Storm Response: Managing Fatigue and Crew Readiness

Micah Thompson| Loss Control & Training Director | The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina

Dr. Kevin Rindal | Vimocity

Hello, welcome to this month's live event. Today, we're focusing on how you can help your crews be storm ready. We're excited to have Micah Thompson join us. He brings a unique perspective as he's experienced storm restoration as both a line worker and as the loss control training director for the electric cooperatives of South Carolina.

My name is doctor Kevin Rindal, and I'm the CEO and cofounder of Vimocity, and we'll be your host today. And for those who aren't familiar with Vimocity, Vimocity is a workforce readiness platform that helps organizations prepare their people to perform at their best safely and efficiently. And we focus on the physical, mental, and operational aspects of readiness while helping organizations establish and reinforce clear standards for how work should be done out in the field. So before we get started, I'd like to remind everyone that today's session will be recorded. So make sure to drop questions in the chat, and then also stay tuned for free resources that we'll send out to you at the end. So without further ado, I'd like to pass it over to Micah so that he can fill in the gaps on his background and experience. Micah?

Yeah, Kevin, thanks for having me. I'm in a role, like you said, as a loss control training director for the electric cooperative in South Carolina. I've been in that role for four and a half years now. And previous to that, I was a cooperative employee, a local co op and going to South Carolina for fourteen and a half years, Ten years out on the line, four and a half as a substantial leader, and I'm coming up on twenty two, twenty four years.

So, Micah, you have an interesting, perspective because you've both experienced storm restoration as a frontline worker, as a lineman for many, many years, and then you now have that opportunity to experience that as the loss control director for the cooperatives of South Carolina.

So can you walk us through some of your experience as a lineman and then what it's been like as a, in the new role that you're in?

Yeah, of course. So, from fourteen and a half years of a local COA, my first, storm medical work was just where a foreman picked me up and said, get the truck he wants and don't touch anything. And then gradually throughout, like, we worked plenty of afternoon storms that came through. And then, I traveled, out of the state in 2012, I believe, to Alabama and worked a significant storm there once the tornadoes came through. And then what we hear, we had the flood in 2015.

And then I get assisted another local co op with an event in ice storm. So I've seen it all when it came through my career, little bit of each different type and form you could work and some of the challenges there. And then now in the role that I have, at our statewide association, it's, it's totally different being behind the scenes and doing a real heavy lift for our co ops when it comes to prep and, coordination of crews locally and regionally.

Our department is amazing. We share some of your loads for the 18 cooperatives, and we each have our own point of contact. But then we have one gentleman, Justin Snyder, who's our, our statewide storm coordinator and beats all the regional calls. And then he's down at the front there for that initiative when it comes to the storm work here.

So it's, it's very unique and challenging in a different way now versus strapping on my boots and and going out into the field. And I wouldn't say one is worse than the other, but that's very unique now. And it's it's helped us, I think, in our roles having done the work, and lived through those experiences now that we have a really good understanding of what these, associates doing for coops.

What are some of those physical demands, that are associated with it? Obviously, you're doing some heavy work, and it's you know, every task is probably physically demanding, but then you also have the sleep, the fatigue, all those other things that factor into it.

Yeah. You're exactly right. It's no secret up front. Again, the physical demands of just the day that they work demanding hours, time change, extended periods of work, that are definitely gonna complicate things and make them more, again, hazardous to the workers. So then it it could be something as simple, like you said, is is this how you start the day and all the prep work you do would change from those day to day mobile outing.

So, Micah, then you, transitioned into the director role for training with the cooperatives of South Carolina. And so now you're on the preparation side of the equation. And, like, you as we were preparing for this conversation, you mentioned that, you know, you start to plan for the storms when it's 70 degrees and sunny out. You don't wait until the last minute. So what are some of the things that, organizationally, you, help your cooperatives do to prepare for those storms?

Yeah. So, I would say two answers to that again, locally at a cooperative or a utility. You're doing that prep work in advance in house.

The main things you're doing is, hopefully, you're implementing training throughout the year for your apprenticeships and your linemen, to give them the exposure to some of these scenarios they're gonna see in the storm. So there's actual training, on the job training and and curriculum and class work that you can do to prep people for it. And then now at a, statewide level through my association, I'm so blessed to be on our amazing team.

