Contractor Work should be Evaluated

During storm recovery we often hire contractors to assist in restoration. This is typical for any utility as a way to manage the maintenance budget. But, it is difficult to review all elements of the work when the job is to get the lights back on. Then, after the contractors are gone, there is little opportunity to follow up and evaluate the performance of the contract workers.

We are using EXACTER to look for problems on our lines that will indicate there is a piece of failing equipment. We have found typical problems like tracking lightning arrestors and cutouts. We are also finding bad splices. This one in particular shows that the splice was not done to our standards.

Apparently to hasten the work along, the line worker cut several strands of the line to make an easier fit into the splice. This drops the capacity of the conductor and adds a future maintenance problem to the system.

These types of installation problems are detected by our EXACTER system and they can then be quickly followed up on and usually can be located from the ground with binoculars once you know which pole to go to.

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