IBEW Local 31

04/12/2026

Read it. Then read it again. Then read it again. Maybe we can all find a part of this to just do better? We all owe it to our families to just do better.
The faces of safety when tragedy strikes is our FAMILIES!

Keep being your brothers and sisters keepers solidarity is the core of our union 💪👍

SAFETY SUNDAY (April 12, 2026)

JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE’S STANDING THERE…
DOESN’T MAKE THEM A QUALIFIED OBSERVER
— & —
3 MAN POLE CHANGE OUT CREWS ARE CORPORATE COWARDICE
Lineman Bull$hit™ Academy

I took a break last weekend for Easter…
But I’m back today with a hard refresh from my ET&D Best Practice Series…
And I’m not easing into this one.

Because some things in this trade deserve a calm conversation…
And some things deserve to be dragged into the street… knocked to their knees… and beaten with the truth until there’s nowhere left to hide.
This is one of those.

When I say a 3-man pole, change-out crew…
I mean, 3 men total.
Foreman… lineman… and one other.
Not 3 plus a foreman.
Not “help nearby.”
Not some office version of the job drawn up by somebody who never has to stand in the mud.

And that third hand damn well ought to be another JL…
But far too often… he’s not.

Everybody knows it.
The utility knows it.
The contractor knows it.
The supervisor knows it.
The safety department knows it.
And the men in the field sure as hell know it.

But the job gets pushed anyway.
Because too many utilities and power companies would rather squeeze manpower than tell the truth…
The work takes what the work takes.
And if that means more men… more time… more money…
Then so be it.
Instead… they build a skeleton crew… call it efficient… and leave the field to bleed the difference.
That ain’t leadership…

That’s corporate cowardice.

LET LOOSE THE DOGS OF WAR
I’m sick of hearing companies talk safety out of one side of their mouth…
While gutting manpower out of the other.
I’m sick of the slogans.
Sick of the banners.
Sick of polished safety talk from people who wouldn’t know real field exposure if it climbed up in their lap and pi**ed on them.
You do not get to pound your chest about safety…
While sending 3 men total to do a pole change-out.
You do not get to preach “Nobody Gets Hurt”…
While starving the manpower it takes to do it… with a margin.
And you sure as hell don’t get to stand on profit… reliability… shareholder confidence…
While the men and women keeping the lights on are expected to absorb the risk with their bodies.
That bill doesn’t get paid in a boardroom…
It gets paid in mud… traffic… weather… bad footing… time pressure… overloaded minds…
And sometimes… in blood.

A POLE CHANGE-OUT IS NOT LIGHT WORK
This is serious work.

Equipment movement…
Rigging…
Load control…
Digging…
Setting…
Transfers…
Conductor control…
Ground conditions…
Traffic…
Public exposure…
Communication…
Stored energy…
Changing conditions…

And right in the middle of all that…
These companies still want to act like one man can also serve as a true Qualified Observer?

While helping…
While spotting…
While rigging…
While moving material…
While trying to keep the job from stalling because the crew is too damn lean…

No.
Hell no.

That is not a Qualified Observer.
That is a man being split into pieces so a company can pretend the role still exists.
It doesn’t.

JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE’S STANDING THERE… DOESN’T MEAN S**T
Let’s stop bastardizing the term.
“Watch him for me.”
“Keep an eye on that.”
“You’re the observer.”

No.
That’s not a Qualified Observer…
That’s a warm body standing in the blast radius.

A real Qualified Observer is locked in.
Eyes on the task.
Understands the hazard.
Understands exposure.
Understands MAD.
Understands cover-up.
Understands the movement of men… material… and equipment.
And has the authority… and backbone… to stop the job the second something drifts.

That role is not symbolic.
Not decorative.
Not a box to check.
That role is a line between order… and chaos.
And if your staffing model doesn’t allow that line to actually exist…
Then your staffing model is the hazard.

QUIT CALLING IT TOUGHNESS
This is where I’m going to p**s some people off…
Good.

Because 3-man total pole change-out crews are too often sold as toughness.
Like it’s gritty.
Like it’s old school.

That’s bu****it sold by people who benefit from the gamble.
There is nothing noble about underbuilding a dangerous job.
Nothing gritty about starving a crew.
That’s not toughness.

That’s exploitation with a hard hat on.
And when the crew somehow pulls it off…
Everybody acts like the model worked.

No…
The crew worked.
Survival does not equal soundness.
Getting away with it does not equal best practice.

RECORD MONEY… DISCOUNT MANPOWER
These companies find money for everything.
Executive pay…
Consultants…
Brand campaigns…
Investor confidence…
Everything gets funded.

