Electrical news
Summer 2019
energysafe issue 56
New team to strengthen
ESV's regulatory oversight
By Brett Fox, Head of Regulatory Assurance
The Electrical Safety and Technical Regulation (ESTR) division has created
a new team to test and challenge the sustainability of the asset and risk management
practices and controls of Victoria’s major electricity companies (MECs).
The Systems Intelligence (SI) team
will add to and strengthen the already
robust regulatory role of ESTR which
is responsible for:
» ensuring the electrical safety of electrical
generation, transmission and distribution
systems, electrical installations and
electrical equipment
» controlling the electrical safety standards
of electrical work carried out by electrical
workers, and
» promoting the prevention and mitigation
of bushfire danger.
In mid-September, two highly qualified
and experienced distribution asset
inspectors, Ricky Whiteley and Matthew
Pearce, started work as the foundation
members of the SI team.
Ricky comes to ESV from AusNet
Services where he was an asset
inspector for eight years, and an internal
auditor for five years. During this time,
he was involved with the inspection
of AusNet Service's assets and the
auditing of their central team of asset
inspectors.
Likewise, Matthew has extensive
experience and knowledge of asset
inspection practices and auditing.
For more than 10 years he worked
for a key industry provider of asset
inspection services throughout central
Victoria – both as an asset inspector
and, for the last six years, as the
manager of a large team of asset
inspectors.
In their new roles, Ricky and Matthew
will be:
» inspecting electrical network assets
» assisting in developing asset
management oversight strategies
» auditing of MEC asset management
systems, practices and approaches, and
» assisting with investigations.
It is planned for the SI team to be
fully resourced and operational early in
January next year with the appointment
of experienced asset management
engineer, Peter Livingston, as team
leader.
Once the full team is in place, both
Ricky and Matthew will attain credentials
in government incident investigation
and become ESV compliance and
enforcement officers. This will enable
them to fully utilise their unique skill
sets and mobile nature of their work
to respond quickly to any electricity
network incidents that occur.
They will also work to develop and
implement systems, processes and
effective data management to inform
ESV’s view on the efficacy of MEC asset
management and inspection practice.
Ricky's understanding of the work
practices and methodologies used by
industry to meet their asset inspection
regulatory obligations will be invaluable.
Fresh faces: Matthew (left) and Ricky (right) join the SI team.
18