Squatting. Hurdling. Lunging. Bending.
Usually, the linemen of Consumers Power perform such acrobatics while dealing with downed power lines or replacing transformers, often times in piercing wind and stinging rain.
On this day, however, these “industrial athletes” engaged in such movements in the controlled warmth and comfort of the company’s lunchroom, as part of a program that aims to keep these mostly young men employed at Consumers for as many years as possible.
At the core of this retention program is, well … the core.
“We really wanted to reduce injuries and increase worker longevity,” said Greg Pierce, director of Operations & Engineering at Consumers, a rural electrical cooperative based in Philomath. “So, we asked The Clinic to observe what the linemen do.”
However, it was apparent that the unpredictability of electrical utility work prohibited teaching specific ergonomic techniques. “It was really obvious that there was no way we could do ergonomic training with some of the positions these linemen put themselves in and the risks that they take,” said Diana Hendrickson, The Clinic’s director of Occupational Medicine. “After some research, it became obvious that this was about core strengthening.”
The Clinic and Consumers met several times and created the current program designed to help develop core muscle strength in the linemen.
The initial testing was done in early December 2014 in order to get a baseline fitness level for each of the 20 or so linemen. The testing is called Functional Movement Screen (FMS), which entails evaluating seven movement patterns. “The grading of the FMS is based on various factors, specifically their technique and motor control of the movement,” said Michael Gray, The Clinic’s director of Physical Therapy.
The evaluation was done the morning after a windstorm blew down power lines and caused major power outages. “The guys thought that it was the worst time to test them,” Hendrickson said. “But from our perception it was the best time because being tested when fatigued, when how one would actually feel after working a long stretch, provides a truer reference point of where a worker is at physically.”
After receiving their FMS grades, the linemen were given five exercises – including the plank, deep squat and hamstring stretch – to do each day. “The exercises we gave them focused on the muscles that the FMS evaluated,” Gray said. The linemen were retested on FMS movement patterns two months later. In general, their scores improved.
“It shows they care”
For journeyman Aric Williamson and apprentice Shawn Foultner, it means a lot that Consumers didn’t just guide them to the Internet.
“Management was much more involved than just saying, ‘Here’s your work out, do this’,” the 33-year-old Foultner said. “They even brought us all in one morning and told us we would have time on the job if needed to do (the five) exercises. It showed good faith.”
Both Williamson and Foultner have felt the benefits. “The exercises helped me with posture and my alignment by strengthening different muscle groups,” said Williamson, 28, who practices martial arts. “It’s helped me with day-to-day discomfort.”
“I’m not experiencing as much soreness as I was and the soreness doesn’t last as long,” said Foultner, winner of the apprentice division of the 2014 International Lineman’s Rodeo.
The program has also fueled competitive juices, sparking a push-up contest among linemen. “The record is 67,” Williamson said.
Long-term Benefit
Athletic rivalry, while healthy, is not Pierce’s ultimate goal. With a long career in the electrical utility business, including a stint as a lineman himself, he has seen the occupation’s cumulative effect on the body.
“These guys come into this business when they’re in their 20s, and they want to do line work for the rest of their lives. But by the time they’re 50, their elbows, backs and knees are worn out from jumping across ditches, climbing poles, and carrying loads of gear on their shoulders and back.”
In years past, he said, utilities would try to shift older linemen to different roles, but increasing specialization had made this more difficult, leaving some with no choice but to go on disability. Pierce sees this program as a way to help prevent this.
“Now’s the perfect time to say I’d really like these younger guys to be in better condition than the folks I’ve seen leave this industry. I want them to work without pain for as long as they want to work – that’s my goal.”
The Clinic and Consumers view this as an ongoing endeavor. A few weeks after the linemen were tested for the second time, staff from The Clinic’s Occupational Medicine and Physical Therapy departments attended a safety meeting at Consumers during which they presented the scores, lectured on the importance of core-muscle stability, urged to them to continue the exercises, and then took questions.
“These are health-care professionals that get it,” Pierce said. “They know what this is all about: To keep workers on the job so that they and their families reap the benefits of the good income. Hopefully, it’s something we can stick with for a long time.”
Ultimately, Hendrickson said, the success is up to the linemen themselves. “Consumers Power made a statement: ‘We really do care, and we really do want you to stay. We’ve done everything that we can, but you have to pull your part.’ ”
Something that Foultner, a former electrician, probably won’t have difficulty doing. “It’s a better job and more fun than being an electrician. It’s exciting. It’s the best job in the world.”
And here’s to doing it for years to come.
