Gerard said that he often finds the biggest challenge is getting operators into the industry as once they are there, they tend to stay involved.

“I think Mick King sums it up best when he says ‘One of the hardest things was getting into the industry and the second hardest is getting out’. I think that highlights the passion the industry invokes once you’re a part of it,” Gerard said. “There are a core group of workers who love to get away on project sites and we need to develop those people, their skills and their roles in projects.”

Gerard says that as operators develop in the pipeline field they often move on to other roles outside the excavator cabin, such as clear and grade foreman, ditch foreman and lowering-in foreman. That situation then requires Gerard to source new operators to fill those places – he looks both inside and outside the industry to either operators in other fields with talent and where possible, developing new operators from within the industry.

It is also hard, he says, with a tight labour market and rising wages that are being paid to operators on road construction sites. “With road construction operator rates approaching that of operators in the pipeline industry, it is more and more of an effort to get people to our jobs, where they have to travel away for four weeks compared to the option of staying at home and earning nearly the same wage.” The majority of pipeline projects still operate on the 28 days on, 7 days off basis whereas most road construction jobs will see a five and a half day week at most.

The increase in pipeline construction work has presented both benefits and challenges in the plant hire field. “While we are experiencing our busiest times ever, the amount of work has seen more projects clashing in their timing as compared to previously where operators could finish on one job and then go on to the next. Now there are multiple jobs all happening at once meaning more people are needed and the most experienced operators are spread thinner than ever – but don’t get me wrong, it’s a great challenge to have compared with the alternative.”

One area which Gerard is keen to develop is having those who have started as labourers trained on site but this is up against tight project timelines and the need for a quality result at all times. “This is a great way to do it though, but it just takes time and co-operation between all those involved, operators, foreman and employers,” Gerard says.

Turning to recent and current project involvement, Pipeline Plant Hire has an extensive list including the Southern Regional Water Pipeline, the Eastern Pipeline Alliance (of the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project), the Northern Pipeline Alliance, the Sugarloaf Pipeline and the Bonaparte Gas Pipeline. In addition, they have recently completed work on the Brooklyn – Lara Pipeline and the Dampier – Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline Stage 5A expansion.

The Pipeline Plant Hire fleet comprises of over 50 machines with a large range of excavators from 13.5 to 68 tonnes, with the majority being 33 tonne models. In addition, in the last year the fleet has expanded to include a number of tailgate articulated, six-wheel drive dump trucks as well as five John Deere 872D graders that feature 16 foot mole boards and six-wheel drive for enhanced operation in challenging conditions.

Another important component continues to be the range of attachments that the Pipeline Plant Hire fleet has, including the V45 and V55 models of Montabert hammers which are well respected for their reliability and ability to get the job done. Pipeline Plant Hire also have a range of rippers, screening buckets, compaction wheels, angle tilt blades and many more including three RC10 vacuum lifters with the company just having taken delivery of the first Vacuworx RC16s in Australia.