Students from Rathmore Grammar School, Belfast, have been developing a mobile phone application to test the safety of electricity poles.

It is part of the Sentinus Team Research and Development programme, four students recently visited the Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) Ballymena office to learn more about why and how engineers test electricity poles. The project, which was set by their industry mentor NIE, asks the students to find a simple and quick method of testing wooden electricity poles for damage or decay. Not only did the students discover more about their research problem but they also got to experience pole climbing at NIE’s purpose built apprentice overhead training school.

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Grahame Laird, NIE engineer and the school's industry mentor has been impressed with the students’ enthusiasm for the project. He said: "We thought this would be a good opportunity for the students to experience first hand the problem of testing wooden poles for decay. Safety is our top priority and our engineers must check poles have not decayed before climbing them to work on the network. We hope the students can develop a potential solution that we could perhaps start to use."

(CD/GK)