Electrical lineworker screening questions: apprenticeship, qualified work, CDL and storm duty
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Electrical lineworker screening questions should establish where the candidate is in their trade (apprentice step, journeyman or foreman), which voltages and kinds of work they are qualified for (distribution or transmission, overhead or underground, energized or de-energized), whether they climb as well as work from a bucket, whether they hold the commercial driver's license the job needs, and whether they can take storm calls and travel. A journeyman from overhead distribution and one from underground network work are both lineworkers, but not interchangeable on a crew.
This page is for utility and contractor line crews. For inside wiremen and maintenance electricians, use electrician screening questions, which cover state license levels. For operators who run the digger derrick or crane on a line job but do not do line work, heavy equipment operator screening questions fit better.
Apprenticeship, journeyman status and "qualified"
Most lineworkers learn through an apprenticeship. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook describes programs that combine on-the-job training with technical instruction and may last up to three years; program lengths vary, so ask for the hours or steps completed rather than assuming. Many are registered apprenticeships, and completion leads to journeyman status.
Separately, OSHA's standard for electric power work, 29 CFR 1910.269, and its construction counterpart in Subpart V of Part 1926, require that only qualified employees work on or near exposed energized lines and parts. A qualified employee is trained to tell exposed live parts from other parts, determine their nominal voltage, know and keep the minimum approach distances, use protective equipment and insulated tools, and recognize and control electrical hazards. The employer decides who is qualified, for which work. That is why "what voltages have you worked, and how?" is a better question than "are you qualified?"
Knockout questions
| Question | What a strong answer sounds like | Red flags |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Where are you in the trade: apprentice step, journeyman, or foreman? Since when? | "Journeyman since March 2023, topped out of a four-year program with about 7,000 hours." Names the program and can provide the completion certificate. | Calls themselves a journeyman without completing a program or holding equivalent documented experience. |
| 2. This crew does [overhead distribution / transmission / underground]. How many months have you worked that type of work, and how recently? | Specific months and the work: "Three years overhead distribution, mostly 12 kV, energized work with rubber gloves from the bucket." | Work of a different type only, described as the same. |
| 3. The job requires a Class [A or B] CDL. Do you hold one, and in which state? | Yes, class and state, and a clean or explained record. | "I'm getting it," for a crew that needs a driver on day one. |
| 4. Can you climb, and when did you last climb a pole at work? | Yes, with the last time and what they did at the top. | Has only worked from a bucket, for a territory with backyard poles. |
| 5. The role includes storm response and [overtime, on-call, travel]. Can you take those calls? | A clear yes, or a specific limit named now. | Refuses on-call in a role where it is part of the job. |
Work practice and safety questions
You do not need to judge the electrical content. Listen for sequence, for the words "job briefing", "test", "ground" and "approach distance", and for whether safety steps come before the work or after it.
| Question | What a strong answer sounds like | Red flags |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Walk me through the start of a job, from arriving at the site to the first person going up. | A job briefing covering hazards, procedures, energy source controls and PPE, as 1910.269 requires; set up work zone and traffic control; inspect gear and rubber goods; confirm clearances or hold tags. | "We get the truck set up and go." |
| 7. How do you make a line safe to work de-energized? | Get the clearance, test for absence of voltage, install protective grounds in the correct order, and remove them in reverse order at the end. | Relies on "they told us it was dead" with no test or grounds. |
| 8. What voltages have you worked energized, and with what method? | Specific voltages and methods: rubber gloving from an insulated bucket, hot sticks, cover-up, and the minimum approach distances they kept. | Vague about voltages, or boasts about getting close. |
| 9. When you climb, how are you protected from falling? | Uses fall protection while climbing and working on the pole; OSHA has required fall protection for qualified climbers since April 1, 2015, unless the employer shows it creates a greater hazard. | "Real linemen free climb." |
| 10. Tell me about a time you stopped a job for safety. | A specific hazard, who they told, what changed, and how the crew responded. | Never stopped a job, or stopped it and was overruled without pushing further. |
