Line worker apprenticeship
They play a vital role in ensuring the reliable delivery of electricity to homes, businesses, and communities.
Their work requires technical expertise, physical strength, and a commitment to safety in often challenging and hazardous conditions.
During your 4-year apprenticeship you’ll develop expertise in tasks like installing, maintaining, and inspecting poles, structures, and related hardware used on them. This will lead to a UET30621 Certificate III in ESI – Distribution Overhead.
You can expect to work in various outdoor settings and will need to adapt to different locations and weather conditions. It’s important to know Lineworkers need to scale ladders up to 17m high, and work from elevated work platforms up to 45m high.
Key responsibilities may include
Installation
Installing overhead or underground electrical lines to distribute power from substations to homes, businesses, and other facilities. This involves setting poles, running wires, and connecting transformers and other equipment.
Maintenance
Inspecting power lines, poles, transformers, and other components to identify signs of wear, damage, or malfunction. Routine maintenance tasks include replacing worn insulators, tightening connections, and clearing vegetation that could interfere with power lines.
Responding to outages
Assessing damage and identifying problems after storms, accidents, or equipment failures, to restore power to affected areas as quickly as possible.
Repairs
Troubleshooting electrical systems to diagnose problems such as short circuits, overloads, or faulty equipment. They use specialized tools and equipment to make repairs, replace damaged components, and restore power.
Working at heights
Climbing utility poles and high transmission towers, or using bucket trucks to access power lines, lineworkers adhere to strict safety procedures to prevent falls and other accidents.
Collaboration
Working with other utility workers, engineers, and supervisors to coordinate work assignments, prioritize tasks, and ensure power infrastructure operates effectively and safely.
Subjects to focus on
Maths
Sound basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are required for tasks like measuring cable lengths, calculating quantities of materials needed, or determining costs.
Literacy
Competent language and writing skills are needed to understand documents such as safe-work method statements, wiring rules, standards, and drawings, and to complete documentation requirements.
