While Canadian Natural Gas Utility Workers’ Day is celebrated every October, the essential services these employees perform is truly a 24-7 job.
“As a Manitoban I am extremely appreciative of our staff who ensure natural gas service can be counted on each hour of each day,” said Dave Bowen, Vice-President of Operations at Manitoba Hydro. “Please join me in thanking our teammates that provide this critical service.”
Among Manitoba Hydro’s 260 Natural Gas Utility Workers are Joel Ritchot, a service person, and Levi Lequire, a service person trainee, who were kind enough to let communications staff tag along for a morning to get an idea of what an average day in the field is like.
Enlarge image: A man in high visibility clothing sits in his van with the door open.
Joel has been with Hydro for six years and is currently a service person based out of our office at 35 Sutherland Ave.
“I was working in the HVAC trade right out of high school and got my Red Seal in gasfitting,” Joel said. “A friend of my father, who was on the electrical side of Hydro and taking the voluntary departure program, heard they were hiring gasfitters and said I should throw my name in. I knew Hydro was a good opportunity, so I jumped on it. I was proud to get the job.”
He added that no two days were quite the same.
“I like the uncertainty of what the day will bring,” Joel said. “You have days where everything runs according to schedule, and then some days an unexpected emergency will clear your schedule and take your whole focus.”
Enlarge image: A man in high visibility clothing leans against his van.
Levi, who has been with Hydro for two years, is currently a service person trainee.
“Hydro always sounded like a good place to work. I had been working in the trades before, in refrigeration and HVAC, so this job lined up nicely with that,” he said. “In my previous job, if say you went to a house and you found a cracked heat exchanger or you found high carbon monoxide levels, you would call Hydro. Now I’m on the other side of that, and I’m the one that will be checking those situations out.”
Enlarge image: Two men in high visibility clothing chat next to a van.
While en route to a routine service call to inspect a previous gas service installation, Joel and Levi are rerouted to a residential carbon monoxide detector alarm in the Garden Grove neighbourhood.
After a tailboard meeting to go over the reason for the call and potential safety concerns, the duo head out to investigate.
Enlarge image: Two men in high visibility clothing chat in a basement next to heating equipment.
The Garden Grove house was tidy; it made me feel embarrassed about the mountain of clothes in my own laundry room at home! I asked Joel and Levi if they minded walking into a housekeeping disaster.
“We are always respectful of people’s homes and are non-judgmental. When people call us, it’s a potential emergency and they aren’t expecting visitors,” Joel said. “We may have to clear a work area a bit for safety reasons, but the goal is always to respond to the call and keep everybody safe.”
Levi inspects a natural gas pipe connecting to a hot water tank, using a tool known as a CGI or combustible gas indicator. On his collar is a personal monitor, which detects gas and oxygen.
“I’m still getting through the training right now, so I’m doing ride alongs with other team members and responding to emergencies like no heat, carbon monoxide calls and other calls. That’s the stuff that I’m looking forward to, using the tools and the training that they give us to go to a home, find the source of the problem and make it safe,” Levi said. “I feel like that will be the most rewarding part of the job.”
Enlarge image: A man in high visibility clothing uses a laptop in a parked van.
After a rigorous investigation, the Garden Grove call turns out to be a false alarm.
“These calls oftentimes are little false alarms, but it always reassures the customer that they are safe and that everything is working properly,” Joel said. “We always say it’s better safe than sorry.”
After a routine inspection at another residential location in the Glenelm area, the duo are routed to a call in the Kildonan area after a residential customer calls in about a natural gas odour.
“Depending on the reading of gas in parts per million, we have different procedures we follow,” Joel said.
Workers will recommend evacuating the home at any reading and may shut off gas off outside and further ventilate the home by opening windows and doors; workers will restrict their own access at levels of CO higher than 99 PPM.
“As we are able to enter, we are always checking readings. We always want to make sure we are entering a safe atmosphere.”
“Our tests don’t really change from call to call. We check all the appliances and the gas fittings. Even when it’s just a carbon monoxide alarm, we don’t assume it’s just carbon monoxide, we treat it like a gas leak. We do a full check on everything and make sure it is safe before we can leave,” Joel said.
While trace amounts of gas are observed at the exterior gas meter, the house is safe until Hydro crews can come to swap out the meter.
All in all, it was a relatively uneventful morning — not necessarily a bad thing by any means.
“You can learn something on every call,” Joel said. “Meeting all of these different people and getting to help customers, that’s what keeps me coming back day after day.”