Safety concerns closely scrutinised

Mines and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson has taken swift action to address electrical safety and network maintenance concerns raised by unions about the state’s electricity network.

Minister Wilson told an Estimates Committee hearing this week that as soon as the unions raised their concerns with him, he acted immediately, calling all the parties in for urgent talks.

“I took those safety concerns seriously,” Mr Wilson said. “The State Government has high expectations of its government-owned corporations.

“I expect them to meet the highest safety standards at all times and perform to best practice. The community would expect nothing less. I asked the union to formally provide me with documentation in relation to all of their concerns,” he said.

“Those documents were immediately sent to the Electrical Safety Office which reported back to the Department that there were no systemic electricity safety problems.

“Nevertheless, I sought detailed responses from Ergon and Energex because I wanted the full facts on network maintenance. My Department closely scrutinised all the documents, including the responses, and engaged an independent expert to examine the lot,” he said.

“It was found that there was a significant backlog in Ergon’s vegetation maintenance program and that there were delays in replacing copper conductors.

“That’s not good enough. I’ve told Ergon to lift its game and to implement the eleven recommendations lock, stock and barrel,” Mr Wilson said.

“While it was also found that the reliability of the network had improved and that it was much better than the minimum standards, there were other areas, such as replacing old cross arms and conflicting information on the condition of substations, where again, Ergon should have done better,” Mr Wilson said.

“From now on, Ergon and Energex will be required to provide shareholding Ministers with far more detailed and comprehensive reporting of technical aspects of their performance,” he said.

The Minister said the reporting of safety and maintenance concerns from the workforce would also be strengthened.

“I want workers with any safety and maintenance concerns to be able to raise them directly with the Boards of Ergon and Energex. I’m talking about workers in the field.

“If they’ve got important information I want them to have a direct line to the top. They need to be able to report any safety and maintenance concerns to the Board and to do so on a regular basis,” he said.

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