First woman scaffolder

Press, 14 May 1985, Page 23

First woman scaffolder

Amanda Ritchie, aged 19, has become the first New Zealand woman to qualify as a construction sitetrained scaffolder. Ms Ritchie gained her training at the Marsden Point Refinery Expansion site, working for a subcontractor, Bob Duncan Scaffolding, Ltd. She sat a qualifying practical and theory examination with 25 men in February, after slightly more than a year of practical training. The first months on the job at the expansion site were not easy for her. “When I first started, I did not think I would ever sit my qualifying ticket,” she said. “I did not have the

strength to lift the heavy steel tubes and planks used in scaffolding. But I gradually built up strength.”

As a scaffolder, Ms Ritchie is qualified to erect scaffolds without supervision.

She enjoys her job but does not plan to look for another scaffolding job once the refinery is built. Instead, Ms Ritchie plans to use the money she has saved working at the refinery to finance studies at a beauty course in Auckland.