When disaster strikes and vital network infrastructure goes down, it’s all hands on deck – but utilities and communities need people they can depend on to get the grid back up as soon as possible.
Australia’s network operators are the unsung heroes that keep the entire country running. It’s business as usual when power is on – but when it goes out, we realise how much we depend on them for just about everything.
To ensure the grid keeps running smoothly, these utilities are working around the clock to future-proof their networks and adapt to customers’ needs. But just as the grid enters the biggest era of change in its history, extreme weather events keep coming back to cause more trouble.
Not only do vital transmission projects require a strong attention to detail, working around any live asset comes with a lot of risks – it’s not a job just anyone can do.
Utilities, and their customers, need skilled professionals they can trust on-site; experts who can solve problems on the fly and who will be there when they need it most.
That’s great in theory, but when it comes to finding this ideal contractor, what should you actually look for in a business? To find the answer, Utility tracked down one of the Victorian sector’s go-to teams on the ground, who shared the joys and challenges of working on some of the state’s most critical projects.
Let’s get technical
In his own words, Quinlan Cranes Director, Sacha Sikka, is not a businessman – he’s a crane operator.
“I’ve always been in cranes, it’s all I’ve ever known,” he said.
“I started in cranes as a mechanic at 16–17 years old, and then from there I went into crane use – and I travelled Australia with some of the biggest cranes that we had in the country at the time. [After that] I worked for a big steel manufacturer in Australia, but we did projects all over the world.”
Quinlan Cranes started up in 2001, when the company’s Founder and Director, Tom Quinlan, saw a need for a more tailored service and struck out on his own.
“I’ve known Tommy for 25 years, and about six or seven years ago, I bought half the business off him,” Mr Sikka said.
Quinlan Cranes has supported the construction of some of the key transmission lines enabling not just Victoria’s transition to renewable energy, but also major infrastructure projects like the North East Link.
But regardless of the scale of the project, the two directors still take a hands-on approach.
“That’s something we take pride in. We’re crane people, that’s what we do,” Mr Sikka said.
For almost a decade, Consolidated Power Projects (CPP) Construction Manager – Transmission Lines, Walter Fiedler, has worked alongside the Quinlan Cranes crew on various major projects – and recently on AusNet’s Mortlake Turn-In project.
“The Quinlan boys work well with our crew and give us confidence in their abilities as crane operators – [they] always help out in providing a lifting solutions especially in complex lifts and among live circuits,” Mr Fiedler said.
While he’s now at CPP, Mr Fielder also worked with the Quinlan team at his previous role at Zinfra, and said that over the years they’ve helped him overcome key project challenges.
“The team has been great to work with, very competent operators – [they really helped us solve on-site problems] during some of our conductor transfers – especially when we were working over the M80 freeway,” he said.
Quinlan Cranes specialises in utility projects, and the team have decades of combined experience working safely around high-voltage transmission lines – with the company holding an ISO accreditation for Quality, Safety and Environment.
But for Mr Sikka, this focus and attention to detail stems from a genuine love for his job.
“I really enjoy the power space – we’ve done a lot of good projects, like on the M80 and we’ve relocated towers and worked in between live-line.
“Walter [and I], we’ve done a lot of technical jobs together that took a lot of planning and time but for me, they’re the rewarding jobs. I suppose they’re jobs other people don’t want to do, but I take a bit of pride in them.
“At a recent live-line job we did, we worked with engineering teams to manufacture these robots and these adapters that would bolt to the end of the cranes to go and do this line work, and that’s something that interests us, our crews enjoy [doing] something that you don’t see every day.”
Under pressure
Mr Sikka and the Quinlan team have helped the sector not just deliver vital projects but respond quickly to emergencies and get customers connected as soon as possible.
“About 18 months ago, we had a call in the middle of the night that six high-voltage towers are blown over, the power station was tripped, and thousands of people were without power in Victoria,” Mr Sikka said.
“We had to mobilise half our fleet to site the next day and still supply our other utility customers. It was a massive job, and they just needed everyone on hand. We were working around lines that had gone over, there was a big push to get the power back and to get them all back up into temporary towers.
