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For a city electrician, it’s all about the power
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ONE of the downsides of Cao Jisheng’s job during the summer is that he has to work in a soaking wet uniform, but the senior electrician said he has grown accustomed to the discomfort after eight years with the Shanghai Electric Power Company.
During his maintenance calls, his thick, long-sleeved uniform, which has many pockets for holding his tools, soon becomes soaked with sweat in the sizzling summer heat, a problem often exacerbated by sudden thundershowers.
After riding back to the maintenance station from a call on his motorcycle, he immediately takes off his wet uniform and hangs it out to dry under the sun. It will normally dry out within half an hour, but sometimes he has to put it back on while it is still wet to go back out on another call.
The 37-year-old Anhui Province native diagnoses and fixes electrical problems for local residents in the area between Xizang Road S. and Ruijin Road S. in Huangpu District. He works with seven other electricians at the Kangda Electric Power maintenance station on Ruijin Road S., the largest of its kind in the downtown area.
When he is on duty at the station he always sits beside the hotline telephone to wait for calls from local residents experiencing electrical problems.
When Cao gets a call, he grabs his tool bag, puts on a safety helmet, jumps on his motorcycle and rushes to the resident’s home to fix the problem, even on scorching-hot days when the mercury hits 40 degrees Celsius or higher.
“I can normally arrive within five minutes, because I can figure out the shortest route right after I hear the address,” he said. “Besides, I prefer to ride a motorcycle, which is faster than a four-wheel vehicle, especially during rush hours, although it means I am hotter in summer.”
Despite the difficult conditions he works under, Cao can usually diagnose a problem and fix it quite quickly.
“It is all about experience,” Cao said. “I can find the problem with a simple glance at the maze of electrical wires in the old residential houses.”
The area he is in charge of is home to many old residential buildings. Some of them have been renovated, and the electrical wires have often been moved around in the process, making identifying problems difficult at times.
The station receives over 30 calls a day on average during the summer, said Guo Shen, the director of the station.
“The old residential houses are more prone to having blackouts when every householder turns on their air conditioning and other appliances around 6pm,” Guo said.
As a senior electrician, Cao has had no time to rest recently. As soon as he fixes one problem for a household, he receives a call from another.
Sometimes he needs to provide guidance for less experienced maintenance workers at the station who sometimes cannot fix a problem or even find the address, he said.
Most of the calls during summer are for tripping problems and blown fuses that Cao can fix within minutes, but sometimes he faces greater challenges. For instance, a fire occurred near the station early this month at a residential building that burnt the wiring.
Firefighters had sprayed foam onto the wires to extinguish the blaze. Cao and his colleagues worked overnight for two days to establish a temporary power system.
“I always keep in mind that a blackout is quite difficult for residents in the summer, so I have to end their suffering as soon as possible,” Cao said.
He has gained a reputation among nearby residents as one the kindest and most experienced “masters” at the station.
However, when he initially came to Shanghai and started his career in 2008, he struggled to find the address when he responded to a call, Cao said.
He applied to become an electrician at the station because of his lifelong interest in electricity, he said. His father is also an electrician in his hometown, Anhui’s Wuhu City.
“I liked electricity when I was at school and being an electrician was always my dream,” he said.
There are 38 maintenance stations in the downtown area and nearly 800 electricians are on standby to help residents around the clock.
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