But when it comes time to properly man a dangerous job…
Suddenly, it’s all about efficiency.
Funny how that works.
The “less” never comes out of the offices…
It comes out of the crews.
Out of the margin.
Out of the buffer that keeps a hard day from becoming a funeral.
So here’s the question…

At what cost to the men and women keeping the lights on?

LEADERSHIP… THIS BLOOD DOESN’T JUST LAND IN THE FIELD
If a 3-man total crew is overloaded from the jump…
That’s not just a field problem.
That’s management.
That’s planning.
That’s values.

Because somewhere… someone said…
“Good enough.”

Good enough on manpower.
Good enough on margin.
Good enough on risk.
And then sent somebody else to stand in it.
That’s why I call it cowardice.

Because it’s easy as hell to be brave with somebody else’s life.

FINAL WORD
Just because someone’s standing there…

Doesn’t make them a Qualified Observer.
Just because a utility says it’s staffed…
Doesn’t mean it’s safe.

Just because a crew has survived a bad model…
Doesn’t make it right.

And just because companies keep making money…
Doesn’t give them the right to discount the manpower it takes to do dangerous work with integrity.

So let me say it plain…

3-man total pole change-out crews are a disgrace.
Not lean…
Not tough…
Not efficient…
Not best practice…
A disgrace.

Be your brother’s keeper…
And stop letting cowards in clean shirts define what “enough” looks like for the people doing the real work.
Better… NEVER RESTS.
~Kevin

04/06/2026

Tiny changes; remarkable results. Atomic Habits by James Clear is a great resource!

Excellence isn't a one-time thing; it’s the standard we set every time we pick up our tools. Let’s make it a habit this week. ⚡️🛠️

04/03/2026

City of Superior: It’s Not About Savings — It’s About the Debt 🚨

Yesterday, the City of Superior promised “savings” from taking over the water utility. But what they’re not telling you matters just as much as what they are.

The City’s own consultant says the water system would cost $58 million. Sounds manageable… until you look closer

👉 Even the City’s low estimate would TRIPLE Superior’s debt overnight.

And here’s what gets lost in the conversation:

Right now, skilled utility workers operate all three systems together — sharing trucks, equipment, and expertise. That keeps costs down for everyone.

Splitting the water utility means:
• Buying all new equipment
• Hiring and training a new workforce
• Passing those costs directly onto customers

Join the Superior Community Coalition for some fact checking and support IBEW Local 31!

The Superior Community Coalition Mayor Paine and some members of the Superior City Council are considering borrowing an estimated 290 million dollars to create a government-run utility through a takeover of one or all our local water, gas, or electric services. We are a diverse coalition of local le...

02/20/2026

Proud of our members and the essential work they do every single day. They keep the lights on and the community running. It is disappointing to see that work and those jobs come under attack by a mayor whose background is politics, not utility operations. Experience matters.

02/18/2026

Rapids mtg moved to next Weds 2/25 @ 6 pm for weather.
Stay safe, folks!

01/11/2026

Be your sister and brothers keeper!!
Safety is a by product of your environment. Which means are day to day, hour by hour, minute by minute conversation /interaction with each other is what truly matters.
Have the courage to speak up when you have that gut feeling something doesn’t feel right.

Safety Sunday

Stewardship Over Status… Who Does Your Safety Actually Serve?

I want to talk about safety in a way we don’t do nearly enough.

Not as a program.
Not as a department.
Not as a talking point in a meeting.

I want to talk about safety as stewardship.

Because at its core, safety is not about authority or titles or who signs what. It’s about responsibility. It’s about who carries the weight of decisions… and who pays the price when those decisions fall short.

Every rule.
Every procedure.
Every expectation placed on a crew.

All of it serves something.

The hard question is this… who does it serve?

Does it serve the people doing the work… or does it serve optics, liability, schedules, and careers? Does it exist to protect the worker standing in the weather… or the organization standing in comfort?

That question matters more than any slogan we hang on a wall.

I’ve seen safety used as a shield instead of a service. Policies written to look good on paper but fall apart in the field. Expectations pushed downward without regard for conditions, experience, or reality. Decisions made far from the risk… and paid for by the people closest to it.

That isn’t stewardship. That’s distance.

Stewardship means you don’t separate yourself from the consequences of what you create. It means you ask hard questions before someone else has to live with the answers. It means you’re willing to absorb discomfort so others don’t absorb harm.

Experience doesn’t make you important.
It makes you responsible.

If you know better… you’re accountable to do better. If you see the gap between policy and practice… You own part of that gap if you stay silent. Safety doesn’t fail all at once. It erodes quietly… through small compromises… unchallenged assumptions… and people choosing not to speak because it’s easier not to rock the boat.

Silence is still a decision.
And it always serves something.

