Teams from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) are continuing to deliver essential services to the communities they serve during the coronavirus pandemic. SSEN'S operational teams are registered by the Government as critical workers, on the frontline every day, fixing faults on the power network and are now adapting to new working conditions that enables colleagues to maintain critical works while adhering to strict social-distancing measures.
Engineers continue to work, to ensure the robust and resilient power supplies households need, while adhering to government guidelines to prevent the spread of coronavirus. SSEN has implemented a one person, one vehicle rule. This means that our employees can travel safely, avoiding close contact with other people, to undertake the critical works required to keep Thames Valley's households and businesses powered.
Sean Barrett and Andy Richards are just two of SSEN's frontline workers responsible for maintaining and restoring the network that powers the homes and businesses of nearly 980,000 customers across the Thames Valley through an infrastructure including almost 8,500 kilometres of cables, 53,000 poles and over 10,000 substations.
With hospitals and many NHS services operating across the Thames Valley, and people isolated at home, a safe and reliable power has never been more important, and Sean and Andy are working to ensure they receive a smooth and consistent delivery of our service.
Sean said: "While the key part of our jobs - to keep the power flowing to our customers - hasn't changed, the way we carry out our jobs has. I work as a jointer, so my job is to repair any cable faults that can damage the network and cause power cuts. My colleague, Andy excavates the trench to enable me to access the damaged area and carry out the necessary repair or replacement of the cable - tasks we now carry out in isolation.
"We still work as a team and have a strict one person, one van policy, so we can work safely while respecting social distancing guidelines. All of our shifts and rotas have been reconfigured so we always have the same working partners and by doing this, in addition, social distancing and wearing the correct PPE, we are reducing the amount of people we come in to contact with and therefore working as safely as possible.
"Every job we do always starts with a risk assessment, but now there are a few more layers of assessment we need to make to keep ourselves and our customers safe.
"I take pride in playing a role in keeping the power flowing for our customers and having a job that really makes a difference, especially when I undertake that job with a trusted colleague like Andy."
SSEN is aware that customers may have concerns relating to power cuts during this time and has extended its Priority Services Register (PSR) to those who are categorised at 'high risk' and 'extremely high risk' of severe illness from coronavirus so they are now eligible to sign up for additional support through the free, tailored service. This includes those following government guidelines who have received a letter from the NHS to socially shield for a 12-week period.
SSEN's PSR offers a dedicated 24 hour priority services phone number, priority updates during a power cut, enables you to nominate someone for us to contact on your behalf and provides information in the format you need, for example in a different language, Braille or audio CD and a security password to keep you safe, and Thames Valley customers are being encouraged to find out more and register.
Customers are eligible for SSEN's Priority Services Register if they:
- Are deaf or hard of hearing
- Have a disability
- Live with children under five
- Are blind or partially sighted
- Have a chronic illness
- Use medical equipment/aidsreliant on electricity
- Are over 60