Since its inception, the International Lineman's Rodeo has been all about safety. To get the 2022 Rodeo Week off to a safe start, the ILRA once again organized a one-and-half-day Safety and Training Conference.
The event, which spanned from Wednesday morning through Thursday afternoon, was free to the Rodeo attendees and was sponsored by Circle K Pro and IBEW Local 66 and 47. Despite the recent Hurricane Ian restoration, the registrants were expected to come out in record numbers to attend this year's conference. In fact, Mike Hayward of the ILRA said this year, the conference had more than 300 registrants.
As is tradition, the conference began with a personal injury story from a lineman. For this year's event, Chad Schimpf of Ameren shared his personal journey of healing from an electrical contact incident.
In addition, the speakers covered such topics as preventing heat illness and injury, safely operating trucks, and improving situational awareness. To see highlights from the first day of the conference on Oct. 12, 2022, check out this photo gallery. For more coverage, look for a story in the December 2022 Electric Utility Operations section of T&D World magazine.