Technically Speaking

Written by: Cathy Byers
Featuring: John Evans

At first glance visitors to Comalco could be forgiven for thinking that strict safety and security rules could prove a deterrent but this is far from the truth as Comalco is a very hospitable and welcoming place for visitors.

When John Evans arrived on the Comalco scene 36 years ago ‘he just rolled up to the gate and got the job’ and back then, as long as you were medically fit, you could easily get a job. Other family worked here, but he had no previous experience. 
His working life at Comalco started as a furnace man in the  pot rooms, which are large area where you could easily get lost. It was all manual, physical work back then and that’s what he did. There was limited or no technical side to work back in those days.

John, needless to say, has continued to work in the  pot rooms in various capacities at Comalco, and for the last 6 months, he has been ‘one step up’ working as a Process Controller. This means he looks after the daily running of the cells or pots on shift, being assisted by the Operators on shift.

An interesting thing with the smelter industry is that talking to the uninitiated person outside of the workplace about the work you do in it can be frustrating, as it is a whole other language. He recounts nevertheless that if he talked to someone who worked overseas in a  pot room they would understand ‘pot’, ‘carbon’ and ‘cell’ because it is an industry that has a terminology all of its own, technically speaking. People worldwide in smelters understand ‘current efficiency’ and ‘DC kilowatt hours’. Current efficiency is the amount of current in the reduction cells compared to the amount of energy you put in a cell to make a kilogram of aluminium; the higher the current efficiency the better the figure, or the DC kilowatt hour; the better the figure, the lower the kilowatt hour.

John really enjoys his job as a Process Controller and the satisfaction he received in this role. He stills gets up every morning wanting to come to work, because of the people he works with. He’s a happy kind of guy and there’s not that much that gets him down, except maybe the night shifts.

John remembers the job was far more manual and heavy which resulted in a big turnover of labour. Today it is very different as technical advances have been made in all areas of production. The biggest change has been the advent of computers. Thirty-six years ago, the furnaces were worked manually, but as computers were incorporated more, many aspects of the work became automatic. He believes he’s remained happy in his job for so long because he has always ‘moved with the times.’ Many of his fellow workers couldn’t cope with the new technology and moved on, but John felt that the people who compiled the computer programmes were clever enough to make them fool proof and so he persisted with their use. ‘I just got on them and thought, well here goes … Even if you push the wrong button there is always a second chance!’

John has always been safety conscious but he remembers years ago before there where a lot more safety precautions with equipment. There used to be a lot of manual work on the cells and there used to be a lot of bath splashes – little bits of hot flux would hit you. ‘One day a bloke got a bit of hot carbon that went down his shirt. He shook his shirt and it went down his trousers. It doesn’t take much imagination to realise were it ended up. The embarrassment of reporting to the foreman and being asked to show evidence was a memory I will not forget,’ recalled John.

The times have clearly made an impact on his work. Now Comalco has become a more safety conscious company with really excellent safety programs in place. Employees are encouraged to interact with each other on various issues, including safety. ‘Every task we do, we complete a little tick box thing called Take Five … all the time you are thinking safety because of your mates.’

Comalco are very active sponsors of many community projects and it has assisted many employees with sponsorships including John’s son who played sport interstate. This is just one example which is personal to John. The company also donates old computers to schools where possible.

As Comalco is one of Tasmania’s big industries, its impact on the community has been especially evident with regard to cleaning up the environment. Although it’s been a slow process, John states that they have really ‘cleaned up their act’ and all employees have had training in environmental impacts.

Probably the biggest change John has seen is staff contracts. ‘All staff are treated as equals. You have a team leader to whom you can speak one on one. Before that it was a culture of ‘them and us’, so if you had a problem your delegate went to the senior delegate, then he went to the next person up and things got blown out of the water, now it is just a matter of going to the team leader and talking things over. The old days were simpler but nowadays it’s a different culture. If you think you are being treated unfairly there are now different avenues to go through, different procedures and (technically speaking) it makes for a better workplace!’