A new piece of equipment Tampa Electric has to serve the community may look familiar at first, but the Terex mini-bucket goes farther in terms of getting company team members to the sources of outages – fostering improved safety for them and more reliability for you.
The mini-bucket is just what the name implies: a smaller version of the bucket you see on our line trucks that elevate TECO team members so they can repair a malfunctioning circuit on a power pole. The big difference is that due to its smaller size, the mini-bucket can go where larger standard buckets can’t. Even better, it enables team members to complete certain repairs without having to climb poles by hand: while staying safer, linemen will be able to work faster to get power restored.
“One of our apprentice lineman said, ‘This is like having a full-sized bucket truck in a customer’s back yard,’” said Luke Diruzza, manager of Distribution Engineering & Operations. “That’s the perfect way to describe this – we plan to use the mini-bucket often during storm season to make repairs in hard-to-access spaces.”
He added, “It will be a great tool for reducing outage times and reducing the potential for injuries. Team members in Tampa Electric’s Western Service Area, where the first unit will be deployed, have extremely positive things to say about it.”
David Ware, manager of Fleet Services, learned about the mini-bucket while working with TECO’s Terex vendor. Right away, he recognized its potential to make a positive difference in the way Tampa Electric reduces outages of all kinds, including the momentary “flickers.” Even though TECO’s flickers are at an all-time low, he said the Fleet department is committed to doing its part to support the reduction even further. With a smaller bucket allowing access through a 3-foot gate that can carry a person – and the ability to lift 950 pounds of equipment – the Terex mini-bucket material handler is among the very best pieces of equipment of its kind in the industry.
But most important of all, Ware said, is safety for everyone at TECO – especially those on the front lines of the power-restoration process.
“No matter what, we have to make sure that every person at TECO goes home healthy at the end of each day,” he said. “We’re always looking for ways to strengthen our fleet and acquire new tools to keep us safe while taking on the huge job of serving the community. Customers may not be able to spot the mini-bucket, but they’ll appreciate what it can do. And our team members definitely appreciate the safety it provides.”
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