$5.9 MILLION LIGHTING CONTRACT HELPS KEEP LIGHTING NETWORK SAFE

Main Roads will award the contract for a $5.9 million pilot program to upgrade its street lighting by early January, Minister for Transport and Main Roads Paul Lucas said today.

Work on the pilot program will begin in Townsville and the Sunshine Coast early next year.

“Main Roads has already inspected more than 11,500 of the 18,000 lighting installations it controls,” Mr Lucas said.

“The pilot is the next stage of a broader program that will ultimately ensure all of the lighting installations Main Roads controls meet the Electrical Safety Office’s current upgraded standards.”

Tenders for the design work on the pilot program close today (Monday, 18 December), with the successful applicant to be appointed by early January.

“As I’ve previously told Parliament, Main Roads is also carrying out an inspection of its entire street lighting network,” Mr Lucas said.

Mr Lucas said Main Roads began a statewide inspection program of street lighting after audits in 2004/05 identified potential problems with lighting in North Queensland.

“Those audits identified cases of immediate electrical risk. These were fixed.

“As I’ve told Parliament previously, two contractors working for Main Roads had received minor shocks, one while carrying out the audit and another while working in a cable pit.

“That is clearly unsatisfactory, which is why I instructed Main Roads to complete the current audit of all its cabling and street lights.

“As of December 14, Main Roads had inspected the cabling – mostly underground – of 11,512 of the 18,000 lights it controls,” he said.

“That is about 200 poles, or some 20km of roadway, inspected each week.”

“I’m advised the final checks around Mackay will be finished this week and checks around metropolitan Brisbane will be finished by March 2007.

“Six contracts have been awarded to finish the checks around Brisbane, with the majority of the outstanding inspections on motorways that have restricted pedestrian access.”

Mr Lucas said the Electrical Safety Office had been kept fully informed of progress of the audit, and of Main Roads' plan for the pilot replacement program.

“The ESO has written to Main Roads saying it endorses the timeframe to complete these inspections, and the department's 'find it and fix it' approach.”

Mr Lucas has previously told Parliament that the ongoing inspection had identified 218 instances of electrical risk that needed to be fixed immediately.

“These have been fixed.

“People expect the street lighting network to be safe. And it is. I am advised that Main Roads records show that there have been no claims for electrical injury from its street lighting or pedestrian traffic installations.”

Main Roads Director-General Alan Tesch said the audit and the pilot program were part of a broader program to ensure all electrical installations Main Roads controls met current upgraded standards, as set by the ESO.

“Main Roads on July 1 this year also moved to a consistent statewide regime for all of the department’s cabling and lighting,” Mr Tesch said

"This will see the entire network inspected on a rolling basis every five years."

Mr Tesch said Main Roads is implementing all recommendations from its 2005 original program of audits into its cabling and street lighting.

Mr Tesch also said Main Roads was inspecting a type of traffic signal pole used on its network after a pedestrian received a minor electric shock from a push-button cross-walk push button on the Gold Coast in July.

“This inspection will be completed by February.”

Mr Tesch said an investigation into the incident showed it had occurred because of a set of unlikely events.

“A contractor had not properly followed installation requirements when installing the pole prior to 1995,” Mr Tesch said.

“In 2006, an electrical contractor changed power supply arrangements at the intersection. This led to an unterminated wire in the push-button box being unintentionally connected to the 240 volt power supply.

“This wire then came close to, or into contact with, the push-button, causing the minor electric shock. This was fixed immediately, and a duplication of these exact events is extremely unlikely.”

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