Joe Finzel will pass along a little more of his knowledge this morning.
Finzel has spent 15 years at Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.?s Arlington Training Facility in Northwest Baltimore, and as supervisor of training, he will oversee 16 new recruits hoping to become overhead power line workers, rookies whose training begins today.
They will be among 270,000 electricians and power line workers the United States must train by 2016 to meet increased electricity demand and replace a generation of retiring baby boomers, according to a recent federal Department of Labor report.
“When I graduated high school, probably 80 percent of baby boomers went to work, and 20 percent went to college,” Finzel said.
“Now, 20 percent go to work and 80 percent go to college. I see that changing. We?re going to need workers. You?re going to have this mass exit and we?re going to need to prepare for that.”
Nearly 40 percent of line worker positions may be vacant by 2012, according to a recent report by the Center for Energy Workforce Development, a nonprofit partnership of several utility membership organizations.
The report found the median age of the utility work force is 45, and by 2012 will be nearly nine years older than work force figures nationwide.
BGE began looking at its recruitment efforts and training programs earlier this decade, recognizing an impending shortfall in trained personnel for overhead and underground electrical work and gas work, said Marc Sloane, vice president of human resources for BGE.
About 30 percent of BGE?s hundreds of field personnel will be eligible for retirement in five years, Sloane said, and about 48 percent in the next 10 years.
He said BGE has identified jobs with a high percentage of retirement age workers or which require a long training period.
Sloane said BGE has begun working trainees into on-the-job training more quickly, providing leadership experience and skills to crew leaders, and warehousing practical knowledge of older leaders.
“There?s cause to be sure we continue to look at this, and cause to make sure we continue to work on it,” Sloane said. “But there?s not cause for concern … because we?ve been working on it for a long time.”
Two BGE trainees at the Arlington facility, Bob Lee, 27, of Bel Air, and Malik Smith, 26, of Baltimore, said word of mouth from line workers brought them to BGE.
Both have been at the facility for six months and will continue training there for six more months before the six final months of field training.
Both had high praise for the job and looked forward to steady careers, and Lee said he was surprised by the projected lack of line workers.
“It never really dawned on me that there?d be a need for linemen. I figured they?d always be there,” Lee said.
