Dunedin lines company Delta under audit after whistleblower's claims
Thursday, 20 October 2016
Worksafe has started an audit of lines company Delta after a whistleblower claimed its power poles were unsafe.
A WorkSafe spokesman said the 'immediate documentation audit' would be followed by an on-site review of Delta in mid-November.
Delta, a Dunedin and Otago lines company, came under fire after former manager-turned-whistleblower Richard Healey said its power poles were neglected and dangerous.
Healey, who quit his job as a design and project manager at Delta last week over his concerns, said the company did not 'red tag' all dangerous poles.
**READ MORE:
* Wellington Electricity Lines warned over quality standards, despite no serious faults**
*** Fed up with high power bills, Taumarunui residents take action to challenge TLC
He said poles that were tagged were often not replaced within the mandatory one-year timeframe.
The Worksafe spokesman said it was not yet known when the audit would end.
Energy Safety, a division of WorkSafe, is the national regulator for electrical safety and will conduct the audit.
The audit will look at Delta's safety management system and its performance.
Identification, management and replacement practices for damaged poles would be part of the audit.
Delta had not advised Worksafe of the pole replacement issue.
The only information WorkSafe had on the issue was from an interview with Healey, the spokesman said.
Aurora Energy, Delta's parent company, issued a statement saying 1181 of its 54,000 power poles were identified for replacement in the next three months.
'We welcome the review by the Energy Safety Service and are cooperating fully,' it said.
'There is a temporary backlog of replacement work, but we have invested in and significantly accelerated our replacement programme in the past two years and again this year to come into line with the industry regulations.'
Healey said more than 3000 of Delta's poles needed replacing within a year, with 1000 requiring immediate work.
He said people could be injured or die from deteriorating power poles.
His colleague, Roger Steel, died in December 2010 after climbing a pole that did not have a red 'DO NOT CLIMB' tag. The power pole fell sideways and he was electrocuted.
Those tags were 'the last barrier to stop someone climbing a dangerous structure', Healey said.
He fears lines company workers and members of the community could be in danger, because there appeared to be a system failure about the red tags.
He found hundreds of Delta poles were reclassified via a computer programme, and 'there had been no adequate risk assessment'.
Just last month a power pole fell across Forbury Rd, a main Dunedin street, while another narrowly missed a student walking along Castle St, in the student quarter.
'In terms of proximity to schools, hospital, rest homes… it is just out of control.'
He cited an example of a Dunedin intermediate school with four 'condition zero' poles outside.
But it wasn't just across Delta's network, with Healey once employed in a role looking at networks in New Zealand and Australia.
'This is pretty much universal.'
WorkSafe was unable to comment on whether other lines companies in New Zealand had similar problems with rotting poles.
All major lines companies contacted by Stuff said they had no problem.
Orion, the Canterbury lines company, issued a statement saying that none of its 100,000 power poles were currently red tagged.
It said power poles in the earthquake-damamged 'red zone' were inspected monthly.
'Orion will also immediately action an inspection of any pole that is highlighted as potentially being of concern and there are strict regulations and guidelines around this.'
Powerco, a lines company that has networks across the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Manawatu and Wairarapa, said it had a safe network.
Powerco has more than 265,000 power poles on its electricity network. Around 85 per cent are concrete and the remainder are wood of various types.
General manager Andrew McLeod said every pole was inspected at least once every five years, with more than 55,000 checked in the last 12 months.
On average, 2500 Powerco poles were replaced each year.
Marlborough Lines operations manager Brian Tapp said all Marlborough power poles were checked every 2.5 to 5 years, or every year if they were in a public place.
'Every pole, every piece of equipment, is checked.'
He said Marlborough Lines would never tell an employee or contractor not to red tag a pole they thought was dangerous, but tagged poles would be tested and might have tags removed if they were safe.
He said it was unlikely more than five of Marlborough Lines' 35,000 power poles needed replacing.
Wellington Electricity chief executive Greg Skelton said his staff and contractors were safe on the job.
He said the lines company always replaced its power poles within three months of being red tagged.
'We operate in a fairly severe weather area. We get high winds. So obviously we're mindful of having slightly stronger controls.'
Wellington has about 35,000 power poles, but most of its power network is underground.
The Commerce Commission investigated Wellington Electricity Lines after it failed to meet quality standards in 2013 and 2014.
Skelton said that was partly because of large storms disrupting the network, but he thought the report was 'quite complimentary' of the company's asset management practices.
He said the public were safe around Wellington power poles, but he encouraged people to phone if they saw a damaged pole.
'We enjoy having the 400,000 eyes and ears that can help us do our job better.'
A spokeswoman for Auckland lines company Vector said all red-tagged power poles were replaced within three months.
The company had 117,528 poles, of which 7,164 were wooden. Three needed replacing by the end of the year.
The spokeswoman said poles were inspected twice a year, and Vector had 'a strong health and safety regime and culture'.