High wire maintenance

25 Aug 2009

Undertaking maintenance of these lines is an immense task with maintenance crews often travelling hundreds of kilometres over exceptionally remote and difficult terrain.

The Corporation has recently introduced helicopters to transport crews and to conduct repairs and maintenance of high voltage powerlines.

General Manager Power Networks Bertram Birk said this will be the first time we have trained our own crews to step off a helicopter onto a tower.

"Crews are well practiced in the skill of changing damaged components on 132 000 volts lines however this is a first from a helicopter", said Mr Birk.

"It is vital that our equipment is maintained to ensure security of power supply but it is equally crucial that our staff are safe and are able to conduct their work efficiently", he said.

"This training exercise will allow us to assess this method of transportation and measure its efficiency against current methods where we would usually drive out to remote locations to conduct maintenance", he said.

Around 10 linesmen will be trained to work with helicopters in completing maintenance tasks on high voltage powerlines. These linesmen will work with linesmen from Ergon and Aeropower to exchange knowledge and skills.

Each crew member works as part of the live line work team and is required to participate in annual OH&S audits as well as undergoing regular medical checks.

When performing live high voltage work safety is the primary issue. Crews carry out safety evaluations prior to the work commencing and OH&S standards are audited every year.

This is a national standard adopted by Power and Water Corporation since 1999.

Both the Aeropower and Ergon linesmen are subject to and comply with the same national standard for safety.