We have a staff here in the loss control training department that really comes together as a collective to coordinate these events for the entire state of South Carolina. And again, it's just an amazing collective effort because, again, typically for us, when we're at, you know, we have a storm brewing off the coach and and we may or may not have some projected time and windows to to do the preparation work. And so, yeah, there was always that afternoon time you're sore here. You can't prep for. But a lot of times in a major event, do have time to play and coordinate, have discussions, and get on, calls, at a state level and a regional level. We have amazing partners in the co op family. Our team does it quite well.

So take us back to 2024. Hurricane Helene happened, and that was not a small storm.

No. It's, for, for a little bit of historical reference, it's the one now. I'm 42 and in, 1989, we had hurricane Hugo that came very typically through the Atlantic of the coast and, ground zero for Charleston, Georgetown community. And that, and that was it.

I was the one everybody talked about and always referenced in those days are kind long because the Helene, was just so catastrophic and, really, makes that other storm going very, insignificant when it comes to number outages and broke holes that we had. And then again, it was very atypical too because that storm came from, The Gulf and, through the Panhandle, through Georgia, Alabama, and all the way up to Tennessee, and the impact was just so huge. It was a it was a real challenge and learning moment for us, Kevin, on, how they could provide resources when, they're not there. And, you know, we're used to getting local cooperative help, and we have great contract partners here, locally, in Carolina.

And the subter, was a great contract. It was gonna be working with all the time normally. But then again, you know, the resources we needed, the manpower we needed wasn't available. And so for the first time, we had reached well beyond normally where we would call for help.

And I believe we had crews as far as North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and even Canada in our state helping with that restoration. So it was, it was extremely, catastrophic and, yeah, geographically and, from a lay of the land perspective, you know, we got all the way from the coast up into the Appalachian Mountains, for our regional footprint.

You don't really hear of a co op in the mountains having a hurricane. And so it was, it was wild, man. And, and again, so thankful that it's beyond us. We made it through it and we were able to learn a lot.

So what were some of the biggest challenges as it relates to the restoration?

For that one particular event, it was such a large storm and it had such an impact on the whole East Coast on a real thing that we had to learn And really step into some new territory was, wherever we're gonna pull resources from and partner with. From a cooperative standpoint, most cooperatives, again, share resources, quite well, locally and regionally, and have long standing relationships and partners with with other cooperatives. And we have great contracting support too here locally with some, amazing companies that support our co ops. But in an event like that, resources are all absorbed and, and very quickly.

And so we literally had live periods in South Carolina from as far as North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Canada. We had to extend our reach well beyond anything we'd ever done before. And we were able to get it done. And we were thankful that there was an, you know, an outcry of support because it was so devastating and met some new partners and definitely learned some, some things for the future that we may have to, you know, stretch the mounds of where we fall.

So, yeah, let's dive into some of those learnings. What were some of the specific things that as you were in the moment, you're like, oh, this is a a good learning. If I were to go through this again, this is how I would either approach the preparation or the execution of that restoration.

Yes. So it's it's a good question, and it's a little unique for us being a statewide association.

Boots on the ground, hands on the ground is so different for us. We've been we we really handle the facilitator role, or, you know, again, like a third party outreach trying to coordinate on behalf for our co op. So for us, it was just, again, I don't want to, you know, sound like a broken record, but, making sure that we have the resources and contacts available for our co ops if they need it beyond where we would normally be reached of it.

Because the devastation in Georgia and Alabama and where Tennessee were so significant, you know, those of you called who we used to make were looking for help, they weren't able. And, so really relying on other cooperatives further away. And then also a real conversation about contractors and, what preparation looks like, is gonna be new moving forward for us.

Yeah. It's one thing to coordinate your own team or different cooperatives, but it's another thing to actually coordinate the contractors. What were some of the learnings in terms of how to coordinate between the different contractors and people providing mutual assistance?

So for us, the statewide, we we don't have a hand bent in that, per se. We coordinate just within the cooperative family amongst the co ops. But, you know, there was a heavy lift of contractor presence at each co op. And so, for the first time, we, we, we were just able to provide those resources for them and say, Hey, if you'd like to reach out, we we've learned of some other crews available over here or over here that we may not have used in the past. And then again, you know, from a learning standpoint, that's a whole different ball of wax when it comes to, to FEMA and certain other things on the back end. So it, it, we learned a lot again, and, and we're so unique the way we're set up that, that we may not have hands on with, a lot of this work. You know, we're doing a whole lot behind the scenes and trying to, assist our goal.

