Storm and Network Emergency Response Plan

Purpose. This plan sets out how Gridworks mobilises, dispatches and protects crews during storms, bushfires and major network emergencies while keeping fatigue and safety rules intact.

1.Activation

The duty manager will activate this plan when a severe weather warning is issued for the network area, when the client declares a network emergency, or when fault volumes exceed the capacity of the rostered crews. Activation is recorded in the incident register and communicated to all depots.

2.Emergency control structure

The duty manager leads the response from the network operations centre. Depot coordinators manage crews at Ballarat, Traralgon and Sunshine. The network controllers on shift prioritise faults, issue emergency access and direct fault switching. A safety officer at each depot monitors hours and fitness for work.

3.Priorities

Faults will be prioritised in this order: public safety hazards such as fallen conductors and fires, supply to hospitals, emergency services and rail, large outages, then individual customers. Crews must make a fallen conductor safe by treating it as live, establishing an exclusion zone and requesting isolation before any repair.

• Fallen conductors and fires first
• Critical customers and rail second
• Largest outages next
• Individual customers last

4.Crew safety during storms

Crews will not work aloft in lightning, in winds above the elevated work platform rating or in darkness without lighting. Every dispatch will be recorded on the work order with the crew, the time and the expected return, and crews will report in every two hours. Fatigue limits in the fitness for work policy apply, with extensions only by the duty manager and recorded.

5.Bushfire

During a bushfire, crews will not enter areas under an emergency warning. Network isolation for firefighter safety will be performed only under the fire agency's request through the client. Restoration in burnt areas requires an inspection of every pole and conductor before re-energisation.

6.Public and customer communication

Crews must keep the public away from fallen or damaged apparatus and must not give restoration times to customers; customers are referred to the client's outage information. The duty manager will provide the client with crew status updates every two hours.

7.Stand down and review

The duty manager will stand down the response when fault volumes return to normal capacity, ensure every crew has a rest period before their next shift, and hold a debrief within five business days. The plan is reviewed after every activation.