The Home Front: A Line Wife's Take on Worker Safety

Anne-Marie Olivieri | Line Junk | Line Life Foundation

Dr. Kevin Rindal | Vimocity

Line Junk's Anne-Marie Olivieri knows the weight of watching a loved one work in one of the most dangerous trades. 

"We still average an accident every 3 days and we lose a lineman roughly every 12 days. It hits hard. It really does, uh cuz my husband's out there." 

But instead of accepting the risks, she took action. In today's conversation, we'll cover her journey from making t-shirts to making a difference in the lives of thousands of workers and their families.

"Everything starts at home. If you don't have a peaceful place at home and you don't have somebody with a sound mind at home, everything else falls apart." 

This is the Work Ready podcast.

Today's conversation is with someone who has made a meaningful impact in the line trade through community building, advocacy, and service. Anne-Marie Olivieri is a founder of Line Junk, a community-driven brand created for and supported by line workers. She's also the founder of Line Life Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting families of fallen or injured linemen while raising awareness about safety and mental health in the trades.

Anne-Marie, I'm so happy to talk to you. You know, as we were preparing for this, I let you know that I've interviewed, you know, tons of frontline workers and linemen and, uh, daughters of of linemen, but never a wife of a lineman. And so, yeah. So, welcome to the show. Excellent.

Thank you for having me. In 2013, I started Line Junk on New Year's Day. This came after somebody asked me to design a t-shirt. And I just put it online and people started asking, "Can you do one for me? Can you do one for me?" I got to see what the guys were doing. I got to, I started kind of talking like them. They're very, um, you know, bluecollar, heho kind of kind of guys. and just got a real good feel for it. And then I started noticing people started writing in about accidents. 

And in 2015, I believe, yeah, 2015, I started a Facebook page group um that is called Limeman Take a Stand for Safety. And basically what that is is a counter of how many days we can go without an accident. And when there's news articles about accidents, I try to post them on there just so people can learn from it. I just was tracking and tracking and then in 2018. I believe it got it's kind of alloop um in 2018 a group of the lime wives got together and started a nonprofit called the Line Life Foundation and with that we were doing helping the guys on storm getting laundry done and feeding them a lot of times they're without stuff they didn't pack right and um the companies aren't providing as they should and um also helping when there there's accidents. 

We have about 3,000 volunteers nationwide.It's all we're all volunteers. Every dollar penny that comes to that um nonprofit turns around and goes back to the families. We've gotten ourselves into a position where we can send a a check right away just to help out. We're trying to ramp up the volunteers going to the hospitals and stuff like that. Our website, line life foundation.com, has a lot of information on it. Wound care, life insurance, just a lot of information that people don't think of when they get into this trade. 

I'm so grateful for you tackling this in a grassroots way  and being able to play a role in that. Your reach is unbelievable. I think you have over 600,000 followers on Facebook. I mean this is something that's really impactful in the industry. Can you share a little bit more about that? 

Yeah, so at the beginning it, you know, I was cheering on there's 50 followers, there's, you know, 500 and so on and so on. And then it just kept kind of snowballing. I was probably spending 21 hours a day. Um, you know, just keeping up with the storms, keeping up with what what the guys needed. um they knew that they could contact me and we, you know, I would do whatever I could to get them what they needed. Pallets of of bug spray and um tents, hammocks, whatever they needed I was trying to get. And um I just continued with that storm pattern for a while. And what I was finding was that it wasn't just linemen that were following the page anymore. 

It was family members um to see you know you know is my guy if I'm going to see a picture of my you know the person that I know and then the community started when there are storms the community started coming in and messaging okay this is open this is open this is open it has become a community uh for the linemen the line families and for the communities when they're hit with uh natural disasters so it's it's been it's been an interesting ride and And you know where it started was t-shirts and um if if it was about selling a t-shirt I would have quit a long time ago. It just be it really it became a part of me. It's you know and I didn't think that either and uh like me and my husband keep it very separate. He has nothing to do with line junk. And we try not to talk about like the line rolled, you know, at dinner time and stuff like that because it it's it's it's an overload. Um especially when there's accidents like these. Um when there's an accident, um it hits hard. It really does. Cuz my husband's out there. I've gained a lot of friends and family through uh running this and knowing the the number of people that I actually have spoken to that are now dead. It hurts, you know, and each one is treated differently. Um you know, some of them make me cry. 

