Description
Install, maintain, and repair overhead and underground electric transmission and distribution lines and related equipment. Ensure work complies with NESC, OSHA, and utility standards. May install or service transformers, switches, street lighting, and service drops.
- • Construct, install, test, and maintain overhead and underground distribution and transmission lines.
- • Troubleshoot faults and outages using test equipment, meters, and system maps.
- • String, sag, splice, and terminate conductors and cables.
- • Set, frame, and guy poles; install anchors, crossarms, and hardware.
- • Install, connect, and replace transformers, capacitors, reclosers, switches, and regulators.
- • Perform switching, tagging, and grounding; follow energized work procedures with hot sticks or rubber gloves.
- • Patrol and inspect lines and equipment to identify hazards, defects, or clearance issues and ensure code compliance.
- • Test for voltage, phase, and continuity; verify protective grounds before work begins.
- • Read and interpret staking sheets, prints, one-lines, and construction standards to plan work and material needs.
- • Direct or train apprentices and groundmen in safe work practices and procedures.
- • Operate and maintain bucket trucks, digger derricks, pullers, tensioners, and other line tools and test devices.
- • Install and service street lights, service drops, and secondary networks.
- • Place, splice, and terminate underground cable in conduit, vaults, handholes, and pad-mounted gear.
- • Repair or replace damaged poles, crossarms, insulators, conductors, and hardware.
- • Climb poles and work from aerial lifts or in confined spaces and vaults to install or repair equipment.
- • Install bonds and temporary or permanent grounds; maintain proper clearances.
- • Complete crew logs, switching orders, as-builts, and material usage reports.
- • Set up traffic control and maintain safe work zones per OSHA and MUTCD requirements.
- • Respond to storms and emergencies to restore power; work extended hours in adverse weather.
- • Maintain a valid commercial driver's license and required safety and first-aid certifications.
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Construction
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
