Cane harvesters sparking outages
SHOCKING statistics have revealed that cane harvesters hitting power poles or lines are the leading cause of blackouts involving agricultural vehicles in the state.
The release of the Ergon Energy figures to the Townsville Bulletin follows an emergency outage in Hinchinbrook Shire 30 minutes after the running of the Melbourne Cup last Tuesday.
Ingham Work Group Leader Ben Thomson said the outage, which left hundreds of homes without power, was caused by a cane harvester contacting powerlines in Halifax Road, describing the incident as a “life-threatening situation”.
“We’re really concerned about the number of incidents we’ve responded to this crushing season in the Ingham district and we cannot stress enough that you need to be aware of power poles and overhead lines when you’re operating a vehicle or machinery,” he said.
“Ergon will continue working with the sugar industry to support and prevent these incidents because they have the potential to cause serious injury or death.
“For your own safety and the safety of others, please look up and live.”
Ergon Energy spokeswoman Emma Oliveri said in the latest incident there were no fallen powerlines, but crews could not begin restoring power until the network had been assessed as safe.
She said 362 customers were without power for 25 minutes “as part of the initial public safety response”.
A further 40 customers were left without power for about two hours as transformer fuses were replaced and testing and inspection of the site was completed by local Ergon crews.
Across Queensland, Ergon Energy and Energex crews have responded to 46 reported “network contacts” involving agricultural vehicles in the past 12 months.
In the northern region, 29 incidents have been reported, including seven in the Herbert River.
The Bulletin understands that in at least one of these instances a man was hospitalised after his harvester hit overhead lines.
Of the 46 contacts, 17 have involved cane harvesters and a further six involved haulout vehicles, accounting for half of all outages.
Ms Oliveri said even if there was no obvious damage, people who were involved in an incident and failed to report it “may unwittingly be putting themselves and others at risk”.
“Any machine that comes into contact with the electricity network should be isolated for 24 hours as a precaution,” she said. “Electricity is invisible and a silent killer and you should never underestimate the risks.”