Contractors and Framework Consultants working on NI Water projects have turned out in force for the organisation's Utility Strikes Awareness Day.

NI Water hosted the event, the second of its kind, on Wednesday 26 February in the Learning & Development Centre in Antrim.

Approximately 80 people attended the event, which was hosted by Tracey Mitchell, ICD SHE Compliance Manager with support from the SHE team.

Esteemed speakers included Hal Steele of NIE Network, who discussed the dangers of overhead and underground electricity services, while Phil Cornforth on behalf of USAG talked about how to prevent utility damage through better use of data.

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Other speakers and topics included:

• Adrian McNeilly, Phoenix Natural Gas: impacts of damage to the natural gas network

• Caolin McKee, Openreach NI: damage caused by strikes to the network

• Brendan Crealey, Industry Training Services: lessons learned from his time in the industry along with an oversight of his own experiences as a trainer

• Adam Baker and Matt Hull, Leica Geosystems: equipment options available for locating services; and

• David Green, NIW Water Quality Manager: impact on water quality and NIW customers from strikes and bursts.

The day concluded with a tour of the CALM Network training facility by Conan McIlwrath, Asset Performance.

Following from the success of the event, more are planned throughout the year for NIW framework contractors and staff.

(CM/JG)