And we usually end up talking to the line wife or the mom or family member of, you know, somebody that's in the hospital. It's it's a hard conversation. Um and everybody grieves differently. So, um, like we do the best we do the best that we can, you know, give them the tools that that we have. And that's another reason I started getting into the mental health side of it is because like the more tools I can uh the more tools and knowledge that I have, the more helpful I can be to somebody else. And um it's taken me a long time, but when I look in retrospect when I look back at line jump and then um doing the lime and take a stand and then doing line life foundation and climb back up my real what what I wouldn't say it's a goal, but I've kind of found like my calling and that the real thing is that I just want to help, you know, I want to be able to help and and make a difference in um in somebody's life. Like we I've been able to help place a kidney from a a lineman that's dead to another lineman that needs one. And being able to help like that makes me wake up every day allows. 

If you're out there putting in long shifts, carrying heavy loads, and still trying to save energy for home, this podcast is for you. We share the same kind of field tested tools we use with the pros, but made for workforce athletes like you. If that's the journey you're on, hit subscribe so you don't miss the next step forward. It's it's so incredible to hear your story and just how responsive you've been to the needs of the community over the years and just a constant problem solver. I mean, as it sounds like that's how this whole thing has developed. It's when the need exists, you're like, I'm not resting until I help figure out a solution to figure this out.

Can you put us in your shoes for a a bit? I think it's it's good for, you know, the frontline workers listening to this to to hear perspective from a line wife. What is it like to, you know, know that your spouse is out working in dangerous environments or and, you know, you're constantly involved with these stories of people getting injured and, you know, you know, it's high-risisk. What is it like on a day-to-day basis? Yeah, I I mean, I I definitely have a different perspective than um the usual line wife. uh because I'm heavily involved in a lot of the stuff. I go to safety meetings. I show up where I need to show up and stuff like that. 

But and I often compare it to the armed forces, uh police officers and stuff like that, even with family events, like they they're not going to show up, you know, like they're they're working or they got this going on. And as a line wife like you kind of have to if if you lived in fear which is what that you know the root is fear of him not coming home you wouldn't have a life. Um, so we often say like I'm a seasoned line wife. Like this is been a hot minute and um we often as as linewise we're we're home. Um or we're working um and there's usually kids, there's usually land, there's usually a house. And we often joke around saying we're we're single moms. Um because the the work itself takes a toll on the husband. Um the the line men or line woman can't forget those cuz I get yelled at for that. Um but but it all everything starts at home. If you don't have a peaceful place at home and you don't have somebody with a sound mind at home, everything else falls apart. 

I've learned this over the years and um making, you know, us as women, we tend to try to make everybody else happy and put yourself you know, fifth in line. And you know, we think of, okay, we'll do the laundry, we'll make the lunches, we'll make the dinner. Like the these are like the the parts of our day that's going to make the family happy. when like that's not that's not really what it is. That's just chores. That's stuff you have to do and get done, you know, and it's just being able to set work aside when when let them come home, let them decompress a little bit and set it aside so that you can have conversations conversations about other things. Like, you know, we're here to listen. And it goes both ways. To be able to vent in a relationship without bringing negativity to the other person or keeping score or anything like that and offering solutions instead of just, you know, Uh-huh. And off being able to offer solutions and understand each other like and be consistent with that, I think has uh is is a big is a big thing. 

And there's a lot of new line wives that are coming in and they're from the social media Tik Tok, Snapchat era and um life 360 and if you don't hear from him for two seconds like he's you know he's off doing something bad and and we try to um kind of not preach but where where we've been in the trade a lot longer If we don't hear from our husbands, that's a great thing. Um, that means they're not hurt, that they don't need there's no there's no needs met. And especially when they're on storm, if it there are days where I didn't hear from my husband at all. There are days when I got a threem minute phone call at 9:15 p.m. I'm all right. D, I'm going to bed. You know, they're working long hours and weird conditions and um it's it's not a walk in the park. It's not a vacation, but to get these guys off of um off of their phones while working, that starts at home, too. You can't have your wife or your girlfriend messaging you every two seconds. Like, you know, sending a nice text saying, "Hey, I hope your day is great." Awesome. But how do I put gas in my car? How do I do this? How do I do that? Like the most of it, 99% of it, you can figure it out yourself. 

