Uploaded April 2013 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
The workers who install and maintain the lines supplying every electric consumer are linemen. They set poles, string lines and install transformers wherever electricity is needed. They handle trouble calls and keep the lines energized even in the worst weather. Groundmen, equipment operators and truck drivers assist the linemen with their assignments. The term refers to those who work in generally outdoor installation and maintenance jobs. Those who install and maintain electrical wiring inside buildings are electricians. This work began in the mid 1800s and the work was hard; the hours long; the pay small. It was common for a lineman to risk his life on the high lines 12 hours a day in any kind of weather, seven days a week, for the meager sum of 15 to 20 cents an hour. There was no apprenticeship training, and safety standards were nonexistent. In some areas the mortality rate for linemen was one out of every two hired, and nationally the mortality rate for electrical workers was twice that of the national average for all other industries. It is no wonder electrical workers of the 1890s formed a union, the Electrical Wiremen and Linemen's Union, No. 5221, which later became part of the National
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers -- today's IBEW. Over time, general conditions of work in the industry and the safety record for electrical workers began to improve, due in part to the adoption of an apprenticeship system. In June 1959 a Safety Department with a full-time director was established at the IBEW International Office. For more on the health and safety of this occupation, go to osha.gov/SLTC/electrical/index.html. This was clipped from the film, Telephone Linemen, made in 1959 as part of the Americans At Work film series, produced by the AFL-CIO during the 1950's. It was Issue 36. The film covers the different jobs that telephone linemen do including installers, splicing wires, putting up telephone poles, & running microwave relay.
The workers who install and maintain the lines supplying every electric consumer are linemen. They set poles, string lines and install transformers wherever electricity is needed. They handle trouble calls and keep the lines energized even in the worst weather. Groundmen, equipment operators and truck drivers assist the linemen with their assignments. The term refers to those who work in generally outdoor installation and maintenance jobs. Those who install and maintain electrical wiring inside buildings are electricians. This work began in the mid 1800s and the work was hard; the hours long; the pay small. It was common for a lineman to risk his life on the high lines 12 hours a day in any kind of weather, seven days a week, for the meager sum of 15 to 20 cents an hour. There was no apprenticeship training, and safety standards were nonexistent. In some areas the mortality rate for linemen was one out of every two hired, and nationally the mortality rate for electrical workers was twice that of the national average for all other industries. It is no wonder electrical workers of the 1890s formed a union, the Electrical Wiremen and Linemen's Union, No. 5221, which later became part of the National
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers -- today's IBEW. Over time, general conditions of work in the industry and the safety record for electrical workers began to improve, due in part to the adoption of an apprenticeship system. In June 1959 a Safety Department with a full-time director was established at the IBEW International Office. For more on the health and safety of this occupation, go to osha.gov/SLTC/electrical/index.html. This was clipped from the film, Telephone Linemen, made in 1959 as part of the Americans At Work film series, produced by the AFL-CIO during the 1950's. It was Issue 36. The film covers the different jobs that telephone linemen do including installers, splicing wires, putting up telephone poles, & running microwave relay.