| 11. Are you trained in first aid and CPR, and when does it expire? | Current, with a month. 1910.269 requires at least two trained people on field crews of two or more working on energized lines at 50 volts or more. | Lapsed, with no class booked. |
Equipment and task questions
| Question | What a strong answer sounds like | Red flags |
|---|---|---|
| 12. Which trucks and equipment have you operated: bucket truck, digger derrick, pole trailer, tensioner and puller? | A list tied to jobs, and which they operated versus ground-manned. | Claims all of them, with no job to attach. |
| 13. Describe setting a new pole and transferring the wires. | Locate utilities before digging, set and tamp the pole, frame it, transfer conductors under the right protection, remove the old pole, clean up. | Skips locating before digging, or has only watched. |
| 14. What was your last storm deployment: where, how long, and what was your role? | A place, dates, the kind of damage, and whether they worked with an unfamiliar utility's switching and clearance rules. | Describes storm work as unstructured, with no clearance process. |
| 15. For foreman roles: how did you plan the crew's day and handle a job that did not match the work order? | Reviews the order and the site, sets tasks, calls the supervisor or engineer when the field does not match, documents the change. | "Just made it work" without telling anyone. |
CDL and driving
The BLS notes that lineworkers who drive heavy vehicles usually need a state-issued CDL. Since February 7, 2022, people getting a Class A or B CDL for the first time, or upgrading, must complete entry-level driver training from a provider on FMCSA's Training Provider Registry before testing. CDL drivers are also subject to DOT drug and alcohol testing rules, including pre-employment testing, and employers query FMCSA's Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse before a driver starts. Ask which class the candidate holds, any endorsements and restrictions, and when their DOT medical card expires; leave the testing itself to the employer's DOT process.
A 20-minute phone-screen flow
- Minutes 0 to 2: the employer, type of work, territory, crew, schedule, storm expectations, travel and pay.
- Minutes 2 to 7: knockouts 1 to 5.
- Minutes 7 to 14: questions 6 to 9, with 10 if time allows.
- Minutes 14 to 18: the equipment and storm questions that fit the job.
- Minutes 18 to 20: certificates to send (apprenticeship completion, CDL, first aid), availability for a climbing or skills check, and next steps.
How lineworker experience gets overstated
- Groundman time counted as line work. Years on the ground described as years as a lineworker. Ask when they started working aloft.
- Pre-apprentice school as an apprenticeship. A line school certificate is useful preparation, not journeyman status.
- Voltage borrowed from the system. Working on a utility that has transmission lines is not transmission experience. Ask what they touched.
- Storm work as experience in general. Several storm deployments clearing trees and setting poles, without regular energized work.
Legal cautions
Ask about the apprenticeship program, hours and journeyman date, not union membership, activity or views, which the National Labor Relations Act protects. Ask whether the candidate can climb, lift and work in the weather with or without accommodation, not about injuries or workers' compensation claims. Drug and alcohol testing outside DOT rules follows state law; see drug testing laws in hiring. For CDL drivers generally, truck driver screening questions cover driving history questions in more detail, and the full list of questions to avoid is in illegal interview questions.
Questions people ask
Does a lineworker need a license?
Most states do not license power lineworkers the way they license electricians. The credential that matters is usually completion of an apprenticeship and journeyman status, plus the employer's determination under OSHA 1910.269 that the worker is qualified for the voltages and tasks they will perform. Utilities and contractors also commonly require a commercial driver's license.
Do lineworkers need a CDL?
Often. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says workers who drive heavy vehicles usually need a state-issued commercial driver's license, and bucket trucks and digger derricks frequently exceed the weight that requires one. Since February 7, 2022, first-time Class A or B applicants must complete entry-level driver training from a registered provider before testing.
What does 'qualified' mean for a lineworker under OSHA?
Under 29 CFR 1910.269, a qualified employee is trained to distinguish exposed live parts, determine their nominal voltage, know the minimum approach distances for the voltages involved, use protective equipment and insulated tools, and recognize and control electrical hazards. The employer makes that determination; a card from a previous employer does not transfer it.
Can I ask a lineworker candidate whether they came through a union apprenticeship?
Ask about the apprenticeship itself: the program, the hours or steps completed and the journeyman date. Those are job-related, whether the program was joint labor-management or not. Do not ask about union membership, activity or views, which the National Labor Relations Act protects.