The Cody Conrady story: Path to Ground and Power Line Awareness

It was Cody Conrady’s next-to-last day as an assistant manager for an ag fertilizer company. They were shorthanded that day, so Cody jumped in his truck to get ahead of the sprayer. Once the sprayer was in place, he hopped out of the truck to fill the tank with fertilizer. He and his coworker inside the cab were unaware the sprayer boom had either made contact or gotten too close to a power line.

Unintended contact can happen in an instant. The area where Cody was standing and the equipment was energized for only “a split second or two,” he said. Learn more about how Cody became the path to ground on an average day in May and how the accident changed his life.

We thank Cody and his wife, Bailey, for their willingness to share their story.

Cody advises anyone around power lines to:

• Pay attention.
• Keep an eye on your surroundings.
• Take some extra time to assess your situation.
• Consider how your day could unfold.

This video is made possible by members of EEC-Safe Electricity. We appreciate their support in enhancing safety awareness and making this copyrighted video viewable to individuals visiting SafeElectricity.org. For non-members interested in using this video, please contact info@safeelectricity.org. Use of this work without permission, including its reproduction, distribution, or display constitutes copyright infringement.

Safe Electricity is the award-winning, public awareness program of the Energy Education Council, a 501(c) 3 (not-for-profit organization) established in 1952 on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. With offices located in Springfield, Ill., Safe Electricity operates under the University of Illinois Extension and is led by the EEC Board of Directors. Since the Safe Electricity program was created in 2001, it has provided thousands of safety-minded resources to its more than 500 utility members from across the country to help save lives and reduce injuries.