Unique Work Locations

17 Dec 2008

We all have the day to day grind of having trouble getting to work, but imagine if your office was located not only in one of Australia's most remote locations but getting there also involved navigating razor sharp rocks in order to get to the front door!

When teams are told that work needs to be carried out at the Mt Barrow site, Tasmania, straight away they know that there's a challenging logistical task ahead.

The site which sits 1300 metres above sea level is not only cold, windy and in a very exposed location, but the transmission tower is situated on shelf rock and basalt gravel, making the task of walking around the site nearly impossible.

Workers on the site tell of weather ranging from crystal clear sunny days through to gale force winds, sleet and rain. On some days, the weather is so cold that ice builds up on the tower before falling off in large chunks - making the site very unpredictable and dangerous.

To protect our staff from the extremely cold conditions, it's not uncommon to see them clothed in suits similar to those used when working inside industrial freezers. Whilst nice and warm, these bulky suits restrict body movement making many tasks that much harder.

Despite this challenging environment our field staff for this site wouldn't change it for the world.

  Picture caption:
  Mt Barrow - A unique workplace