Micah, we kicked off this call talking about workforce readiness, which again, we define as the physical, mental, and operational aspects of being ready to perform the work safely.

Maybe put your hat on as a lineman out there. What can you just walk us through what that looks like from a physical demand aspect? What are people up against when they're working, you know, one to two week restoration?

So hopefully you've already got some things in place again to do the work on a normal day, but then, you know, it it just compounds itself that you really have to take a very proactive approach in things like, you know, which I'm sure we'll get into later, rest, diet, something that we're probably not good at was, you know, calisthenics or stretching or, or, or taking those moments of physical prep and then mental. I'm thankful that in the co op family we have here, there was a pretty strong culture in making sure that, you know, our people were taken care of before we go take care of the community. And that's not to say we stopped service in any way, shape, or form. But, from my own experience, my my home co op and, most utilities around here, you know, make sure your home was good. Doing that prep work, taking the time to do it, getting away from back in the day of just, I got it. I'll push through, and I'll figure it out on the fly. That's that's not really healthy.

So we probably have a lot of utilities and contractors that support utilities through storm restoration. So as it relates to that workforce readiness, the physical and the mental aspects of being ready, what are some, what are some recommendations or guidance that you can provide them of how they can start to plan and put things into place to support those aspects of people performing that work safely.

Yeah. I would just say, you know, early, you know, signs and symptoms of people that already have normal fatigue or, or stress through the workload is always a good thing to consider. Then again, historically storms here, we can, we can see, again, on a more significant event. And so it's just trying your best to what we say around here.

We don't really like to talk about it, you know, Hey, don't, don't fix it. Don't bring up storms. You know, it's gone. It's going to blow over.

It's going to be fine, but just having real conversations though. Hey, this is what it could be, a lean on its stack. Prepare for the worst, hope through best. And then again, start to, you know, chew away at it.

Again, if you have a few weeks in prep to start doing the little things when it comes to meals, coordinating facilities, where people are gonna stay, making sure you've got your teams to align them, if he's gonna be paired together, if you got construction crews that may split up or, or people, you know, working with other different, I would say tasks or roles. Maybe you have guys that do normal, normal day to day operations, but now they're going to bird dog, or they're going to take a contract with crew or a different crew from another co op and lead and man, all the way down to our computers, our iPads, our mapping system, you know, you name it, radios, truck stocking equipment, the list of just few.

So it's a lot of preparation work, which you're just trying to get ahead of, but it's no easy task.

One of the things that we know is that the pre job brief is a really important part of the workday because that's when you can have those conversations about, the work that's gonna be, done. You can also have a conversation about ensuring that people are ready to perform that work. A few live events ago, we had Eric Rogers, who's a PhD in sleep and recovery science, and he talked about how, a lack of sleep, if you're, like, eighteen hours sleep deprived, you're almost operating at a 0.08 blood alcohol level, which is, you know, essentially being legally drunk. And then you're operating heavy equipment. You're in these high, energy, high risk situations.

So what are some things that people can look for in that pre job brief to identify that members of the team might be struggling with, a lack of sleep or fatigue and may need to actually take a rest and not go out there and perform those high risk tasks?

Yeah. Another good question. Two things again, from my perspective, again, going through, several years on the ops field side of things. And then now in the role I have, you would hope that there's already, conversations happening before the tailgate from a management standpoint down through, the first line, frontline leadership to say, hey, we know it could get bad, but here's where we are.

Here's, here's our company policy and procedures for what this is gonna look like. And then, you know, in, in the heat of battle, sometimes those things may get misused or, or there may be situations that, you know, we'd have to push beyond some of those. And then again, it's frontline leadership making those calls what's best for the company and the employees at the same time. And then if it gets beyond that to a crew level, yeah, it's having the voice to say, Hey, I think we've reached the limit or exceeded the limit, or maybe there's some issues here.

I'm teaching, you know, frontline leaders, crew leader, foreman, or anybody, because everybody gets a voice in safety to say something's off, something's not right. Maybe we should take a break. So you would hope it's already established through management. And we do a great job of that here across our co ops.

And then again, through those tailgates, that's a great point to bring up that awareness one more time for checking balance.

Micah, do you have a a story from your experience, during a storm response where maybe there was a close call or a near miss that changed the way that you approach how to manage and lead in the midst of, like, fatigue and crew readiness in, the storm response process?

