The United States government is helping to save the lives of thousands of linemen who work for Pakistan’s electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) through a worker safety training program.
“Historically in Pakistan, over 100 experienced linemen lose their lives and the same numbers of linemen are severely disabled every year,” said Michael Curtis, Director of USAID’s Energy Office.
To help save lives and improve safety, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) developed training programs for DISCO linemen, staff, and senior management. The sessions were designed to instill a culture of safety and by so doing reduce deaths, which represent an irreplaceable loss to families and also cause significant losses to the power grid.
These efforts are part of a broad U.S. government energy sector assistance program for Pakistan that aims to increase its electricity output to benefit about 16 million people throughout the country by 2014. As part of the U.S. government energy sector assistance program, USAID has funded renovations at power plants, aided the completion of dams, and helped improve power distribution throughout Pakistan. By the end of 2014, these efforts are expected to add a cumulative total of 1400 megawatts to Pakistan’s national power grid.