So all in all, you have you have to you have to have trust you know and um I think sometimes that is lacking in in this in in the world period but um especially with these newer relationships like this is this is what you're this is this is the life you know what I mean this is there will be Christmases missed there'll be birthdays missed there will be weeks you don't see the person and you've got to be okay enough with yourself and to be you got to have strength and be strong and that you can you can survive by yourself. You don't have to be dependent on another person. You just you got to you got to be up you got to be okay up there. Um yeah, you know, and that's working on that, recognizing that, acknowledging that is is a huge huge step. 

You call yourself a seasoned line wife and you've experienced a lot, but for those new line wives or spouses or uh girlfriends, like what is one piece of advice that you'd give them just to be able to navigate uh that role effectively? 

Have patience. A good piece of advice that um you know again this is human nature. Women come with like let's let's say like a crayon box, right? So women come with that, you know, that big box 164. It's got the sharpener in the back and all that That's a woman. A man, they've got like eight crayons, you know, they've got those, you know, little pack you get at the restaurant and you need all the other colors. So the us as women at home have to understand these men a little bit better. And when we're, you know, going a mile a minute and our heads are going a mile a minute and we're like screaming out like lilac this from our little crayon box, but the men are only equipped with purple. You know what I mean? They they can't they can't think outside of that box. So that that you know being being able to just take a breath um especially in this field uh it's so dangerous but just taking a minute and um I always there's a lot of argument there's a it's there's a high divorce rate um suicide the the like I said the drugs and the alcohol and stuff like that and if the women can just take you know as a season line wife when there there's an argument or whatnot in your head just count down before you a lot of it is um especially with texting you can read those texts 50 different ways um and if you just take five seconds really countdown in your head five 4 3 2 1 before responding because a lot of it is just reaction reaction and then things just blow up and then you know that job that he's got is now even more dangerous because you've got in your in the back of your head. 

So like that's that is my advice just um patience, trust and trying to understand a little bit. Um you know like the line wives are known for being badass and a little running their mouths and stuff like that and they do. Um and uh I used to too. And um like even on our community pages, let's say when the power goes out around here and you've got the whole community like, "Oh my god, I saw them eating lunch in a parking lot. Like what are they doing? My power's still out." And you know, it looks awesome. when when some of the newer line wives comment on that um you either a refrain from commenting altogether or you know think it through like the guys are not in a bucket because it's still 50 mph winds it's dangerous you know they got to wait for supply like either school these people the correct way um especially with like generators and stuff they're widow makers if the you know they don't have them connected right or whatnot and and just be a little bit more conscious of how because there's been there's been guys fired for what their wives have said on public pages, you know, like it's that's a real thing. And just either refrain from speaking or come from a different perspective, you know, just take things down a little notch. We're like, we don't need to be bad asses all the time. 

And if you're to put ourselves in the lineman's shoes, how should he or she be thinking about their spouse and just being thoughtful of what they go through on a day-to-day basis? I guess my advice to the men is um and I can't speak for all of them, but like think of you know have some empathy. There there there's the word have some empathy. Put yourself and especially the women that that are also working. You know, there's a lot of bread winners that are women in the industry that are, you know, the linemen are not the bread winners in that family, but and they're still running the show at at home and stuff like that with the with the kids. So, you know, and it goes both ways. Have some you gota you and some people don't have empathy like they're just not born with it. But you can, you know, uh, grow your emotional, uh, intellect and and and do things to to grow some of this stuff. And, you know, just it think of, you know, put yourself in their shoes for a hot minute. And, um, you know, again, be grateful that you have you have a team player um, with you. and and you know like I mean we've been me and my husband have been together over 20 years like and and I know like that's not the norm for the trade. Um you know these guys are like I'm three divorces down and you know have 52 million kids and stuff like that and you know and there's there's a lot of tri there's so much there's so many different caveats you know like you know you got the linemen that are never home. Um, you've got the linemen that take their whole family on the road with them. I mean, this this uh this trade is awesome. 

Also, if you want to see the country, if you want to go to a different country, you know, like it's it there's a lot of opportunities and a lot of different ways. There's a lot of homeschooling. There's a lot of women that are at home months and months and months at a time by themselves, you know, and like we don't like to announce all that and but like that I mean that happens in the trade very often. So yeah, there's a lot of little caveats that come in and out of there and um you know, there's a lot of strong women out there that um have brought themselves into the trade themselves and um you know, work at some of the local union halls and um are advocates for mental health uh safety and stuff like that. So yeah, it's an awesome trade.  It's an awesome trade. 

