Employee Spotlight: Dan Hannon
Dan Hannon is a foreman. He has worked for KEC for 25 years.
What made you interested in line work? How did you train to prepare for work in this field?
Before I began my career in line work, I worked in construction and as a Forest Service firefighter. The construction industry was tough in the '80s and '90s. There wasn’t a lot of work in the winter, and I was newly married. I’d never considered being a lineman, but my dad encouraged me to apply at KEC. It was a risk at the time, but it paid off. I started out as a temporary groundman and moved up from there, including completing an apprenticeship and working as a Journeyman Lineman. I’ve been a foreman for about 13 years. It’s been a great career and a blessing to my family.
What does a day look like for you as a foreman at KEC?
It really depends on the day and the project. Sometimes our crew is working on new construction and other times maintenance or outages. Right now, my crew is working on a voltage conversion project in the Twin Lakes Village subdivision. This project will take approximately two months to complete. After that we may work on some shorter-term projects. At KEC, we do it all: overhead, underground, switching, road-widening and more. I appreciate working on different kinds of projects in different locations across our service territory.
Tell us about the voltage conversion project you are working on.
The electricity serving the Twin Lakes Village area is fed from one feeder coming out of our Scarcello substation. From there, specialty equipment called step-down transformers are used to split the circuit into two different voltages: 15kV (7,200 volts) and 25kV (14,400 volts). My crew is currently working to convert the Twin Lakes Village subdivision to the higher voltage. This work will improve reliability for members and will eliminate the need for this specialty equipment (stepdown transformers). It will also allow KEC engineering and operations staff to better monitor electric load and coordinate equipment to isolate outages and improve restoration times.
What is the biggest challenge in your job?
Maintaining the excellent safety culture we have at KEC. Our goal is for each employee to return home safe to their families each night. To help meet this goal we hold daily safety briefings to discuss projects, hazards, procedures and the protective safety equipment needed for each job. Communication is key so everyone knows what we are doing and why we are doing it. Each member of the crew has the opportunity to bring up safety concerns or suggestions each day.
What is the best part of your job?
Watching the power restoration process. When outages occur and lineworkers are called out we work until power is restored to all members. Nobody stops until the power is back on. Watching it all come together is my favorite part of the job. It’s long hours and hard work but that’s what being a lineman is all about. We thrive in that environment. Also, it’s not just the linemen putting in that time. There are a lot of other employees who put in a significant amount of time and effort to support the crews. I think members would be proud to know how hard we work to keep the lights on.