Vector Network News

Vector's DIY summer safety advertising campaign has kicked off and is being fronted this year by a face familiar to most New Zealanders.

Ex-All Black Buck Shelford, fronts Vector’s ”Look Up, Look Down, Look Out” DIY safety campaign.

The “Look Up, Look Down, Look Out” campaign aims to help reduce the number of injuries and deaths caused while undertaking DIY projects.

The campaign reminds people to think about safety considerations such as being aware of overhead lines when moving ladders and making sure that power tools and appliances do not come into contact with water.

Around 21,000 New Zealanders are injured in their own homes doing DIY each year - that's about 59 people a day or one person every 24 minutes.

Vector’s safety messages are not only limited to the more obvious electrical risks that people can be exposed to when carrying out DIY.

There are a number of safety precautions people can take when working around the home and not all are necessarily related to visible electricity lines and wiring.

Underground cables and pipes can also be deadly and people need to find out the location of these if they are planning to dig out a section of their garden or property.

The ‘Look Up, Look Down, Look Out’ campaign forms part of a wider safety awareness initiative which includes education programmes to over 96,000 children at schools across Auckland and Taranaki and a number of campaigns throughout the year that encourage safe practice around electricity to everyone from staff and contractors through to farmers and boaties.

Buck has also been out with our faults crews, using the metaphors of the rugby field to bring the safety message home in his own, uncompromising way.

NETWORK SUMMARY for week ending 26 January 2014
ELECTRICITY

Cyclone June presented Vector crews with a busy day on Tuesday. Crews worked hard in challenging conditions to restore power to affected areas. Over the course of the afternoon, wind gusts hit 89 km/h causing branches and debris to blow onto lines.

Crews dealt with multiple outages over the Auckland region, with customers being restored as quickly as possible throughout the afternoon. Vector’s outage app handled 12,234 hits, while the mobile website and twitter accounts were very active.

Thunderstorm activity looks to be the cause of an outage in Henderson shortly before 6pm on Saturday. Crews were on site quickly and full power was restored in one hour and 18 minutes.

Emergency services requested Vector crews attend five fire incidents during the week, in Otahuhu, Blockhouse Bay, Orewa, Mangere and the CBD. Power was isolated for safety.
GAS

Contractors struck gas pipes in Te Awamutu and Warkworth during the week. Repairs were completed and no customers were affected.

SHORTS

· Vector owns over 17,800 kilometres of overhead and underground lines in the greater Auckland area, and 12,752 of gas pipe lines, almost half of which supply gas to Auckland.

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