Line worker

Battling the day’s weather while working on high-voltage powerlines is all in a day’s work for brothers Brendan and Michael Verhoeven.

Brendan, 22, is a fourth-year apprentice line worker with Energy Australia and Michael, 19, is a second-year apprentice in the same trade.

The siblings never intended to work in the same field. But after listening to his older brother talk about the trade, Michael decided to follow in his footsteps. “Brendan told me there were jobs going [at Energy Australia],” he says. “And through talking to him I knew it was a pretty good job.” When the elder sibling first applied for an apprenticeship with Energy Australia, he hoped to become an electrician. Despite going down a different path, he is pleased with the way things have turned out.

“I wanted to be an electrician but after I did the [entry] test they offered me a spot as a line worker and I thought I’d give it a go,” Brendan says. “I’m almost glad I got this one over that one because I’m working outdoors and I really like being outside.”The first year of the line-working apprenticeship is spent at a training centre where apprentices can learn the basics of the trade in a controlled situation-and where they are under constant supervision.

They learn how to build and maintain metering and communications systems, street-lighting mains, low-voltage, high-voltage and overhead electrical-distribution mains and customer-service lines.
During the second year, they move out into the field in a gang situation, where they continue to work closely with trainers. By the third year, apprentices have the opportunity to work with qualified tradesmen. This continues during the fourth year of the apprenticeship as skills learned early on in the training are honed. Brendan enjoys the diversity his job affords him.

“I’m out there every day installing new systems or repairing breakdowns, whether it be from nature or vandalism or if a car has hit a pole or things like that,” he says. But he does admit he is often at the mercy of the elements, especially for emergency repair work. He says: “That’s when you have to work in the rain because they want to get the power back on. It’s a bit of an issue in summer too as it can get really hot.”

But he believes this is a fair price to pay for spending most of his working hours outdoors. While he enjoys the high-voltage depot work, Brendan says he prefers working on the distribution networks-which supply low-voltage power to houses-because he says the work offers more variety.

Love your work

How did you get into your job? Brendan: I saw an ad in the paper and applied for an apprenticeship as an electrician with Energy Australia. I ended up being offered an apprenticeship as a line worker instead.

Upside: Being able to work outdoors every day.

Downside: When being outdoors means working in the rain and on really hot days.