Linemen’s exercise

Press, 30 October 1981, Page 2

Linemen’s exercise

Electricity Division linemen prepare an emergency tower for lifting by helicopter during a training exercise on Holbrook station in the Mackenzie Country last week. About 90 linemen from

throughout New Zealand took part in the exercise which was designed to familiarise them with the erection of emergency towers. Normal towers are made of lattice steel and are freestanding, whereas emergency towers are made of aluminium and have no foundations, being held up by guy wires. The emergency towers had to be used after a storm in 1975 but many of the present linemen have had no experience in their erection. The Mackenzie Country was chosen as the location for the familiarisation exercise because it is an area where the division has had problems in the past. In 1964, linemen took five weeks to erect four towers, a task completed in

two days last week. Helicopters are used to lift some of the towers. Others are lifted into place using winches or bulldozers, where the terrain permits access.

Apart from striking hard rock, which made it difficult to dig in the guy ropes, the exercise was judged a success and a repeat is planned in two or three years.