Electrical Program

Electrical Lineworker Certificate Program

New Mexico electric cooperatives and private firms that perform electrical line work often find it difficult to fill vacancies. DACC’s Electrical Lineworker Program is a one-year pre-apprenticeship certificate program designed to provide students with the technical background and the manual skills necessary for careers in the installation and maintenance of electrical power cables. This training will apply to other industries such as cable television companies, telephone companies and line construction contractors. Opportunities for advancement into supervisory and management positions within these companies is a possibility, but will require a consistently high job performance along with solid leadership skills by individuals.

Students will be exposed to such curriculum topics as AC/DC electrical theory, field training, occupational safety, line construction theory, rigging, and transformers. Campus instruction facilities include a large outdoor training field for pole climbing, line construction, bucket-truck operation and erecting power lines using power-line construction trucks with safety, pole climbing and teamwork highly emphasized. Along with extensive hands-on experience building power lines, students also practice both overhead and underground techniques. As part of the required curriculum, students will be required to work as a cooperative education student with a New Mexico electric cooperative or a private firm that performs electrical line work.

Upon successful completion of the Electrical Lineworker program, the graduate is expected to:

1. Practice the electrical skills of the profession in a conscientious, responsible, and accountable manner while recognizing the need to continue to expand their technical knowledge and skills.
2. Safely climb poles and operate line bucket trucks and pole setting equipment when performing overhead line construction.
3. Safety, teamwork and critical thinking use the acquired analytical skills to solve problems encountered in a field situation.

Graduates are prepared to join the electrical power industry workforce as safe and knowledgeable apprentices.

Program Admissions Criteria

The following items are required for successful admission into the Electrical Lineworker program:

• Admission to DACC
• Background check through the designated affiliate (adverse findings may disqualify a student from acceptance into the program)
• Drug screening
• Human Performance Evaluation; Very Heavy Test