Overhead contact with farm equipment
If your equipment comes into contact with our infrastructure, stay inside the cab and call 911 or your local emergency services immediately.
Keep everyone at least 10 m (33') away from the equipment, its load and any fallen power lines.
Rubber boots and gloves will not insulate you from a high voltage line. You can suffer serious injuries or die. Rubber tires can conduct electricity and may explode or burn.
If your farm equipment contacts an overhead power line
- Remain in the vehicle or equipment unless there is a fire.
- In the case of a fire, exit the vehicle. Go to the edge of the door, cross your arms, jump clear of the equipment, and hop away with both feet together.
Farm safety around power lines
Watch to learn how to be safe around power lines on your farm.
Video: 2:27
Farm equipment clearance permit
If your farm equipment or load exceeds in height and will be driven or towed on provincial roadways, or operated within 3 m (10') of our infrastructure, you’ll need a farm equipment clearance permit.
We’ll identify a safe route to transport or operate your equipment. The permit will be valid until December 31 and must be renewed annually. A separate permit is required for each farm implement that exceeds 4.8 m (15.9') in height and is free of charge.
Before applying for a clearance permit, get a motor carrier permit from Manitoba Infrastructure. The Manitoba Highway Traffic Act requires this permit for equipment or loads that exceed 4.15 m (13.7') to be safe along provincial roadways.
Farm equipment clearance permit
Contact with power lines can result in serious injury or death. Prevent accidents and save lives and apply for your annual farm equipment clearance permit.
Structure move permit
Any object being moved or transported with the loaded height greater than 4.8 m (15.9') is a structure move. This may include buildings, bins, tanks and loaded equipment on a trailer.
Make sure you have safe clearance to power lines as any contact could cause serious burns, injuries and costly repairs. To move your building or oversized structure on an approved route, apply for a structure move clearance permit.
If a pilot vehicle with a height pole is accompanying the structure move, review our height pole guidelines.
Plan for safety
If you need power lines moved, call us at 1-888-624-9376 (1-888-MBHYDRO).
Overhead power line crossing upgrades for agricultural equipment
If the approaches or routing to your agricultural farmland have overhead power lines, you may benefit from crossing upgrades. Overhead power line crossing upgrades can:
- eliminate the danger of farm equipment contacting overhead power lines
- avoid unnecessary damages to farm equipment and our infrastructure
We may compensate a portion of the cost to raise the height of overhead power lines that cross provincial/municipal roads and approaches into fields:
- 50% discount on upgrading existing overhead crossings up to a maximum of $10,000. We’ll review multiple approaches to a ¼ section of land based on accessibility to all location of the agricultural land (river, creek, low areas, etc.).
- We'll review overhead crossings that are on provincial or municipal roads for a discount of up to a maximum of $3,000 per crossing to a maximum of $10,000 per customer. This would apply to overhead crossings less than 6.7 m (22').
For a cost estimate, contact your local Customer Service Centre and apply for your farm equipment clearance permit.
Grass and stubble fires
Every year, uncontrolled stubble fires damage power lines and poles. These fires may cause outages that leave people without electricity for hours and put people on life support at risk.
As a landowner, you're responsible for the cost of repairing or replacing damaged poles caused by your grass fire. Before you start a burn this year, have your safety precautions in place. Install fireguards to protect utility poles and closely monitor your burn.
Check with your municipality for burning restrictions. Read more on the Province of Manitoba’s Controlled Crop Residue Burning Program website.
Fallen poles and power lines are extremely dangerous. If you come across a fallen pole or power line stay back at least 10 m (33') and call 911 or your local emergency services immediately.