Kailee (Kai) Sisounthone
BS in Environmental Public Health
Hometown
Pasco, WA
Internship with
Seattle City Light
Editor’s note: This summer, 26 DEOHS undergraduate students have been getting hands-on experience as interns with health agencies, nonprofits and private companies. In our occasional “On the Job” series, we feature some of their stories.
Electricity: it’s something we learned about as kids and something we use every day. We may not think about it when turning on the lights, using a hair straightener or plugging in our laptops, but it’s important for these familiar uses as well as more critical ones, like powering medical equipment. I had the amazing opportunity this summer to be the safety and health intern at Seattle City Light and I have enjoyed every second of it.
Safety has always been important to me, but it took me a while to realize that. I was nervous before starting my internship as I didn’t have a ton of experience in occupational safety, but I am glad I applied, as I’ve learned about so many different things.
I’ve participated in many trainings involving recognizing electrical hazards, using “lock out–tag out” procedures to prevent equipment from accidentally being turned on when it’s being worked on, ensuring safety for workers in trenches and confined spaces, and more. I’ve learned about all these safety issues in the classroom, so it was nice to see how they applied to an electrical utility.
Aside from my training, I’ve had the opportunity to pick which projects I want to work on based on my interests. I have focused on training development and machine guarding, which helps protect workers from machinery hazards. It’s been interesting to develop a training for City Light's incident reporting website and be a part of program development. The skills I’ve learned from it have been super valuable.
Through my machine guarding project, I’ve been able to interact with the Ironworkers who bend, shape and weld metal for various projects. While they were a bit intimidating at first, they’re a great group to work with. I’ve discovered how important it is to build connections in the workplace with these two projects, and I continue to expand my communication skills with them.
When my supervisor first asked me what I wanted to get out of this internship, I told her it was field work. Thankfully, I’ve gotten plenty of field work in, and even visited two of Seattle City Light’s most notable dams in Skagit and Pend Oreille! I made a day trip with our field safety manager to Skagit and got a personal tour of the Newhalem, Gorge and Diablo Dams. At the Boundary Dam, I sat in on training, toured the dams and took a boat ride above the dam. At all the sites, I saw the inside of the dams, where they store the generators, and learned about how energy is produced.
My internship was originally supposed to be just for the summer, but I’ve recently decided to extend it until the end of the school year! I’ve enjoyed my experience so much here and I still feel that there are many projects I can contribute to. I hope that throughout the rest of my internship, I can use what I’ve learned in the classroom and build on my skills in the workplace.
