Paths · Career path

Groundman to Journeyman Lineworker

There is no exam that makes you a journeyman lineworker in most of the country: the apprenticeship confers it, and the apprenticeship starts with a CDL and a climbing school. This path builds the way the work does: how power actually gets delivered, the methods used on energized and de-energized lines, the OSHA rules that govern every one of them, and then the entry requirements, the apprenticeship itself, and where the career goes after journeyman.

23 steps

Goal credential: Journeyman Lineworker

How the grid delivers

  1. 1How Power Gets Delivered: Generation to Meter
  2. 2Transmission vs Distribution
  3. 3Overhead Construction: Poles, Crossarms, Hardware
  4. 4Underground Distribution (URD)
  5. 5Distribution Transformers and Connections
  6. 6Substation Basics

The rules that govern the work

  1. 7OSHA 1910.269: The Standard That Governs Line Work
  2. 8Qualified Employee: What OSHA Requires You to Know
  3. 9Minimum Approach Distance
  4. 10Downed Conductors and Backfeed
  5. 11The ET&D Partnership and Its 10-Hour Course

Methods on the line

  1. 12Climbing: Gaffs, Belts and Technique
  2. 13Bucket Truck Work
  3. 14Rubber Gloving and Live-Line Work
  4. 15Personal Protective Grounding
  5. 16Switching and Tagging
  6. 17Storm Response Work
  7. 18Storm Deployment: Restoration Work Away From Home

Getting in and getting through

  1. 19The Lineworker Apprenticeship
  2. 20Journeyman Lineworker: What It Takes
  3. 21Utility, Contractor or Co-op: Career Paths
  4. 22Why Lineworkers Need a CDL
  5. 23Getting Selected: Line Apprenticeship Entry Requirements