Have you been seeing unidentified suspended objects (USO’s) on power lines?

Do you find yourself transfixed by those strange helmet-like shapes?

You’re not alone.

Victoria Buzz saw them too, so we asked BC Hydro to explain.

Turns out, the mysterious objects are different than your average pair of dangling shoes.

They have a purpose. In fact, the helmet-like-objects are really hardhats, and they’re left on the lines as part of an apprenticeship tradition.

BC Hydro’s Power Line Technicians wear green hardhats through their apprenticeships. Then, as journeymen, they wear white hardhats.

“Green hats are hung up by apprentices when they graduate to white hardhats,” said BC Hydro. “There’s no safety issue, and the hats come down the next time we do work on the line.”

So, the next time you see a hardhat, that’s a sign that another Power Line Technician is out there, giving power to the people.

Mystery solved.

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