^{July 1, 2025} MYR Group Companies Perform Important Energized Construction for Customers

As utilities’ needs shifted, MYR Group launched live-line barehand programs to support them

Understanding the needs and goals of a partner is the cornerstone of every healthy relationship. 

You must listen and care. It’s essential. 

Two MYR Group companies have maintained long-lasting relationships with utilities in their area because they understood this basic requisite of a partnership. 

And so, they listened. 

It just so happened that around the same time in 2018, both MYR Group subsidiaries independently started hearing the same thing – energized construction was the future. 

If they wanted to keep those strong relationships going, they would need to demonstrate the ability to perform live-line barehand work and help their customers reduce outages and all the complications that stem from lines being out of service. 

And so, they cared. 

Despite the investment it would take to launch completely new barehand programs from scratch, neither company’s leadership hesitated. The two MYR Group companies independently developed energized certification programs from the ground up in different areas of the country – one in the Northeast, another in Texas.

Working the Line “Hot” 

Energized work methods allow utilities to maintain uninterrupted service on their systems. This minimizes disruptions to power customers and lowers the utility’s operational costs. Hot sticking is one form of energized work, where a lineworker uses an insulated stick to work on live high-voltage electrical equipment (commonly referred to as “hot” lines). 

Live-line barehand work, however, is a specialized form of energized work where a lineworker performs their tasks at the same potential as the conductor they’re working on. This is achieved by wearing a unique suit made from fire-retardant materials and stainless-steel fibers, creating a Faraday Cage. 

Essentially, the electrical charge flows around the outside of the suit and not through the lineworker’s body. To do this, the lineworker “bonds on” to the conductor, which flows the charge around the suit and protects the worker inside the electrical field. 

A robust training program is critical for lineworkers to fully understand the technique and build the necessary skills to safely perform the work. 

A construction manager involved with one of MYR Group’s companies which perform live-line construction said that energized work skills come with a different “mindset,” because there are so many technical aspects to plan for. “You must be 100 percent prepared, and there is no room for error,” he explained.

Building Barehand Programs from the Ground Up 

One of our companies brought in experienced barehand lineworkers like Operations Manager Billy Walsh, who brought 25 years of experience in energized work to get involved in development of the program in Texas.

It required significant investment, much more than a standard construction or maintenance crew. The company then selected a group of lineworkers without energized experience and put them through rigorous training to win and perform live-line work. They also received barehand training from a third party, and leaders took part in train-the-trainer courses. They successfully executed their first live-line barehand project in 2019 on 345kV transmission, but the bulk of their energized work is performed on 138kV lines in West Texas.

Lineworkers learning barehand work must understand more complex electrical theory and take great care in planning the work because there is no room for error when handling an energized, high-voltage transmission line. 

It also applies principles that are different from other methods of line work. 

In contrast to typical linework, where lineworkers are taught to maintain their minimum approach distance (MAD) to keep a safe distance from conductor, energized work requires the opposite. A live-line worker must become the potential and stay as close to it as they can. Too far away, they become a different potential and that is where the danger exists.

In the Northeast, another of our companies sought experienced live-line barehand lineworkers and relied on key personnel to help build its own energized program.

Utilities weren’t keen on the idea of having lineworkers train on their systems, which meant finding hands-on ways to practice was the most significant hurdle to overcome. They used training yards in New Hampshire and New York and built an H-frame structure in their warehouse to do practical training.

Over time, they built a single crew of 10 certified live-line barehand workers and that has since grown to four energized crews and more than 40 certified individuals. Their crews have successfully reconductored lines while maintaining safety excellence. In fact, they found safety performance on energized projects was better than on de-energized work, thanks to the training and intense focus required.

Ultimately, the growing need for energized work due to outage constraints led to the creation of the Live Line Academy, MYR Group’s energized training facility located in Alvarado, Texas. There, lineworkers from MYR Group subsidiaries can receive live-line barehand training on a variety of energized structures in a safe and controlled environment and avoid the hurdles faced by two of our companies as they developed their own programs starting in 2019.