So, man, I'm I'm very thankful and blessed that I don't I don't have a big near miss, you know, moment myself, but just, you know, in general, the ten years that I was in field operations at my local co op, man, in 2015, we had a a a flood of the century, for Carolina, South Carolina that was really significant. And, you know, some people, again, depending on where they're at and where they're listening, floods may be a very common thing that was not for us. And so that was very unique situation because, you know, the rains came down and then three days later they were gone and it was blue sky, but still were underwater.

We're still in an outage restoration situation. And so that pushed on well beyond the storm for several weeks, waiting for water to subside to where it was safe enough to move into these communities. And so it changed the scope of the work for sure. From your typical pulling all nighter, it was very, it was more methodical, in the way it was planned out.

That was, it was definitely unique for sure. The takeaways from that were again, planning to the best of your ability in the middle of those events is tough.

We know that communication is, is key to safety. And so when you're out there communicating with different organizations, how and how many, co ops are part of the South Carolina co op?

So in our membership, there's twenty and eighteen of those 20 are actual, utility cooperatives. Okay. So a lot of different moving parts there. So how do what advice would you give to leaders as it relates to communication with different groups who are involved in a storm response?

And so that could in your case, it could be the cooperatives. It could be contractors so that everybody's on the same page. And especially as it relates to, you know, some some of the people coming in to help with the storm restoration might be coming across time zones. They may not be acclimated to the environment that are there.

How do you ensure that that communication is happening so that, people are keeping their pulse on some of those risks that may be present that you wouldn't normally think about?

Ensuring it is tough, but one of the ways that we try to do it and encourage our cooperatives is we have, we have another department, a communications department that does a great job, on the front end in a proactive approach to health cooperatives, which our co ops do a good job of making sure, you know, again, before the storms get here, we're making resources available online. We're making, you know, content available for member engagement that comes to our co ops, whether it's handouts in the lobby or things that we can give them when we interact with them, you know, physically one on one about storm safety, about downed power lines, about generators and and proper connections at the home.

So that's that's really on the front end, which is a good thing that we do for our communities. And then as far as when it all kind of hits the fan, so to speak, making sure that information transfer is happening, which is again, a requirement, but also just a great thing to make sure, you know, we've identified all the information we need to share with whether it's a, another cooperative coming in to help or another contractor. We're, we're doing the, the awareness piece. So here's how we operate.

Here's our safety manual. Here's our policy. Here's our work hour rules. Here's our system voltage.

Here's here's some of our PPE requirements at a more finite level. And that's a that's a great thing. Again, it's a requirement, but it's also just it's good stewardship of our time and and appreciation for those coming out.

What are some, pieces of advice that you'd give to our audience as it relates to building relationships with those other, organizations within your network that you're probably going to call on when there's a storm or they may call on you when there's a storm? Cause it sure is a lot easier when you've built that relationship ahead of time before you get into the heat of battle.

Yeah. So I'm very blessed again, for our state to, to have such a history partnership, even on blue sky days, with our territory footprint, you know, you may hear 18 co ops. It's not a lot compared to maybe other states, but our our co ops share a huge territory, compared to just numbers or members. And just, you know, coming from a co op again, it's it's a family oriented environment. I'm that's been here for almost a hundred years now of just service, and dedication because, again, it's the membership, not the consumer. And we're really engaged and active in remembering why we serve.

And so, that it's such a cool thing not to get excited or run a rabbit, but I can go anywhere in the country and just say co op, and I've got family wherever I'm at.

And it's not that the trades don't do that. The industry doesn't do that as well, but it's it's a little it's a little special for a co op. So Micah, I don't like to talk use the word failure. I I like to refer to it as your first attempt in learning. Right? But when it comes to learnings, what are some of the things that you step back and you say, you know, these are the things that I've seen that other organizations or your your own organization maybe have missed historically from a preparation standpoint that ends up being more impactful when, again, everyone's called in for that storm? What are some things that people can watch for in that situation?

Again, that's a great one. My mind just goes back to many different things, whether it was from just being a live man out on the job or the role I have now.

Yeah, it's tough. I would say, you know, I would lean back again, not to repeat myself, Helene just changed everything, for us, at a local and regional level. But then, you know, more finite down to some of the storms I learned. It's really about, I would say for me now in the safety role, saying when we've had enough.

And I'm so thankful that again, we've seen a shift culturally in co ops, you know, not, or, or just the utilities in general. I hope not just pushing through. We're gonna work thirty six, forty eight hours. Like I hear the old hits talk about, oh, back in my day, you don't know, man.

