Transpower has accepted the findings of an independent investigation into the fall of an electricity transmission tower at Glorit on 20 June, releasing the report during the week.

The investigation confirmed that the tower fell due to the removal of nuts from three of its four legs during routine maintenance by Omexom.

Transpower Acting Chief Executive John Clarke apologised for the resulting power cuts.

“We never like to see power cuts and we apologise to the Northland community for the disruption caused to people’s lives and businesses,” Clarke said.

“We can’t undo what happened, but we can put in place improved measures to prevent anything like this happening again. We accept the findings and recommendations from this investigation and are already moving to address them.”

The investigation found that Omexom’s crew did not follow standard practice.

Clarke emphasised that the tower would not have fallen if proper procedures had been followed.

“Our specifications require that nothing is done that could compromise tower stability. We don’t prescribe how many nuts should be removed and in what order, as service providers have the flexibility to determine their own processes that achieve the task safely and effectively,” Clarke said.

The report recommended that Transpower strengthen its oversight of service provider work to ensure robust practices and appropriate competencies.

Recommendations included revising drawings and specifications, enhancing training, and improving audit procedures.

Transpower’s service providers will be required to provide new work procedures, undergo refresher training, and re-certify workers as competent for such tasks.

“We stopped all baseplate refurbishment work within 24 hours of the tower collapsing, and service providers will not be able to recommence this work until they have been through these steps,” Clarke said.

The report also noted insufficient supervision of less-experienced workers at the time of the incident.

Clarke acknowledged the stress on those involved and expressed relief that no one was hurt.

“We are relieved that in this instance no one was hurt. We also want to thank the large industrial companies and services like the hospital who went without power or relied on their standby generation for several days to ensure that we could make the available electricity go further,” Clarke added.