KEGOC hosted competitions for teams of electricians for overhead line maintenance at the training site at 500 kV Almaty substation of KEGOC’s Almatinskiye MES branch (Almaty region, Zhambyl district) from October 2 to 5.

The professional skills competition had nine teams, one from each of KEGOC's operational branches. During the competition, the teams passed six stages that demonstrated: regulatory and technical document knowledge, theoretical and practical skills, skills in releasing a victim (dummy) from exposure to electric current, taking him/her down from a 220 kV overhead line tower and providing pre-hospital care, skills in replacing defective glass insulators of various brands, skills in replacing a defective spacer in the suspension span, and skills in connecting a wire loop on a 220 kV overhead line tension metal tower using special tools.

The first place in the competition went to the team from the Akmolinskiye MES branch, the second place to the team from the Severnye MES branch, and the third place was shared by the teams from the Vostochnye MES and Yuzhnye MES branches.

The competition committee also evaluated the participants' personal and professional abilities. Thus, Nurzhan Kutov (Aktyubinskiye MES) won the "Best Foreman" category, Ayanbek Kabiyev (Zapadnye MES) won the "Best Electrician" category, and Didar Mayzhakanov (Tsentralnye MES) won the "Best Permit-to-Work Supervisor" category. The crew of Almatinskiye MES branch was awarded the nomination "Best branch for safety knowledge."

The winning team will represent Kazakhstan at this year's international professional contest of CIS utilities.

It is noted that professional competitions are held not only to evaluate the skills and training of production personnel, but also to integrate branch teams and facilitate the exchange of best practises.