July 26, 2022
Ever wondered what it would be like to be an Electrical Supervisor? We caught up with Marcus, one of our Electrical Supervisors at the Waikeria Prison site, to find out more about his role and life outside of work. Find out more about Marcus below 👇
What is your role at McKay?
Electrical Supervisor At Waikeria Prison Project.
When did you start at McKay?
I started at McKay's Waikeria Prison Project in October 2019. However, I have previously worked for McKay in the mid-nineties on the JNL Kaitaia Mill Project (Lathe and Dryer), a shutdown at OJI and very briefly at the NZICC in Auckland as the supervisor for E4M before the fire.
Describe your role
I am just a small part of a great team, and my daily role consists of organising work fronts, RFI’s, variations, progress reporting, onsite coordination meetings, liaising with the other subcontractors, and liaising with CPB services and construction.
I am also very passionate about health and safety, which keeps me busy daily dealing with the team’s H&S processes, hazard/safety report cards, and my interactions with CPB H&S. Recently we have also been starting to energise buildings and equipment, which requires working closely with our team, CPB, and other subcontractors. This ensures all involved understand and adhere to the processes and permits we require to do so safely and without incident. This has therefore been successful.
What do you enjoy about your role at McKay?
The most enjoyable part of working at Waikeria is promoting a positive health and safety culture within the team and, more importantly, recognising good health and safety behaviour. The most rewarding part for me is giving out prizes at our monthly toolbox talk and putting on recognition BBQs for the team. Another gratifying part of my job has been other subcontractors rewarding Mckay staff for their attitude towards Health and Safety onsite. The team have won CPB’s health and safety contractor of the month four times (2xBBQs & 2xSubway lunches) and Tech5 health and safety contractor BBQ lunch and many other individual DOC and CPB awards. I also enjoy promoting team members with good leadership qualities and helping them on their journey.
How would people at work describe you?
I asked the people I work with to write down a word to describe me on a post-it note. Here goes...
Charismatic, Resolute, and Motivational.
That was a funny exercise, and thankfully they were very polite!
Tell us about your career journey so far?
I was one of the first five ETCO apprentices. I worked on industrial projects like Te Rapa, Hawera Dairy Companies, and commercial projects like Chartwell Square Shopping Complex and the Dilworth Boarding School in the early nineties. I finished my apprenticeship doing maintenance at Anchor Town Milk and Country Foods in Takanini in 1993.
After finishing my apprenticeship, I worked as a maintenance electrician for JNL Triboard Mill in Kaitaia, where I trained in Instrumentation Process and Controls and 11kV switching. I also worked construction on the JNL Kaitaia Mill on my four days off and Kauri Cliffs Golf Course. I have also worked at Amcor Kiwi Packaging, Chelsea Sugar, and Carter Holt Harvey Futurebuild in maintenance.
I went to Australia in 2006 and worked for Xstrata Copper in Mount Isa in maintenance and then mainly FIFO construction in the mining/oil and gas. Some projects include FMG Xmas Creek, FMG Cloudbreak, FMG Port Hedland Port Expansion, Sino Iron up in the Pilbara, Cadia East Gold Mine NSW, Lady Annie Copper Mine, and Lake Lindsay Coal Mine in QLD.
I worked as a supervisor with Nielsons at the Sino Iron Ore project and Monadelphous at the Rio Tinto Marandoo. I finished up my Australian journey supervising in the Gas fields upstream and on the APLNG gas plant on Curtis Island on the nightshift, looking after all the switchrooms, MCB, fan deck, and compressor decks for both trains 1 and 2.
I returned to NZ in 2016 and have worked in construction at Clandeboye and Pokeno dairy companies and both Methanex shutdowns, and now I’m coming up three years at Waikeria for McKay.
Writing my journey down has just made me realise I'm getting old.
What advice would you give to someone looking to become an Electrical Supervisor?
Learn all you can from people you respect, share your knowledge with those who respect and wish to learn from you, and don’t be afraid to surround yourself with great people!
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Most recently, it has been hooking up the caravan and heading off to the endless beautiful destinations New Zealand has to offer. The best part about it being no internet or TV and just unplugging... just thinking about it makes me go aaaaahhhhhh.
Three words to describe working at McKay?
Challenging, Exciting, and Rewarding.
If you are interested in joining the team at McKay, sign up to get career updates here.
