Control room / Despatch staff

[australiantroubleman]

This may be abit of topic , what qualifications do your control room / despatch people .. (the guys in a office directing switching and troublework) required to have before being promoted into the control side of our industry?

Are they ex troublemen? operators? engineers? technicians? , traditionally our company wanted ex troublemen/operators with our extensive field experience , however these days most of the older field guys are not interested in going into what is really a highly stressful office job and leaving the outdoor workplace.

I personally love working outdoors and would go stir crazy stuck in a office even if it was full of high tech toys to play with.

Is it worth going into a control / despatch job and leaving the field?

[graybeard]

Those jobs used to be filled from the guys from the field. But just like the safty dept. they can't get field guys to take those jobs so now you get people who don't have a clue. They work a 12 hour shift and all ways seam to be short handed and a fair amount of turnover.

[IN THE SHADOWS]

This may be abit of topic , what qualifications do your control room / despatch people .. (the guys in a office directing switching and troublework) required to have before being promoted into the control side of our industry?

Are they ex troublemen? operators? engineers? technicians? , traditionally our company wanted ex troublemen/operators with our extensive field experience , however these days most of the older field guys are not interested in going into what is really a highly stressful office job and leaving the outdoor workplace.

I personally love working outdoors and would go stir crazy stuck in a office even if it was full of high tech toys to play with.

Is it worth going into a control / despatch job and leaving the field?

I think it all depends on the individual as far as what interests you. I took one of these jobs about 2 and a half years ago and love it. The utility I work for has upgraded the minimum qualifications over the last few years to requiring a Journeyman level electrical background to get started. Yes the 12 hr shifts can be a drag, however, you get a lot of days off, and that works for me. On the down side , I work in a windowless enviroment, a building surrounded by a prison style 10 foot high fence ( complete with the barbed wire on top) that your every move is documented from the time you "card in" the gate till you "card out". All phone calls, radio conversations, keystrokes on the computer are recorded. etc etc.
I think though that I was attracted by the gadgetry. Sitten in front of 12 flatscreens operating a transmission and distribution system (maybe in a strange way) is kinda fun to me. Can be extremely stressfull and extremely boring and back again within minutes. Overall I would have to say though that at my age...this job will probebly get me on out to retirement just fine. The best part though.....as a Journeyman Lineman, I used to hate gettin called out at 1-2am in the morning during the storms...now its pay back time!!!

[linemansmilestones]

PG&E , where I retired from, has only qualified operators, that are schooled in todays technology. Operators of the past may have been people from the field, but todays grid is so sophisticated, old school is not working.
I had a great relationship with all the operators. I was their eyes and ears, and they were my connection to maps and computer data, to resolve system trouble shooting. Metropolitan problems get very complicated, and I appreciated their craft and professional skills to help me resolve problems, especially in the underground.

[BigClive]

I think though that I was attracted by the gadgetry. Sitten in front of 12 flatscreens operating a transmission and distribution system (maybe in a strange way) is kinda fun to me.

Yeah, but you don't actually get to turn stuff on and off randomly for fun.

[Hebrew]

At my company all of our operators used to be linemen except one,the last one!Like most of you guys,none of the people who work outdoors do not want to be stuck inside.You have to be computer literate at least as the software is Windows based(I think).Extensive training is provided for about 3 years.

[IN THE SHADOWS]

Yeah, but you don't actually get to turn stuff on and off randomly for fun.

So true Big Clive...Not quite ready for the unemployment line yet!!

[markwho]

We have dispatchers that answer phones and call us in if needed. When any switching is needed we call in an engineer outside normal working hrs. During the day there is always one in the building available to us if needed. sometimes we need to coach them along, and are not afraid to ask questions if we have a doubt about any part of the procedure. I had an engineer tell me to open a bypass switch for a pole mounted recloser and then open the recloser with the tank switch. needless to say i broke the load with the tank switch and then isolated by opening the bypass switch. I don't really recall but i don't think there were any ears on the switch for a loadbuster anyway.

[australiantroubleman]

Its very interesting to see how different countries and companies run their control / despatch functions , many years ago our company took over a small rural council that ran a "dutyman" system after hours, they switched the company phone to your house you took all company calls .

You had the maps and updated switching positions of all equipment taken home with you , it was your job to call out staff and direct switching from your home , the poor guys wives had to put up with disruptions from ringing phones many times and try to stay polite to the customers in the middle of the night.

They had some kind of primitive by todays standards radio system that was portable and seemed to work ok for most of their areas.

The dutyman job was shared by the troublemen and i bet their wives where not impressed when their turn come around.

The guys where very good in their own area but when some where promoted into our control room they really had problems running a busy and complex urban control room desk and most ended up back on the road.

[markwho]

Wow, That sucks. My wife isn't happy just when the phone rings when i am on top of the call out list! We are planning a trip to Italy in the fall, so when the phone rings now I just tell her Italy and go to work!