The electrician travels across South Australia installing electricity meters at homes and businesses.

He is one of 54-meter technicians at Enerven and is one of two HSRs in the team.

Enerven is a wholly owned subsidiary of SA Power Networks, operating independently to deliver innovative, non-regulated infrastructure, telecommunications and energy solutions across Australia.

Overall, Enerven has about 30 HSRs across the company, which has 660 employees.

Stefan has worked at Enerven for the past five years and was elected a HSR in 2022.

This week SafeWork SA is proud to recognise Stefan’s achievements as part of the HSR Heroes program.

We caught up with Stefan to find out more about his HSR role.

Why did you become a HSR?

I put my hand up because I had a lot of the team coming to me to talk about everything that happens here, including procedures around safety. I think I was just the friendly face that everyone knew, so I thought it would be a good idea.

I like safety and I like advocating for people who maybe aren’t as confident in speaking up. An important part of the role is being able to navigate that space between workers and management. At times you might get differing perspectives from both sides, but you need to rely on your HSR training and the knowledge you have learned to help determine the best path forward to provide a safe outcome.

It’s also been good for me to have a deputy because there’s someone else there who knows the job and who has also had the training and has the same mindset so you can bounce ideas off each other.

I don’t feel like I’m on my own. We might have 54-meter technicians, but Enerven also has an entire Work, Health and Safety team, so there are a few levels of support, and it makes it easier to get things resolved.

Travelling across South Australia to install electricity meters at homes and businesses must be challenging at times, how do you deal with that as a HSR?

The challenges of having people working remotely and on their own is that you have to be always listening and looking for trends because if I can’t see it, then how can I expect them to. This has helped me to identify issues like the need for more training in a particular area, safety equipment or reassessing certain procedures.

Everyone is very aware of safety risks when driving, wildlife, other vehicles, maintenance, fatigue, it’s probably one of our major risks aside from electrical.

Also, when we get out to the farmlands you could be somewhere that has snakes or on a farm with multiple buildings and you might have been driving for more than an hour to get there.

When we arrive after such a long drive and look at the job as a whole the technician might continue to encounter multiple issues that would need to be rectified.

We are constantly reminded to step back and review the job. It’s not an easy decision but even after investing the time if someone begins feel uncomfortable, we are told to draw the line and stop work rather than feel pressure to complete the task when it can become potentially unsafe or over complicated.

What are the positives of being a HSR?

It’s been rewarding. It’s good to know what’s happening out there in the wider Enerven community as well as within our own work group.

I might get one or two phone calls a week or I might get five from people who are a bit unsure of something, and it might be a new person, or it might be a person who has been here for 10 years and says ‘I just want to run this one past you’ on a certain procedure.

I do find that rewarding, being able to offer that advice, and if I am unsure, I can go off and find the answer or have someone look into it.

Overall, it’s gives me a good perspective on safety and how businesses operate even beyond the safety area.

What would you say to someone thinking about becoming a HSR?

It’s very informative. You learn a lot about the business and safety in particular.

It has its own challenges but if you enjoy helping people and learning and growing then I would say go for it.