed. The only reason he walked away was luck.

The foreman was furious. "What happened?" The lineman said, "I thought he had it on. We'd already done it twice. I didn't ask."

Two perfect phases. One assumption. That's all it took.

Use this every time you brief multiple crews with different assignments. No exceptions.

Step 1: SAY IT (Sender's Responsibility)

Step 2: CONFIRM IT (Receiver's Responsibility)

Step 3: ACT ON IT (All Parties)

Red Flags That Communication Didn't Close:

If you hear any of these after an incident, the loop wasn't closed.

Field-Ready Script for Multi-Crew, Multi-Voltage Tailboards:

"We've got five crews today. Each crew has a different scope. We're working two voltage levels on every structure. I'm going to say your assignment, and I need your crew lead to repeat it back before we break. Pay attention to both transmission and distribution status. Crew One: [assignment]. Crew Two: [assignment]... Crew Five: [assignment]. Transmission bracket grounds protect Structures [X] through [Y]. Distribution clearance today is Structures [X] through [Y]. Distribution is still energized outside that range. Crew leads, repeat your assignments back to me now."

Don't release crews until every lead confirms their scope. Don't let anyone start work until their crew lead has briefed them on both voltage levels.

The Multi-Crew, Multi-Voltage Rule:

More crews + more voltage levels = exponentially more communication risk. Every crew hears the same words but may interpret them differently based on their role. Prep crew thinks differently than rebuild crew. Transmission focus can blind you to distribution hazards. The only way to ensure everyone has the same understanding is to make each crew repeat their specific assignment back AND confirm they understand the status of all voltage levels.

The Critical Verification:

Before you climb any structure with multiple voltage levels:

Focused on the big work? That's when you get bit by what's underneath you.

For Project Leads and General Foremen: When you're coordinating five crews on a job with two voltage levels, your communication has to be bulletproof. You can't brief twenty-five people at once and assume they all heard the same thing. Each crew lead needs to repeat their specific assignment back to you, including which voltage levels are clear and which aren't. If prep work means "stage materials only," say that explicitly. Don't assume people know the difference between staging and climbing. And don't assume they'll think about both voltage levels just because you mentioned them once. Make it clear. Make them confirm it. Don't release anyone until they do.

For Crew Leads: When you walk away from a multi-crew briefing on a double-circuit job, your job isn't done. You need to brief your own crew separately. Go over your specific scope. Confirm structure numbers. Explain what voltage levels are clear and which ones aren't. If the project lead said "prep," make sure your people know whether that means climbing or staging. And if you're not sure about the status of any conductor on any structure, call and verify before anyone touches a pole. Transmission dead doesn't mean distribution dead. Make your crew say it back to you.

For Supervisors and Safety Managers: Multi-crew jobs with multiple voltage levels are the highest-risk communication environments you'll encounter. Are your tailboards structured to require confirmation from each crew lead? Do your people understand that they need to verify every voltage level on a structure before they climb? Do they know that "prep work" doesn't automatically mean "permission to climb"? If your people are getting hurt on complex jobs because they didn't verify all clearances, it's not a worker problem. It's a coordination and communication problem. Build the system that forces confirmation at every level, for every voltage, every time.

For Executives and Operations Leaders: Large transmission projects with multiple crews and multiple voltage levels create the kind of complexity that kills people. Complexity creates communication gaps. Communication gaps create assumptions. Assumptions put your people in contact with energized equipment. If you're not requiring closed-loop confirmation as a non-negotiable standard on every multi-crew, multi-voltage job, you're gambling with lives. Your project leads need the authority and the time to brief properly and get confirmation from every crew. Your crew leads need the expectation that they'll verify and confirm before anyone moves. And your workers need the clarity to know exactly what's energized, what's clear, and what they're authorized to do. If your systems don't force that level of communication, fix it. Because the next time someone climbs a pole without verifying all voltage levels, they might not come back down.

Tomorrow morning, if you're briefing multiple crews on a job with more than one voltage level, don't release anyone until each crew lead repeats their specific assignment back to you. Structure numbers. Voltage levels. What's clear. What's still hot. What work they're doing. What they're not authorized to do. Don't accept a nod. Don't accept "got it." Hear the scope. Hear them confirm both voltage levels. If they can't repeat it, the loop didn't close.

And if you're on a crew working double-circuit structures, before you climb, verify the status of every conductor on that pole. Transmission. Distribution. All of it.

Don't assume. Don't guess. Verify.

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Until next time,

Lito Wilkins