[danielweber]

And even though the solution is right there, power line worker remains the ninth deadliest job in America.

http://www.businessinsider.com/most-dangerous-jobs-in-americ...

[maxerickson]

On trip through Minnesota, I watched a helicopter ferry guys up onto the towers to work (they dangled from the helicopter and then transferred over to the tower: http://www.capx2020.com/ ). They were building the type of infrastructure the news says America doesn't know how to build anymore.

I wonder if energized lines are the big problem.

[tlrobinson]

Workers can safely work on live high voltage lines, if they're wearing a Faraday cage "hot suit" and not grounded: http://youtu.be/LIjC7DjoVe8

[lutorm]

That video is awesome. I've seen a version with much better quality that really gets my acrophobia going... ;-)

[fche]

(It's likely there are many -other- hazards to power line working, beyond presence or absence of transfer switches at on-site generators.)

[danielweber]

If you are a lineman, you are three times more likely to die from electrocution than from a fall.

(They die from electrocution at 35x the normal population rate, while the death from falls is 5x the normal population rate.)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1568699/pdf/envh...

That's just fatalities, ignoring the other dangers like getting your arms blown off.