Staff writer
According to Pat Zogelman of Florence, safety training is continuous for an electrical lineman.
He entered training one year after graduating from high school and has been a lineman for 34 years.
He began his apprenticeship in 1974 with Flint Hills Rural Electric Cooperative Association at Council Grove after a one-year training program at Manhattan Vocational-Technical College.
After two years as an apprentice, he took a test to become a journeyman and continued with Flint Hills RECA until 1988, when he began working for KP&L, now Westar Energy.
As an apprentice, he worked on the job and also studied to learn the correct way to perform various tasks. A large part of the training was learning the safe way to do every job.
“Safety is a very, very important aspect of the job,” Zogelman said. “Line work and working with energized conductors is very dangerous. At Westar Energy, we work on voltages anywhere from 120 to 345,000.”
A lineman’s job consists of building overhead and underground power lines and maintaining them.
In 1992, Zogelman became an agent for Westar, making him responsible for a specific service area. If there is a problem with the electricity, he is the first one called to check it out.
He tries to repair the problem himself, but if he needs help, he calls a crew or another man to assist.
Zogelman said he has to be prepared to respond to a call at any time, day or night. He keeps a company vehicle at his home so he can respond quickly.
“The worst weather to work in is the ice storms,” Zogelman said. “Sometimes working at night in the ice and snow, you hear the trees and power lines crashing down from the weight of the ice. I hope we don’t get another ice storm. I hate them more every year.”
Thunderstorms, lightning, and wind also cause a lot of problems, Zogelman said.
“If you see lightning at night, we probably will be getting called to work,” he said.
He has worked storms in two other states and all over this part of Kansas.
“We sometimes work 36 to 48 hours straight,” he said. “Companies are better now about giving you time off to rest.”
According to Zogelman, most customers are thankful for the job linemen do and sometimes offer to feed them or give them coffee.
“One time we worked an ice storm in Oklahoma for 10 days,” he said. “We would go into a small town that had not had power for a week, and the people would come out of their houses and be so happy to see us, hoping they soon would be back on.”
Zogelman grew up at Burns and attended Burns and Peabody schools. He has lived in Florence since 1976. He and his wife, Mary, have three grown daughters: Lisa, Sara, and Krista. They have one grandson, Noah.
Zogelman said he enjoys his job because he likes being outside. There is always something different or challenging that comes up.
“I have always been very fortunate to work with good people,” he said. “I had good fellow workers who taught me the trade and how to do it safely.”
Zogelman said a lot has changed in his 34 years of service. There are fewer workers but they have much better equipment and safety rules. They have computers in their offices and trucks.
“But one thing never changes,” Zogelman said. “When the lights go out, someone has to get the power lines back on.”
He said there is a great need for electrical linemen and encourages others to look into it.
“If a person is willing to do the work, you can find a job,” he said.