Line Program

Learn More About the ALBAT Line Apprenticeship Program

Throughout their apprenticeship, Apprentices in the American Line Builders Apprenticeship Training (ALBAT) program are able to earn while they learn, meaning that they get paid while having on-the-job experience in their field of study.

While working toward completing their ALBAT apprenticeship, students are required to attend mandatory related training classes, complete course material and attend several certification and qualification training courses. The training they receive enhance their opportunity for success in the outside electrical construction industry.

A lineman is a particular type of electrician. Lineman work on power lines or may work at power plants, focusing on lines and generators used for electricity distribution. They install and maintain the overhead distribution and transmission lines that move electrical power from power plants to local consumers such as businesses, homes and factories. Outside Linemen are often climbing poles or working in bucket trucks, installing or repairing electrical power lines out-of-doors.

Outside Line Apprentices will develop skills through employment in the following areas:

  • Planning and initiating projects
  • Follow OSHA and customer specific safety requirements
  • Setting towers, poles and constructing other devices to support transmission/distribution cables
  • Establish work positions for maintaining and repairing overhead distribution or transmission lines
  • String new wire or maintain existing wire
  • Install and maintain insulators
  • Install and maintain transformers and other equipment
  • Use climbing tools, hand tools, and heavy equipment on a daily basis
  • Construct energized and de-energized circuits
  • Transformers connections
  • Delta and Wye transformer connections
  • Ensure compliance with specific job safety rules
  • Appropriate hand signals to use with ground crew and equipment operators
  • Blueprints, including symbols used

The American Line Builders Apprenticeship Training (ALBAT) program is a cooperative labor-management training program funded and administered by American Line Builders Chapter, National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Fourth and Sixth Districts. In the IBEW Fourth District, ALBAT performs the training for Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia. ALBAT serves the IBEW Sixth District in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.

ALBAT’s advantage as an apprenticeship provides the opportunity for individuals seeking highly-skilled, high-paying jobs and for employers seeking to build a qualified workforce. Our programs are built on providing flexible training that combines job-related technical instruction with structured on-the-job learning experiences. We are proud to train the top electricians in the following programs: Cable Splicing, Outside Line, Substation, Traffic Signal, Transmission, and URD (Underground Residential Distribution).