Harry Shannon
A few weeks ago we had an ice/snow storm – the sort of conditions that cause an ice build-up on tree branches or utility lines that can bring them down. And sure enough we lost power for several hours, from mid-morning to early evening. There were several other outages in the region. I read via my cell phone that one of them was expected to continue through the night.
The weather was miserable. It was a damp cold, and walking outside was risky given the ice on the ground. Fortunately, our house didn’t get very cold, and we could still use our gas stove to make tea and heat food.
Now for most of my career, I did research on work health and safety. So I started thinking about the people working to restore our power supply. Those workers don’t just have to contend with the weather; they also have to deal with the dangers of electrocution. And they get few thanks from the public. So I wrote a short letter to the local paper, the Hamilton Spectator. It was published a few days later.
Here it is:
Re: Alectra workers
Kudos to the Alectra utility staff working to restore our power supply in the awful weather today (Sunday). Whatever the conditions, they’re out doing the job. We appreciate what they do and thank them sincerely.