Electricity is truly remarkable. It’s everywhere — lighting up our homes, powering TVs and refrigerators, charging phones we rely on daily, and generally changing our lives in ways we almost take for granted. It feels like it’s always been here.
That’s not the case, of course. It’s worth remembering that, though electricity now runs almost every part of our routines, most homes and businesses in rural parts of the United States didn’t have electricity available to them until the mid-1930s.
Nearly four decades ago, Dwight Miller climbed an electric utility pole to rescue a fellow lineman who had accidentally made contact with an energized line. The injuries were bad, and although the lineman survived, the scene haunted Miller’s sleep for weeks.
Miller’s laser focus on safety — whether in an official capacity or “just speaking up when nobody else would speak up” — altered his career path.
Today, Miller’s nine-member safety team works in Ohio and West Virginia to coach, train, and support not only the 375 lineworkers employed by the co-ops, but all 1,500 cooperative employees in the state, with an aim to keep everyone safe.
