2025 Safety Project Tasks

Workshops: Two workshops are aimed at serious accidents and fatalities (SIFs). These workshops may help utilities compare their practices and approaches with others in the industry. The workshops will also help prioritize future research. These were first initiated in 2023. Results from these workshops include a package that allows utilities to use events from other utilities to self-review practices, training, and use of tools and PPE.

• Workshop on Underground Safety: Key focus areas include lockout and tagout, manhole entry procedures, cable cutting, dealing with live-front equipment, cable identification, and other hazards. Hazards include arc flash, contact with live-front equipment, equipment failures, gases, and traffic.

• Workshop on Overhead Safety: Key focus areas include use of coverup, practices for gloving, practices for hotsticks, and technologies for worker protection. Hazards include contact, arc flash, step-and-touch voltages, induction, traffic, and falls.

Downed-Conductor Prevention and Detection: Downed conductors remain a challenge for electric utilities. EPRI has investigated and evaluated various approaches to downed-conductor detection, including electrical measurement, high-speed signal processing, and methods based on advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). In 2025, plans are to continue to collect high-resolution electrical signatures and test these with various arc-detecting and high-impedance-fault-detecting technologies.

Arc Flash: Arc flash is a hazard to workers, and an effective worker-protection program involves many facets that touch on work methods, personnel protective equipment, system protection, and analysis. For 2025, EPRI plans to continue to evaluate ratings and selection of arc-rated FR clothing. In 2024, testing showed that many products from brand-name vendors were found to have ratings 30% below the advertised rating. Follow-up testing with more types of clothing will be evaluated. New approaches to test and evaluate fabrics are also planned.

Truck Safety and Proximity Awareness: EPRI intends to continue research to reduce unintended wire contacts and worker electrocution. This will focus on 3D mapping technologies combined with other sensing modalities may support proximity-based tracking, alarming, or even collision avoidance.

Live-Line Coverup Verification: Live-line work poses significant risks to workers, and is mitigated with the use of coverups. Proper placement of these coverups is crucial for ensuring worker safety. This research explores how machine learning and AI can enhance the verification of cover-up placement by developing and validating predictive models. To support this effort, synthetic modeling is used to generate a diverse range of cover-up scenarios, providing a robust dataset for training and evaluation.