Congratulations to Senior Electrical Engineer HV Power Dist, Plant Operations Alex Spiers and Maintenance Technician Electrical / Instrumentation, Plant Operations Rowan Agnew winners of the 2015 ESH Achievement Awards.

General Manager Tim Eckersley announced the winners at last month’s breakfast barbeque and praised the team for their innovation.

“Years ago we bought the ‘robot’ for the electrical department, which never quite worked properly and we carried on working in a way that was not as safe as it should be,” Tim said.

“Alex and Rowan came up with some very clever solutions to get the thing up and running and now we have a much safer process in place,” he said.

The Remote Racking Robot allows operators to rack up High Voltage (HV) OLX3 oil circuit breakers (OCBs) with a click of a button whilst standing outside the hazard zone, reducing risk of being caught in a potential arc flash.

Previously, this every day task was performed manually, using a metal handle, rubber mat, HV gloves and a 40 Cal protective suit.

Alex Spiers says the robot is much safer and more comfortable for the worker.

“We have 40 OCBs around Ranger; which essentially are tanks filled with oil at 11000 volts. In a normal week we would rack them up about three times and a lot more during a shut. The robot means we can do this from a much safer distance,” Alex said.