Training the Next Generation

By Todd Walker, Regional Supervisor

For many years now, there has been a shortage of well-trained and qualified pre-inspectors to engage the demands for utility vegetation management (UVM) program needs. This is the case across most of the United States and especially in California, where wildfires have had widespread, disastrous impacts across the state. These wildfires have highlighted the need for a pre-inspection workforce that is capable of inspecting, pinpointing, and ensuring risk mitigation efforts are put into action to reduce and eliminate tree-power line conflicts.

Training for this specialized field has typically been limited to on-the-job programs, with very few other professional options. In recent years, UpSkill California developed a pre-inspection course that is available at a variety of colleges associated with the California Community Colleges system. After the two-week course, students are equipped with 80 hours of classroom and field training necessary for a career in utility pre-inspection.

It has been a great pleasure for me to be part of this UVM workforce training initiative in California. I was recommended to the program by my CNUC colleague Dustin Brooks, as he was planning to move on from his role in the course. I have been an instructor for Pre-Inspector Level 1 Training courses at Butte Community College for about one year.

During the first week of the course, we are primarily in the classroom, focused on many topics like: UVM program roles and responsibilities, tree biology, tree risk assessment, and electrical hazard awareness. Students must pass three exams about this content in order to pass the course.

The second week of the course is mostly spent in the field. We get right to work, putting all of the classroom knowledge to use. We patrol power lines, identify tree defects, conduct risk assessments, and train with data collection software.

I have enjoyed having the opportunity to pass skills and information on to the next generation. It’s an honor to work with the other instructors, sharing what we know with the students as we all work together to meet an industry need.