8
THE DAVEY BULLETIN
|
May/June 2019
COMMUNICATION KEY TO SAFE OPERATIONS
OF DUKE ASHEVILLE CREWS
Many Davey crews have chased the
milestone of 1,000 incident-free work
days, and the Duke Asheville account's
mountain region work group joined
this elite club in 2018.
Larry McFalls, general foreman, Duke
Asheville account, said communication
played a big part in reaching their goal.
"These crews spend more time with
each other than they do at home,"
McFalls said. "They get close to each
other. They watch out for each other
to make sure nobody gets hurt."
Line clearance work for Duke Asheville
puts Davey employees in particularly
challenging locations and situations.
The majority of the work calls for
crews to maintain rights-of-way high
up in the Appalachian Mountains
where transmission lines cross steep
SAFETY
Davey employees on the Duke Asheville
account mountain work group recently
achieved the milestone of 1,000 incident-free
work days. Their last recordable incident
occurred in March 2015.
valleys spanning from mountaintop
to mountaintop.
Steve Clawson, area manager, Eastern
Utility services, said some of the line
clearance work – which includes a lot
of manual climbing – is so remote that
crews will often drive an all-terrain
vehicle for 20 minutes or more and
then spend another 30 minutes
hiking in to the work site.
"It is extremely difficult to maintain
such a long streak of incident-free days
with the type of work we have here
up in the mountains," Clawson said.
Part of their regular communication
is a daily job briefing, which of course
emphasizes the streak of incident-
free days.
But experience also plays a part, said
Josh Pressley, account manager.
Many of the crew members have
10 years or more with Davey.
And the team has grown, Pressley
said. When the crews first hit the
1,000-day mark there were about 35
employees there. Now, about 60
employees work on the mountain
region of the Duke Asheville account.
"They are some of the safest crews
that we have anywhere, and it's
obvious by watching them work and
hearing them talk that they understand
safety is a core value," Clawson said.
"They intend for everybody to go
home healthy at the end of the day
and no excuses will be tolerated for
not working safe."
