This terrifies me.
As spring begins, we at your co-op ask farmers and farm workers to plant the seeds of safety.
In two days, seven accidents caused outages in the combined Dakota Valley and Northern Plains Electric Cooperatives’ service areas. Five of them were farm-machinery related and two were fire related.
Asking a farmer to slow down this time of year isn’t practical. We know how busy everyone is. But we do want to remind people what to do if they do hit a pole, transformer or other piece of our equipment.
Unless there’s a risk of fire or imminent danger, stay in the cab and call for help. Warn others who may be nearby to stay away and wait until the electric utility arrives to cut off the power.
If the power line is energized and you step outside, your body becomes the path and electrocution is the result. Even if a power line ha
s landed on the ground, the area nearby may be energized. Tangling with 7,200 volts of electricity can have serious and fatal consequences.
Between 2009 and 2013, we noticed an increase in accidents between the public and power lines. Last year alone, more than 60 accidents were reported between the two co-ops. The year prior, 134 accidents were reported.
