Trees and Lines Utility Vegetation ManagementPodcast

Utility vegetation management (UVM) manages risks and controls vegetation that could potentially threaten power lines, railways, roadways, etc.

A Fresh Approach

In Trees & Lines, Iapetus Infrastructure Services UVM veteran Dr. Phil Charlton and Chief Operating Officer Tejpal Singh discuss the future of this critical industry.

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The Latest UVM Topics

Together with keynote guests, Phil and Tej explore how UVM industry leaders are investing in new technologies, redefining safety culture, addressing ESG (environmental, social, governance) initiatives, and bringing awareness to career opportunities in the burgeoning field of UVM.

It’s a fresh take on an industry that once operated quietly and is now part of a global discussion with mainstream visibility.

Meet Our Hosts

Learn more about who hosts the TREES & LINES podcast: Dr. Phil Charlton, the UVM industry legend, and Tejpal Singh, the electrical engineer by training and energy services consultant by occupation.

Dr. Phil M. Charlton, Ph.D.

Trees & Lines Cohost

Tejpal "Tej" Singh

Trees & Lines Cohost

What's The Industry Saying

Listen to discover what’s on the minds of some of the UVM thought leaders.

"There's a whole hierarchy of learning that comes from there [vegetation management]. And I think that being able to set out a career path and training at each one of those levels really means that we can take someone who has a passion and give them the tools and skills to be able to excel in our industry and...not only excel at the level that they are, but be ready to take on the next level."

Sara Sankowich Dir. of Sustainability & Shared Services, Unitil

"We've invested in much more aggressive vegetation management. You know, we're a lot more aggressive than a lot of our sister companies in terms of, you know, inspecting poles and vegetation. So we're very aggressive with that. That has helped our reliability and then investing in smart technology. So we have almost 200,000 smart devices on our grid throughout Florida. And that has really honestly changed the way we do business."

Pam Rauch VP of External Affairs and Economic Development, Florida Power & Light Company

"Dr. John Ball and I are collaborating on a research grant right now to the Irish Research Fund Grant to basically look at the actual exposure that arborists have to electrical issues in trees while they are working a lot. The idea is that when that work is done, it will help inform the development of the Z133 Chapter 4 standard, which is the electrical safety standard for arborists."

John Goodfellow Principal Consultant, Biocompliance Consulting, Inc

"What works in one place doesn't necessarily work in another. So I think we're all trying to solve our own problems. But what we can do is interact better and learn more from the other side of the fence, share better information, be collaborative in those sort of things because there are learnings for both sides."