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Powerful Safety
For Northeastern REMC, equipment inspections are critical to providing dependable electricity to more than 27,000 consumers. With poles along road right-of-ways and transformers in residential yards, the risk of an accident is very real. Equipment inspections also affect the Utility’s safety accreditation, cost of liability insurance, and risk of liability lawsuits.
Using a GIS map viewer, Northeastern REMC implemented a mobile Inspection Module. Field workers have the ability to complete an inspection inside the software application they are comfortable with. All inspection fields are populated by menu drop-downs to insure data consistency. Failed inspections can be flagged, providing a quick visual clue for unresolved issues. Once an inspection has been completed in the field, mobile PC’s synchronize with the GIS server, updating it with new information.
The GIS server and the mobile viewer both can query the inspection data and provide sortable reports of inspection results. The reports can then be routed to the appropriate supervisors to view the inspections being completed, and to schedule any follow up work that may be required as a result of the inspections.
Results
As a result of the project, Northeastern REMC has substantially improved the number of annual inspections. It has also improved the accuracy and consistency of inspections. Collecting more inspections reduces risk of an accident, improves system reliability, and reduces insurance costs.
Administration efforts have improved because electronic inspections are easier to count, sort, and search. As the inspections database grows, the REMC can examine trends and patterns of consistent issues and adjust equipment purchases or work methods to correct reoccurring issues. The new systems saves time and money, while increasing the safety of its customers and the general public.