MJTS History


Dennis Merchant, the author and administrator of the Merchant Job Training and Safety Program (MJTS), has been actively working for the electric utilities since his grade school days working with his lineman father in Brookings, South Dakota.


Ed Merchant (father)

Dennis Merchant

Denny's experience with public and private utilities includes management, engineering, and teaching. He has held positions as lineman, line foreman, line superintendant, and department head for a power lineman school. His fifteen years of teaching for the vocational school along with classes for public and private utilites has shown the need for a more practical approach to "on the job" training for power line personnel.



Department Head and Teacher at Mitchell Vocational Technical School

Denny has written a four year comprehensive power line training program at the request of the utilities. The program is designed to be self-study and is delivered through correspondence.


Each pin represents a Utility or Company using our program.

The Merchant program is used by Rural Electrics, Private Utilities, Municipal Utilities, and Contractors in 39 states representing over 800 companies. The program is also available in spanish, and it's endorsed by several foreign countries.