There is a school of thought over here in New Zealand that is really starting to annoy the Line Mechanics here.
Generally, if you are required to do a call-out at night, you would normally have an extra Line Mechanic as a Safety Observer.
In order to cut down on costs, the company that I work for, has said that after the 1st of June, a Safety Observer will not be responded to call-outs, be it day or night.
The role of the Safety Observer, is merely to make sure that work is done safely and we are in direct radio contact with them all the time that we are near live lines.
This could come to a Strike situation, as no-one(that I have spoken to)wants to jeopardise thier own safety, considering that we have to "work Hot", this is stipulated by the same company that is making us work w/o a Safety Observer.
And around voltages like 3.3-33kV, you need someone to watch your back!!.
What are your thoughts on this?.
Is this fair?.
