NOVEC Line Techs Take Skills to the Rodeo

The people who help bring power to homes in Prince William County and Manassas Park brought home several awards during a late-March competition against their industry peers.

Six Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC) journeymen and three apprentice line technicians are among the 83 line techs from five states who competed in the Gaff-n-Go Lineman’s Rodeo in Caroline County on March 31.

The competition’s name comes from the metal spike, the gaff, which attaches to line techs’ boots to assist in climbing wooden utility poles.

During the rodeo, competitors were tested on their proficiently at using CPR and a defibrillator. They also rapidly climbed 40 feet above the ground and demonstrated their technical skills and accuracy on an obstacle course of utility poles while being timed by judges.

Three NOVEC apprentice line technicians—two of them hailing from Prince William County—performed well at the rodeo, NOVEC officials said.

Chris Bastien came in first in the climbing (utility) pole skills event while his fellow linemen and Prince William County resident, Anthony Franchini, placed second. Mike Musso of Fauquier County came in ninth out of 41 competitors in the event.

Bastien also placed second in the Hurt Man Rescue event, NOVEC officials said.

The Hurt Man Rescue event tests how quickly a line tech can rescue a fellow worker who is hurt while on a utility pole, Priscilla Knight, NOVEC spokeswoman, said.

The “hurt” is usually a powerful electric shock. Time is important, she said. The sooner the injured person is lowered to the ground, the sooner fellow workers can begin CPR and use an automated external defibillator device in an attempt to save him. For the event, competitors are timed to see how fast they can climb a utility pole and free a manikin from the pole.

NOVEC's apprentices are trained through one of the company's five state-certified programs. Highly skilled line and substation technicians, system operators, utility designers and quality-assurance inspectors hail from this program, Knight said. The company currently has about 10 apprentices on the job.

Six of NOVEC’S journeymen—workers who have completed the company’s four-year apprentice program—were on teams that placed in the March competition.

Here’s a breakdown of the two, three-man NOVEC teams that placed:

 Overall First Place Journeyman Team
• Dan Hampton, Loudoun County
• Justin Bettis, Culpeper County
• Jesse Taylor, Fauquier County

Overall Third Place Journeyman Team
• Gerald Gardner, Stafford County
• Norman Tapp, Culpeper County
• Mark Windsor. Shenandoah County

Hampton and Bettis graduated from the four-year program less than two weeks before the rodeo and are the company’s newest journeymen, NOVEC officials said.

Three of the men who competed have already put their lifesaving skills to the test.

"Chris, Justin and Jesse helped save a 34-year-old man’s life in 2010 when he was shocked with 7,200 volts of electricity,” said Bob Bisson, NOVEC vice president, Electrical System Development. “The salesman was demonstrating a new utility device to our workers when he accidentally grabbed the energized device.

The power jolt knocked him to the floor and he turned blue. Our rodeo coaches had drilled CPR and AED skills into our competitors so well that when the real thing happened they went into action immediately with other NOVEC employees and revived the man. Miraculously, the salesman ran a half marathon a month later. I’m proud of our guys for saving a life; I have to give a lot of credit to the rodeo.”

The Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives sponsors the rodeo.