“They’re the hard jobs, when you get that call in the middle of the night – but they’re also rewarding and that’s the service we offer.”
When disaster strikes, the Quinlan team need to be able to solve problems quickly – and with thousands of customers depending on them to play their part in restoration works, there’s no room for error.
“I think a key difference with utilities is the pre-planning [we do]. We work closely with designers in the early stages of switchyard builds and transmission line projects to look at constructability, and for us, that makes a big difference,” Mr Sikka said.
“In our general construction, you still find a solution to their problem, but you’ve got very little input up until [you’re actually on-site], whereas in utilities, especially power, we find they’re working with us and thinking about [the best way to position] the crane – I think that just creates a successful project at the end, when everyone’s on the same page from an early point.”
Meeting high standards
Mr Sikka can’t stress enough the how important is it for crane operators to have the right experience to tackle these challenges and keep everyone safe on-site.
“Our guys are trained and they know the machines [back-to-front]. Especially when you’re on these critical projects or you’re working under an outage, you don’t want to be the reason that you failed,” he said
“That’s sort of something we pride ourselves on, what we do, we do well. And, problems happen, don’t get me wrong, things happen – but we’ll find a way, we don’t give up easily.”
These skills aren’t something that can be found in a textbook – and Mr Sikka said that the most valuable way to learn is on the job, from those who actually have years of hands-on experience.
“When I was starting out and I made the move to bigger cranes, it’s different once you start lifting things that weigh hundreds of tons,” Mr Sikka said.
“When you lift a piece that weighs 220t before, you learn to go with it a little bit. Our industry is a dangerous industry – it doesn’t matter if it’s 1t or 100t, if it hits you, you’re in a bit of trouble.
“It’s about keeping calm and learning and in those big jobs, you learn to stay calm and collected and in control, which is the key to it all.”
Mr Sikka explained that while the job has a physically demanding aspect – the ability to think quickly and find a solution under pressure is what defines a good crane operator.
“It’s more about your brains. A good operator, or even a good rigger, isn’t the strongest guy – often, it’s a good problem solver.
“Something I noticed early on is that if you can solve a problem, you can go wherever you want in the industry – and it’s a rewarding industry for the guys working in it, but on the same token, they also put in and learn a lot.”
Next level machines
While the crew are well-versed in solving challenges and decades of experience working critical utility projects has given Quinlan Cranes a huge knowledge base to leverage on-site – it’s just as crucial that they’re armed with machines that are tailored to the industry’s needs.
Mr Sikka explained that Quinlan Cranes invested in a brand-new, modern fleet to meet these needs.
“We [specifically] bought cranes to suit the utility industry. Quality is [really important], they’re state-of-the art cranes and our average fleet age would be five years or less,” he said.
“Last year, we bought a new model 110t crane, and we were the first ones to get one in Australia. But we bought it because it was specifically able to carry a lot of counterweight and it had a long boom, which suited high-voltage tower work.
“We also, about three or four years ago, bought the first 230t crane into Australia, [again] it was a new model with a 75m boom – whereas before you needed 300–400t cranes to do that work. Reliability is a big thing, so we try and buy from just one or two the leading manufacturers.”
According to Mr Sikka, flexibility and variety are key.
“We don’t just have one crane to suit the job, we’ll have multiple options with different solutions, depending on the constraints on-site. We’re not just finding a solution we have, we’re finding the best solution – even if we have to go and buy a machine for it,” he said.
“[For example], most of our most cranes run around at 12t per axle, but we’ve got machines that you can strip back to 10t and still run around and we’ve also got machines that have high counterweight carrying capacity.
“Some of the sites we go to, you’re going down fire tracks and things like that, and you can’t get a semi trailer in there. So, these cranes are suited for that sort of work.
“We’ve really thought about the work we do and the cranes we buy.”
Mr Sikka said that his favourite part of the job is seeing people happy at the end,
“At the end of the day, we’re providing a service and a solution to someone’s problem. I know we’re a crane hire company, but for us, it’s about giving people a safe solution to their problem, realistically, and that’s probably what fills my cup.”
For more information, visit quinlancranes.com.au
