Transpower says two less-experienced crew members that were working on a base plate of a pylon in Northland when it fell were not being supervised properly while completing the work.
At the time, Transpower said maintenance contractors removed too many nuts at the bottom of three legs of the power pylon that collapsed in Glorit on in June 20 and caused widespread outages across the Northland region.
Speaking to media today, Transpower acting chief executive John Clarke and grid delivery manager Mark Ryall said it was "committed to improving" following the release of an independent investigation's report into the incident.
The report confirms the initial findings announced by Transpower and service provider Omexom on June 24, stating the tower fell because Omexom crew members performing routine base plate maintenance work did not follow standard practice and removed all of the nuts from three of the tower's four legs.
The investigation also found that, at the time of the incident, there was insufficient supervision of two less-experienced workers by the supervisor. The supervisor was sandblasting one tower leg, which required their full attention, this action removed their ability to see what others were doing. At that time, a less-experienced member of the crew removed the nuts from the bolts on two other baseplates.
Power isn’t expected to be fully restored until tomorrow night. (Source: 1News)
"We cannot comprehend how a crew without sufficient training was assigned to this job," said Clarke.
He said the less-experienced workers had received in-person, on-the-job training but had not received any formal training for the work they were doing, and were not certified by Omexom as competent for the tasks they completed unsupervised.
"This is not aligned with Transpower's requirements or industry supervision guidelines," he said.
Clarke said Transpower accepted the findings and recommendations from this investigation and were already moving to address them.
He recognised the incident had been highly stressful for those involved at Omexom.
Outage outrage: Northland businesses seeking compensation
Transpowe faces accusations of reneging on initial suggestions of compensation — a claim it firmly denies.
Tue, Jul 9
2:09
Full restoration of power to Northland likely by Friday evening
Transpower said widespread outages across the Northland region occurred after a tower came down around 11am.
Thu, Jun 20
3:13
Power restored for 'vast majority' of Northland — Transpower
Transpower's grid delivery manager Mark Ryall told Breakfast the company would undergo a "thorough investigation" of what happened after a pylon fell yesterday.
Fri, Jun 21
3:27
"We want our people and our service providers to know they have our support in undertaking the tens of thousands of hours of work each month that it takes to maintain our country’s national electricity grid.
"The people that work on our assets are proud of the mahi they do to keep the lights on for Aotearoa, and it is important to note that an incident of this nature is exceptionally rare."
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