Real safety leadership isn’t about control. It’s about care. It’s about asking whether the rules we enforce actually protect the people we say we value. It’s about being able to stand in front of a crew and explain not just what the rule is… but why it exists… and who it’s meant to serve.

If you can’t defend a safety expectation to the person taking the risk… it doesn’t deserve blind obedience.

Stewardship demands humility. It demands listening. It demands the courage to admit when something isn’t working… even if it was your idea… even if it’s uncomfortable… even if it challenges the way things have always been done.

Because safety that only protects reputations isn’t safety at all.
It’s theater.

And crews know the difference.

They can feel when safety is being done with them… versus done to them. They can tell when leadership is carrying the weight… or passing it down the line. Trust isn’t built through slogans. It’s built when people see that decisions are made with their lives in mind… not just the spreadsheet.

So this Safety Sunday, I’m asking everyone to take an honest look inward.

Who does your safety actually serve?

If the answer isn’t the people beside you… then something needs to change.

Because stewardship isn’t about being in charge.
It’s about being accountable.

And real safety… the kind that matters… always serves the people doing the work.

~Kevin | Lineman Bull$hit™ Academy

01/04/2026

Happy New Year to all our members!!
In 2026 let’s all try to stay curious; not defensive in our responses to each other in daily conversations. Listen too understand; not respond is very difficult to do but well worth the habit shift.

What’s the hazard?
How will we reduce it?

Test and evaluate in daily tailgates and see how your crews respond if given the opportunity to speak up and be heard?

SAFETY SUNDAY — JANUARY 2026
The first Safety Sunday of a new year always feels different.
Quieter. Heavier. More honest.
Because whatever we didn’t fix last year followed us into this one.
2026 didn’t reset the scoreboard.
It didn’t erase bad habits.
It didn’t magically turn weak leadership into strong leadership or sloppy thinking into discipline.
All it did was hand us another year in the arena.
And here’s the truth most people won’t say out loud…
If we keep doing safety the same way, 2026 will take the same names 2025 did.

I’m done pretending safety is a program.
Programs end.
Posters fade.
Slogans get recycled.
The work doesn’t.
Safety is what shows up when nobody’s watching.
It’s what you say when the plan is wrong and the pressure is high.
It’s whether you’re willing to be uncomfortable now instead of attending a funeral later.
And that choice is made long before the job starts.

Somewhere along the way, we let safety drift away from the field and into conference rooms.
We turned it into metrics, optics, and talking points.
We rewarded quiet compliance instead of hard questions.
We taught people how to pass audits instead of how to survive work.
And then we act surprised when experience gets overridden by urgency…
when apprentices don’t speak up…
when journeymen stop fighting bad calls…
when near misses get buried because they’re “bad for morale.”
That’s not safety.
That’s silence dressed up as progress.

Here’s the line I’m drawing to start 2026…
If safety only exists when it’s convenient, it doesn’t exist at all.
If a man or woman can’t stop work without fear of retaliation, your culture is broken.
If production pressure always wins, your priorities are exposed.
If leadership never feels discomfort, it’s being absorbed by the field.
And the field always pays first.

This year, I’m not interested in perfect language or polished delivery.
I care about focused minds.
Clear boundaries.
Honest conversations.
Plans that respect physics instead of challenging it.
I care about whether the newest hand on the crew feels protected enough to speak…
and whether the most seasoned hand feels respected enough to be heard.
Because safety doesn’t fail all at once...
It fails in inches.
In assumptions.
In shortcuts nobody thought would matter...
Until they do.

2026 is going to demand more of us.
More discipline.
More accountability.
More backbone.
Not from policies…
from people.
From leaders who are willing to slow things down.
From crews willing to challenge each other.
From individuals willing to bet on doing the right thing even when it costs time, money, or comfort.
That’s the standard.
Not zero incidents on a slide deck.
Not applause in a meeting.
Everyone goes home.
Every time.

So this is how I’m starting the year…
With intention.
With clarity.
With no patience for bu****it that puts lives at risk.
Say what needs to be said.
Fix what needs to be fixed.
Protect what matters.
The work will always be dangerous.
The way we do it doesn’t have to be careless.
2026 is here...
Let’s earn it.
~ Kevin | Lineman Bull$hit™

12/25/2025

MP Standby agreement was APPROVED
12/24

12/17/2025

Rapids mtg moved to Tomorrow
Thursday 12/18
6 pm

11/18/2025

No western meeting
In November
Happy Hunting 🦌

11/12/2025

Proud of and grateful for our Veteran members, and all those that have served. THANK YOU -
today and every day

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

11/07/2025

MP - Sick Redesign Vote APPROVED
Tentative Agreement ratified, change effective 1.1.2026