ECG Training and Safety Comprehensive Underground School equips utility workers with the skills necessary to operate, maintain, and repair an underground electrical system safely. Today’s congested underground environments require utility workers to be properly trained to work safely on critical infrastructure. To adequately prepare utility workers with this skill set, ECG acquired some help from its members to extend its training grounds, adding 600-amp components to the underground infrastructure at the Jeff Cook Training Center in Adel, GA.

Troy Utilities of Troy, Alabama, an ECG Training & Safety Member, extended its assistance by sending a crew to the training center with equipment and hands-on help to assist in the build-out. “We started a few years back with ECG, this is a great program, and I’m looking forward to our relationship in the future,” said Blake Garrett, Construction Foreman of Troy Utilities. In working on-site at the training center, Blake and his crew encountered two rattlesnakes while moving a switching cubicle. This would be out of the ordinary to some, but to a lineman, it becomes part of the training.

Additionally, ECG received tremendous support and contributions from Marietta Power, the City of Calhoun, the City of Griffin, the City of Norcross, the City of Lawrenceville, the City of Covington, the City of Albany, Deep South, South Con, and Morgan Advanced Products. The generosity of contributions and assistance given in various ways have proven to be very rewarding in strengthening our professional relationships with members and vendors.

Greg Phillips, Director of Training & Safety for ECG, expressed his gratitude by saying the sentiments of Henry Ford are true, “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.“ The school is scheduled to begin November 7-11, 2022, with 16 attendees representing eight ECG member utilities.