Life as a lineworker
Lineworkers play a vital role in maintaining the electricity supply to our homes, businesses, hospitals, schools, and more. They’re on-hand around the clock to make sure power keeps flowing, no matter how tough the conditions.
What do lineworkers do?
When you switch on the lights or boil the kettle, electricity travels from generators like wind farms or power stations along overhead power cables – known as lines - to get to your home.
It's important that electricity is available 24/7, not just to charge our phones and keep our homes heated, but to run hospitals, schools and transport systems. So those overhead lines must be kept resilient against all kinds of weather and repaired if they’re damaged or experience a fault.
That’s where lineworkers come in. Their job is to inspect, maintain and repair the network of overhead lines to help keep electricity flowing safely and reliably – at any time of day or night and no matter what the weather.
A lineworker’s job includes:
Repairs: For example, if trees fall on the lines, they’re hit by lightning or damaged by bad weather.
Inspections: Inspecting the condition of our infrastructure to look for general wear and tear, potential faults or vandalism.
Storm response: Working in hazardous storm conditions to restore power as quickly and safely as possible in the event of an outage.
Maintenance: Such as cutting back trees and vegetation that may be growing onto the lines.
Watch this video of a National Grid engineer climbing an electricity pylon to complete essential safety checks.
How we keep our lineworkers safe
There are numerous risks associated with being a lineworker, such as working at heights, exposure to live electricity and the potential for falls. We therefore ensure that strict safety procedures are in place to mitigate these risks, and our lineworkers undergo rigorous testing and training each year.
To enhance both safety and efficiency, we’ve integrated advanced technology to complement lineworker operations. The use of drones for carrying out visual inspections reduces the risks associated with working at height, as well as allowing our skilled lineworkers to focus on more specialist tasks rather than on routine inspections.
Read more about our use of drones
Does being a lineworker sound like a job for you?Successful lineworkers possess a head for heights and a proactive attitude. It can be challenging, but the reward is knowing that they’re keeping the lights on and ensuring that the power we all rely on to run our homes, businesses, and more continues to flow. If you’re interested in a career as a lineworker in the UK or US, take a look at our careers page. |
Hear from our lineworkers themselves
Hear more about life as a lineworker on our podcast:
