[Stephen Small]

Hi Brian

1. yes, but with limitation below

2. After-hours callouts during the
hours of darkness to either the Ashburton, Rakaia, or Rangitata Gorge
areas are assessed for risk before deciding on the response: If an
immediate or imminent public safety risk is understood to be present (e.g.
live lines on or near ground), a two-person team will be dispatched. If no
immediate or imminent public safety risk is understood to be present, the
Faultman will be dispatched at sunrise the next day. Most customers in
these areas are very resilient (back-up generators).

3. Non-qualified faultmen (i.e. have not completed NZQA Level 4 Fault Response and Switching) travel in the same vehicle so learning conversations can take place – they don’t learn anything just driving behind in another vehicle.

4. Issues following on from #3 above have been either trainees wanting to drive themselves in convoy, or the temptation for “I’ll see you at ………” “you go to ……….”. etc.

And in opposition to what I said above during adverse weather events, we would patrol in vehicle pairs if the road is flooded, river crossing, or deep snow – you need another vehicle to pull you out if you get stuck.

Cheers

Stephen