Electra team win competition
An Electra team of four young line mechanics scored big at the annual Line Mechanics competitions held last week in Christchurch, at Wigram Air Base.
The team of Jacob Smith, Ben Duncan, Jordan Petherick, and trainee Adin Johnston won the best presented team award for attitude, professionalism and presentation.
They also came a close second in the pole erection team building event and bagged a second place in the team building event.
They were the youngest team there and acquitted themselves extremely well against the competition, said the team's manager, Tony Mazur, Supervisor of Electra's Paraparaumu depot.
Electra's Lines business GM Max Feickert said, “We're really proud of the way our team worked together in the competition and it's a great opportunity for our people to see new tools, equipment and discuss techniques with our industry colleagues, then bringing these ideas back into Electra.”
Nine teams competed in a pole top rescue, team building and first aid competitions.
As well as the competition element, the event is also designed to attract more people to the electricity supply industry, which is short of skilled workers nationwide.
It's predicted that about 9000 more staff will be required over the next five years.
The competition, Annual Connection, is organised by Infrastructure Industry Training Organisation (ITO) Connexis.
Group manager customer Engagement Kaarin Gaukrodger said, “This is a valuable industry event and demonstrates the skills and expertise of these workers who keep New Zealand's power supply up and running.
“People take it for granted that their lights will work and that they have power to heat their home and cook meals but sometimes due to storms, snow, floods or even car accidents taking out power poles the power is temporarily cut off.
“This is where these power crews swing into full action, keeping New Zealand on the grid and up and operating.”