And I will say just I mean I did not grow up in the trades. I have more of a sports medicine background, but you know over the last 10 years I've been working with a lot of linemen and frontline workers. And so I've had the chance to go to you know union hall picnics and uh the international line rodeo I go to every single year and it's just like the family families that show up. It's it's pretty remarkable. I mean, you go to the expo and there are probably more kids in that room than there are competitors. It's pretty cool. So, I really do appreciate the the community and the family aspect. 

We always um say we're like we're a different breed of people. It 's definitely dying down a little bit. Unfortunately, the brotherhood um seeing it from being in this for 13 years now, I I can see it. I can feel it definitely. There aren't as many events and I think that's also a reason you for some of the accidents like if you go to an event like let's say a golfing event or some of them have like little carnivals and picnics and stuff like that and you actually meet um your pole buddy's wife his kids he's not just a number anymore he's you know you know his wife you know his kids um and the it just brings it up a a little bit of a notch once once you have a a name to the face or face to the name, sorry, the other way around. Um, and I I can see it coming coming down. There's a lot of guys that come in um into the trade. They're they're young. Um they're from this weird generation of uh I just want to be paid. Um, so the the camaraderie is starting to dwindle a little bit and I believe that's part of, you know, also a part of the reason that we have so many accidents because they're in it for themselves, period. Um, and it's that's sad. That's sad.

What was the moment that you saw started to see that shifter or you had that clarity that you needed to step in and create the line life foundation because there just wasn't the support. There weren't resources uh for when these accidents do occur. Um there was already I want to say maybe two nonprofits. I was a president of one of the nonprofits profits for like a year. We are a union family and I felt um that the lines don't really give a if you're union or non-union. And um with that particular nonprofit, I I could only help um union families and the other people were turned away and that um that I couldn't do that. Um, so I, you know, I was there for a year. Um, and then a few years later I was like, let's I need, we needed a group of passionate people. We keep it to all women. All our volunteers are women. Um, because we don't want the guys worrying about like that stuff while they're at work um, helping in an accident and and figuring that stuff out. So, we keep we do keep it all to women. that's been an amazing asset to to the guys and letting us at Line Life Foundation focus on the accidents. But that's where Line Life Foundation like the the the base came from. I know that the other nonprofits solicit uh to the halls and the companies and for money and stuff like it and we we don't like we're we're so happy. We're we're, you know, if somebody sends us five bucks, we're we're thrilled. Um, and we, you know, our thing was that we're never going to use the money to have salaries to pay for office space. And this is that's what sets us apart too from the other nonprofits is if a dollar is donated, that dollar leaves and goes to a family. And we decided that we we're going to run until we run out of money and that's that. And if you know something else happens, it actually um the money gets donated to uh to another nonprofit in Florida, they get our money. Um so yeah, we never wanted to do it for the money, be paid for doing it or anything like that. And we made that pact a long time ago, and we're still sticking to it, you know. Yeah, it's really incredible.

As you've rolled up your sleeves on these two issues, workrelated injuries and suicide, what do you think are some of the key contributors or things that we can do as an industry to be more proactive of preventing these injuries, preventing the suicides? Like what are the opportunities? 

That's that is also a great question. I don't really have a really firm answer on that. I think personally, I think that we need to step back a little bit, focus a little bit more on mental health. I mean, if our suicide rates are climbing, heart attacks are climbing, too. Um, focus a little bit more on the mental health. take a breath. Um, you know, that's is a little bit of the company's responsibility, but it's also your very own. It's your mental health and you can't, you know, you can't people, you can't tell people how this that and the other thing, but um it only takes one person to influence the other people. You can't change them, but you can freaking influence them. Um, and um speaking up. A lot of people are scared to speak up. um that they're job scared. Um there's a lot of that that goes on in the industry. um knowing your boundaries um and sticking to your boundaries, knowing a job and looking at something that's coming down from like I'll talk corporate um and knowing that it like that project was built by people that aren't actually out in the field and that they're asking for the impossible to happen on a deadline that's this being able to talk up and say something about that. Not just being yes. There's a lot of yesmen in the industry. Yes. Yep. I'll get it done. I'll get it done. I'll get it done. Where they're actually I mean there's saying no is okay too, you know. and um just a lot of pressure from the companies um which then you know from there it builds up to the pressure in your brains and your thoughts and yeah it's I mean it's just there seems to be like a big pot that you can stir for disaster and that's what we're the the effects are accidents and suicides drugs and drinking those are those are the effects Well, I'm sure there even amidst the hard things, there are also bright spots that give you the fuel to continue to invest in this.

