Quote:At a press conference on Monday afternoon, Transpower chief executive Alison Andrew said all the nuts securing the tower to its baseplate were removed, "which caused the tower to lift off the baseplate and fall".
Andrew said it was the organisation's belief that "the specifications and procedures for this type of work were not followed".
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/06/northland-power-cut-maintenance-crew-removed-nuts-from-tower-causing-collapse-transpower-says.html

(24-06-2024, 02:05 PM)king1 Wrote: OK, I'm not an engineer but even I know that this was a dumb idea

I presume the maintenance must have been to replace rusty bolts or some such, in which case common sense would dictate to replace one at a time...

Quote:At a press conference on Monday afternoon, Transpower chief executive Alison Andrew said all the nuts securing the tower to its baseplate were removed, "which caused the tower to lift off the baseplate and fall".
Andrew said it was the organisation's belief that "the specifications and procedures for this type of work were not followed".
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/06/northland-power-cut-maintenance-crew-removed-nuts-from-tower-causing-collapse-transpower-says.html

(24-06-2024, 05:37 PM)nzoomed Wrote: Yeah the rumour going around was that they were sandblasting the tower and had to remove the bolts so they can clean it properly.
Now this is a widely practised procedure, however there is a specified amount that are required to stay in place at any given time on each leg and it looks like they took them all out at once on that side.
It was pretty clear going by those photos seen on the news that the nuts were missing and the other 2 legs bent over at the base. I imagine that it would have been a scary thing to experience if you were standing there with those lines coming down to the ground carrying a good 100+KV of power!
I see they are already trying to play the "foul play/aka vandalism" card during the interview, who knows? Cant be ruled out 100% but you think they would have noticed.

(24-06-2024, 07:11 PM)Lilith7 Wrote:

(24-06-2024, 05:37 PM)nzoomed Wrote: Yeah the rumour going around was that they were sandblasting the tower and had to remove the bolts so they can clean it properly.
Now this is a widely practised procedure, however there is a specified amount that are required to stay in place at any given time on each leg and it looks like they took them all out at once on that side.
It was pretty clear going by those photos seen on the news that the nuts were missing and the other 2 legs bent over at the base. I imagine that it would have been a scary thing to experience if you were standing there with those lines coming down to the ground carrying a good 100+KV of power!
I see they are already trying to play the "foul play/aka vandalism" card during the interview, who knows? Cant be ruled out 100% but you think they would have noticed.

Yep, you'd think any vandalism might have been noticed straight away.

(24-06-2024, 08:22 PM)nzoomed Wrote:

(24-06-2024, 07:11 PM)Lilith7 Wrote: Yep, you'd think any vandalism might have been noticed straight away.

Yeah you would think so!

(24-06-2024, 09:37 PM)harm_less Wrote:

(24-06-2024, 08:22 PM)nzoomed Wrote: Yeah you would think so!

It's all about creating distractions and the biggest distraction of all came today from Luxon. Falling pylons, grounded ferry, more armed robberies, but look over there.... cancer drugs being funded.

This government is out of their depth and struggling to maintain credibility on many of their failing policies.

(29-06-2024, 11:34 PM)C_T_Russell Wrote:

(24-06-2024, 09:37 PM)harm_less Wrote: It's all about creating distractions and the biggest distraction of all came today from Luxon. Falling pylons, grounded ferry, more armed robberies, but look over there.... cancer drugs being funded.

This government is out of their depth and struggling to maintain credibility on many of their failing policies.

So you think there is some conspiracy to take pylons down merely as a "distraction"?
For a start it was a private contractor who was working on the lines that somehow made a major fuckup during routine maintenance.
Those shitty ferries that are breaking down  are something inherited from the last govt and now they have to try and find the money.
But hey cancer drugs are far more important anyway.

(30-06-2024, 10:39 AM)Oh_hunnihunni Wrote: Not just the Nats though. The power situation has been long in the making, successive governments have failed to grasp the nettle. Bit like a fair few other issues really...

Makes me wonder why we bother with 'democracy'.

(30-06-2024, 11:12 AM)Oh_hunnihunni Wrote: I rather fancy a benign autocracy.

If only we could guarantee the benign bit.

(30-06-2024, 10:39 AM)Oh_hunnihunni Wrote: Not just the Nats though. The power situation has been long in the making, successive governments have failed to grasp the nettle. Bit like a fair few other issues really...

Makes me wonder why we bother with 'democracy'.