SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – The temperatures are rising with this heat, and many are having to work outside in the elements.
“We have workers that go out to our Borrego desert where excess over 110 degrees,” Ray Plummer, Electric Safety Center team lead, San Diego Gas & Electric, said.
ABC 10News spoke with Plummer at the utility company’s Skills Training Center in Mission Valley about how crews are prepared to work in the heat.
It could be the middle of the night, it could be, you know, 100 degrees out, when an outage comes in,” Plummer said. “Our employees, you know, get in, jump into action, and they want to get the power on as quick as possible.”
Plummer said it all starts with the heat illness prevention plan.
“It starts with recognition, and that starts every morning. We get a note from our meteorology department, lets us know what we're looking at, what we're facing for that day, each and every day,” Plummer said.
That helps them have a plan of attack each day and look out for one another in the heat.
“It starts with every truck you'll see we've got ice cold water, stocked every morning, plenty of supplies, plenty of ice,” Plummer said. "We've got special UV shades extensions for our hard hats. Gives you a little extra shade, gets that sun off your, you know, your face, your neck, multiple versions of sunscreen all the way up to SPF 50.”
Plummer said all these things, and everything they do goes into making safety the foundation of everything they do.
“There is no job that starts without a job briefing, safety tailgate, stopping the job if there's a question or if something doesn't seem right,” Plummer said. “Everybody on the job has the power to stop the job. I feel good about that.”