We didn't get a nap. We didn't get a break. And there was some pride in that and there was some, woah, that's, that's pretty awesome.

But if we're not careful, that, that can be a new standard, that can be a dodinal, which again, isn't necessarily the safest way to do it. So I'm thankful that again, we've got a shift in that perspective. We've got management and leadership that really does a great job of taking care of the employee first, in these more hazardous situations of a storm. It's not to say that we're not gonna work and do everything we can and get everybody's lights back on. That's not what I'm saying. But if we're not taking care of ourselves, we can't serve on membership. And I'm thankful that we've come a long way in that regard.

Micah, do you have any recommendations for open source resources that people can go to, that you can maybe share with the audience?

In regards to awareness or Preparation.

Storm Yeah.

Preparation for storms.

Well, that'd be ignorant of me to say, you know, I'm not gonna check out what you guys are doing at Vimocity for sure And some of the Work Ready, you know, podcasts that you guys are doing. I think the, again, it's, it's tripling into our space more and more about self care or what that looks like, from a standpoint, even from enlightenment with ergonomics, and diet. And so, I think what we're gonna be able to do is share of the resource we have with our website. And I'll have some of my own as well where we've got some I've got some content out there that speaks into it in a little more detail.

Awesome. Thank you. And then if leaders are looking to take away maybe two or three things from this conversation, what would those takeaways be?

Man.

Yeah. We were staring. You got you got a bit on today, boss. I'll use a little history.

I'll throw some history in there. Okay? Because, again, storm response or just the nature of the beast and the utilities work that we do, I think it's critical to understand that self possession and the ownership of safety has come from an individual first. And, and hopefully you're in an organization or culture that supports that.

And so self awareness, making sure you're mentally fit and physically fit to do the work is on you. And then again, the employer has a responsibility to safeguard you and and put you in places and environments and share things, obviously. That's their role. And so I'd say that from a historical standpoint, that's in the cable man handbook, from 1937 self possession.

That was the first thing you have to have to do this work. And then, again, from maybe another historical standpoint again, because it's, it's the one now, a link. Just making sure that if you see something in somebody else, you have the courage to go, are you gonna, are you okay? And seem off.

Some of those red flags from fatigue, mental stress, anxiety, you know, pressures at home. A lot of times, linemen are going to work on other people's, surfaces and lines and restoration when their own home was in the dark too, and that can weigh on So just making sure you try to have a healthy balance with that when they get an organization that supports.

Micah, thank you so much. Where can people find you or connect with you? I know that I know where to find you, and, it's been great to to be able to just pick your brain and and see all the stuff that you're posting out there, online.

Yeah. Thanks a lot.

So, again, we're gonna share the link to the electric cooperatives in South Carolina, homepage where we have our resources here and our association.

And then again, I've had a such an amazing opportunity to meet you as well through places like LinkedIn, where I have a page there where I put some content out there. I also have a, a very small, but growing YouTube channel, where I do a podcast with Mr. Mike Starter, director of safety at Mika Contractors. He and I host a little show called Hot Mike's podcast where we're talking safety. And then I just started, a presence on TikTok.

Higher maintenance SC is where you can find me on TikTok. And, again, it's it's not for views or likes. It's for awareness man, and meeting people like you and bridging the gap between South Carolina and the Northwest and all these amazing people I've had a chance to meet over the past year. So thanks a lot again for this opportunity. I'm happy to help anyone I can.

Well, Micah, thank you so much for sharing your insights. I mean, firsthand in multiple roles, with pretty big storm responses. So I know we're all better for this conversation. I'd encourage any of you who may want to hear more from Micah.

I have what we call the Work Ready podcast. So if you just go to YouTube or any other place where you find podcasts, just type in Work Ready. And Micah and I have a really, great conversation about that found foundational and fundamental piece of making sure that you're work ready again physically, mentally, and operationally ready to perform the work. And that's why you're all here today to support your crews so that they have those tools and resources to be ready when when it's go time and, be able to perform at the highest level and do that safely.

So thank you so much for joining us, for this live event. As a reminder, we do these events every month, so we'll continue to send resources, and invitations for future live events. Feel free to share this with anybody. This is, again, open source.

It's just a way that we can get new conversations out there about how to keep crews safe. If you scan the QR code, we also have some free resources that will be available.

And because you signed up for this live event, we'll send you a recording as well. So, until next time, remember to take care of yourself, take care of your crew, and stay work ready. Thank you so much.