High voltage learning during the Christchurch earthquakes

Well, I've had my first day! Today I had my induction meeting with Diane Archer at 8am at Connectics. The induction covered OSH and supply industry regulations lined up with Connectics' own OSH rules. The meeting took one and a half hours. After the meeting, I caught up with Phil Duns, the Underground operations manager, who organised me to go to an 11kV joining site near Christchurch airport. Onsite, I met Chris and Nick, who were working to join a 300mm2 aluminium 11kV 3 phase conductor. The actual join was an engineering masterpiece, which Chris and Nick connected using an instruction sheet that came with a $1500 kit. Precision is paramount, and the guys made it look easy. I asked to have the instruction sheets after, which I pocketed for further reference! Pics are below, click on them to see them enlarged. The first stripping The joiners Nearly finished Final product After we did the join, we went further down the road to a kiosk where we had to ...

Meeting went REALLY well! Stephen Price and I met Phil from Connectics, he introduced me to a number of his colleagues in a whirlwind series of meetings with Diane Archer the H&S lady, the lighting guy, the the overhead and underground guys, and the roading guy! We outlined what we wanted and Phil outlined what he thought would be suitable, and advised us that he was going to organise a tentative timetable for events. There was the possibility of going to Timaru and going in a helicopter! We finished the meeting, and I'm going to turn up there at 8am Monday 31st for my safety induction with Diane Archer. REALLY excited! Later, Fiona Haynes gave me a 10Mp camera to use as she thought 5Mp wouldn't show enough detail. No complaints there! Ready to go! Next post; On the job!

I'm one week out from my ASL to Connectics. I'm off there to learn how to cable joint and do line mechanic work for 26(?) weeks.. VERY exciting! The reason? CPIT here at Sullivan Ave (the Tradefit site) have a 33,000 Volt overhead network, but have nobody onsite to teach it with. The network was kindly installed and donated by Orion, Connectics, Electricity Ashburton, Mainpower, and Independent Line Services (I may have missed some, apologies!). So I'm off to 'learn the trade' and then come back here and teach it! Today Stephen Price and myself are going to Connectics for a meeting with their representative to iron out any issues. I've got 2x sets of 'electrically safe' overalls, a hard hat, boots, safety goggles (tinted!) and my first aid certificate (last week!), so hopefully i'm reasonable well prepared. I'll be getting a notebook and using my phone with its 5Mp camera to take pics. I'll re-post back here after my meeting. Wish me ...