JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – If your power goes out, there is a strong chance a utility worker will be restoring it, and every time that happens, they’re exposed to danger.
JEA tests every tool, including the gloves that its lineman workers use to ensure their safety.
Inside the JEA high voltage testing lab, it looks like a laboratory on a college campus.
“In here, we test all of the linemen’s rubber goods, their blanket (rubber), their sleeves, their sticks, and we also do that for the meter shop and JFRD as well,” said Chad Yeager, the associate manager of the investment recovery operations team for JEA.
Gloves are tested and inspected at the facility monthly. In addition, those gloves are tested to a voltage too because the teams work with power lines every day.
For context, all other tools are tested once a year. Each year, 10,000 items are tested and inspected.
Yeager showed News4JAX the step-by-step process for testing a glove in the lab, which includes checking it for any obvious pin holes or damage before clamping it to a machine with an electrical probe.
“When the glove gets here (to the water test), it’s already inspected,” Yeager explains.
During the water test, the gloves are filled with water, and the probe is dipped into it.
It’s like watching something out of a science fiction movie as the gloves rest on the clamps, the water fills the gloves, and the safety doors close.
The test then commences. The 60-second assessment confirms that the voltage is increasing.
“And you see right here this is our leakage, we cannot go over 20 microamps, so we are going to look for anything that goes over 20,” Yeager says.
If it goes over 20, a loud pop caused by a shock means the glove has failed the test.
If you look closely, you see a pinhole," said Yeager, as he pointed to a hole the size of the head of a sewing needle that could be the gateway to electrocution and death.
This process is the standard, and it’s a proactive standard.
The next time you see a lineman and their gloves, it’s a reminder that there is a lot of hard work behind the scenes to make sure they are safe while they ensure your utilities are working.