Local Company Does Hurricane Sandy Clean Up Work In New York
by Scott A. Sumner
Thunder Bay based company GridLink is back from several weeks of doing electrical work in New York after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.
“ We were just down in New York working on Hurricane Sandy starting out in Vermont. Our company was invited to come down three days before the storm hit. They sent us towards the coast and then to Long Island for a few weeks. We had 8 staff and 7-bucket trucks there. There were high winds that knocked power lines down. We worked at Bedford in the Martha Stewart and Chevy Chase neighbourhoods who had massive trees come down in their yards,” said Jody Bernst, President & Owner of Grid Link. Jody is trained as a power line technician and previously worked for Thunder Bay Hydro, Ontario Hydro, BC Hydro, in California for a time and Alberta. “ It was a good experience for our young staff and nice to see their different work procedures and standards.”
Gridlink was founded in December 2000. They currently have a staff of 20 including administrative, technical and mechanical. The core of their work is in the construction and maintenance of power lines including hydro vac excavation, directional drilling, fiber optics and civil work like line clearing and brushing.
“ Our clients are usually utilities and industrial clients whom need a hook up of power. A mine needs to run power lines all over. We also work with Thunder Bay Hydro in the areas of pole replacements,” said Jody Bernst. “ The business is going well.
“ It was a life experience for our guys to work in New York, to be right in the heart of a natural disaster and help people get their lives back in order.” said Sebastian Bart Foglia who does business development for GridLink. “ My role is to greet the customers and service them the best we can and also get new clients. Our health and safety program in second to none. In our line of work it is a high risk environment and having a high regard for safety is important.”
Gridlink will come in to compliment the Thunder Bay Hydro staff when they are too busy and can do private property lines. Typically the utility will end their line at the property line and Gridlink will install the rest to where the customer is going to use the power. There are stringent standards governed by the electrical authority for this type of work. Gridlink is a unionized firm and subscribe to the safety rules.
“ We can do some routine tasks with out de energizing the line which allows the plant to keep operating. Gridlink is well positioned to meet some of the demand in the mining area and we are expanding now to meet the demand that is currently being presented to our company. The economy looks good from where we stand. My background in large utilities allows us to implement some good procedures in our company.” said Bernst. Gridlink has just purchased a new larger building on Mountdale Ave and will move their operation there next year.
