Come rain, sunshine or snow, the work never stops for our DTE crews. While the winter months bring less risk of outages for the customers, it does create various challenges for our line workers. As you see our crews out working in frigid temperatures, send them warm vibes as they cope with the things they’ve told us are most challenging:
- Our crews have to wear more clothes which in turn slows their body movements down.
- Snow and ice causes a driving concern so it may take longer to get to a job.
- Low temperatures make it difficult to work for extended periods, so our crews have to take periodic breaks to warm up in their trucks.
- Snow on the ground makes it harder for us to get to the pole to work.
- Frostbite is a big concern. “I have several friends in the business who have gotten frostbite,” said one crew leader. “It’s something we all take really seriously.” One of the big contributors to this challenge is that line workers wear rubber gloves when working on energized lines and these gloves are not warm. These workers also spend large amounts of time lifted in a bucket being more exposed to wind and low temperatures.
Did you know:
- Tree trimming never stops even in the winter months. There are certain species of trees we only trim in the winter, so you will see us out in all kinds of weather trimming trees from around lines to improve your power reliability!
You may see more of our crews in the coming months as part of our accelerated electric reliability projects in your area, including more tree trimming and infrastructure updates. All these projects are underway to improve your service and reliability for the short- and long-term.
Make sure to regularly check the Southfield community page to learn more about what’s going on in your neighborhood. You can also follow DTE on Facebook and Twitter for even more updates and information.