Can you tell us a story of where you've really seen line life, you know, have such a positive impact and that was just that energy for you to say, man, we got to keep doing this because it's having an impact. 

I think it's the people that write in. And I had one write in um probably about a week ago and and just write, you know, thank you um you're doing God's work. And that one little email or that, you know, the two sentences that were were sent to me because there are days where I'm like, screw this. I'm so done. Um I don't want to do this anymore. Um, and it it's those little things. Um, you know, finding missing people. Um, especially like during like Helen and stuff like that. I was I was, you know, really ramped up on that. Finding the missing people. Um, connecting dogs to the owners, you know what I mean? It's those little things that keep me going. Um, just knowing that, you know, I I I say like I I said earlier, like if it was about the t-shirt, I would have quit. Um, but it's making a difference. And when I say like make a difference, I know that I I accomplished that a long time ago. And um, like we had spoken and like I know that line junk itself is a sellable business. Um, but I can't sell like the the heart and the the brains behind Lime Junk itself, you know what I mean? And it's just been it's just been a great community. And like, you know, my husband talks about retiring and I don't like. Deep down I do enjoy what I do. you know, it's it's it's hard, but it's um the sense of um just that there's been a difference made in a lot of people's lives is is amazing. You know, it's amazing. And both my girls, you know, they've they've seen me struggle. seen me go through this and um have watched me and and gone to events with me. And for both of my girls to want to come out of school um you know, high school and um go into psychology helping other people is like that that's just like a stamp, you know? Like it's about it's about helping. It's not about the money or anything like that. like that to me like I've I've been successful in helping. So cool with your girls. Must make you very proud.

Anne-Marie, are there any final thoughts that you'd like to leave our guests with?

Just be good people. I know it's hard in this world, but just be good, you know? Think about other people. When you walk by them, you don't know what kind of day they're they're having when you're working with them or when you're in the truck with them or whatnot, you know? just just be good. It's really not that hard. Well, thank you so much for the work that you're doing to support the line community highlighting you know the foundation and Line Junk and limerick stand. We were trying to change some laws and stuff like that, but when it comes down to it like I'm still where Lime Junk was born as one person, it still is one person. And I don't have an army. I don't have a warehouse. Everything is made to order. Like I I am not I'm an army of one and I can only get so far, you know. So that's something, you know, that I've learned also like I can only do so much. So there's things I'm saying no to now. Those are boundaries. 

Yeah. No, we're so happy that this conversation happened and that we can bring more awareness to the amazing work that you're doing. We'll for sure put in the show notes uh links to the different foundations and line junk just so that people can find you. And Anne-Marie if you're okay we'll even put your contact information just so that people can also reach out to you if they hear this and think about other ways that they can contribute.

Yeah. Yeah. That's what I've seen happening is um especially online and take a stand for safety. We do a safety meeting every Sunday morning. There's a lot of people that write in and and you know want to contribute. There's a lot of people that know that this is a big issue and want to contribute and just don't know how. And I encourage them to write in um so you know something I can just copy and paste and and and get out there that might make a difference you know and that's that's what we'll continue to do.

Well, Anne-Marie, thank you so much for all that you do. And if this today's conversation was valuable to you, consider following the WorkReady podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcast or Spotify. Sharing an episode, subscribing, or leaving a review helps this message reach more of the workforce and the people who support them. So, we want to get the word out there.

And we're also continuing this conversation inside the WorkReady community where Anne-Marie is going to join us for an extended interview uh to answer additional questions exclusive content focused on advocacy for mental health and supporting the line community beyond the job site.

If you're a workforce athlete, a family member, or someone responsible for supporting people in the trades, this community is a place to learn, connect, and grow together. Membership is totally free, so check out the show notes for details on how to join. Thanks for spending your time with us. Until next time, take care of yourself, take care of your people, and stay work ready.