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Built Lineman Cookson Hills Electric Co-op lineman’s innovation gains


Oklahoma’s own Brian Jackson is the inventor of the Bucket Barricade, a safety tool designed to protect a lineman’s back.


up there in his position needs something between him and what could really hurt him,” Jackson said.


By Hayley Imel lineman, said. S Even for the lineman who understands


dangerous work, safety precautions can- not always be preemptive. According to Jackson, all too often an accident alerts an industry that unique precautionary measures are needed.


However, on an ordinary workday in 2004, Jackson lit up with an idea for an innovation that is now helping shield linemen from potentially life-threatening situations.


It’s called the “Bucket Barricade”: a safe- ty shield that literally covers a lineman’s back. Hastings Hot Line Tools recently picked up the product, and Jackson hopes the bucket barricade will assist in saving lives.


Starting from Scratch


From the ground seven years ago, Jack- son watched one of


challenging situation while changing a middle insulator on a pole. Jackson was concerned his crewmate’s back could get too close to a “stinger,” or the wire extend- ing from the transformer.


“Even when you have all your Personal


Protection Equipment on, your back is still exposed. He was coming dangerously close to the stinger, and he could have in- advertently made contact with it,” Jackson said.


According to Jackson, the stinger was producing 7,620 volts of electricity. Brushing against such a high level of volt- age would have been certain death. “I was standing there thinking a guy


12 OKLAHOMA LIVING 12 OKLAHOMA LIVING his crewmate in a


afety rules are written in blood,” Brian Jackson, a Cookson Hills Electric Cooperative journeyman


Jackson continued to think about the close call all day. He decided to pursue his concept when Wayne Honeycutt, a me- chanic at Cookson Hills Electric, encour- aged Jackson to turn his idea into reality. Jackson gathered old materials he had lying around his house: two pieces of in- sulation board, three pieces of vinyl siding track and a little bit of glue. He stuck it all together and said it was like a “concept coming to life.”


And so the Bucket Barricade was born. A Shield with Smarts


The safety shield continued to evolve with the help of a few good linemen. “Lineman are a stubborn breed of man- kind,” Jackson said. “So I took it to them and asked, ‘What do you think about it?’” The linemen he talked to expressed they were pretty well encumbered with items already essential to going up in the buck- et. Safety equipment and material needed for the specifi c job can add up, leaving no extra space in the bucket.


Being a lineman himself, Jackson un-


derstood their need. Jackson and Hon- eycutt began working on a prototype for a safety shield that would fi t into a piece of equipment already placed in the bucket. Jackson had the idea to incorporate the shield into the tool board.


“The last thing a lineman needs is some- thing else in the bucket to get in their way,” he said. “Every bucket already has a tool board, so, to me, it works out great.” The Bucket Barricade is also easily re- tractable into the tool board when it’s not in use.


“It’s like a policeman with a gun,” Jack- son said. “It’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.“ Furthermore, the shield is built to with- stand small energizing equipment explo- sions.


“When equipment fails, and it will and


it has, if you have this between you, you won’t get all of it.“


The reason for the intense durability is the shield is made out of heavy polycar- bon. Jackson said, out of curiosity, he even tested it for himself. “Being an Oklahoma guy, I have a shot- gun,” Jackson said. “I went out in my backyard and I got as close as I dared to it and I shot it. At almost point-blank range it still took all the force.”


And the Bucket Barricade is not likely to fail any time soon. Jackson said he has looked for years to fi nd a downside to the product to no avail.


“I told Hastings it has to be there a long time, or they (linemen) will throw it in the corner and never look back on it,” Jackson said.


Not only is the shield built to last, but it’s also built for convenience. One ben- efi t from the design is that the new tool board does not have an inhibiting “z” shape to hook on the side of the bucket. The Bucket Barricade hooks using a “u” shape, which enables linemen to move their tool board without having to land and get out of the bucket. Specifi c to the winter season, another residual benefit is the shield makes a great windbreaker against icy wind. But Jackson said with all the extra perks, the shield’s coolest attribute is its life-saving potential.


He is most thankful he didn’t have to


see someone get hurt to see the idea evolve. Top of the Line


“If one person gets to go home unhurt, then it’s all worth it,” Jackson said. Jackson and his family have invested heavily in the patenting process for the Bucket Barricade because they have faith the product has a purpose.


“I give all the glory for this idea to the Lord. I feel like he let everything to work out up to now.” Jackson said he’s not looking for any personal recognition. He says Honeycutt worked with him side by side and with- out him the Bucket Barricade would never have happened.


Continuing in true cooperative spirit, Continued on Page 29


Photo by Hayley Imel


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