Sharma is a 29-year-old first year Electrical Apprentice here at Sunshine Sugar, but he has been part of the team for a few years. He has spent the past four years working in various roles on the mill sugar floor and fugals and the Murwillumbah Retail plant.

A typical day in the Electrical team involves pre-start and toolbox meetings where site updates are given and jobs allocated. As an apprentice, Sharma has a work partner that he is assigned to depending on the type of work being undertaken as well as spending a day per week undertaking TAFE study.

However, the past few months have seen some non-typical days due to the March 2022 flooding.

As one of the first employees able to access the Condong mill once flood waters receded, Sharma put himself to work moving mud and cleaning buildings and equipment. Well over one metre of flood water inundated the Electrical workshop and some 3 centimetres or more of mud was left behind.

Once initial cleaning of the site was done and flood recovery work mapped out, the Electrical team were set to work repairing or replacing everything from power points and lights through to major switchboards and controls.

Sharma has a keen interest in heavy industry saying, ”Working on big sites with big equipment is a specialist field in which there can be risk but there is reward.”

An industrial electrician works with electrical equipment, controls and wiring. They can work on many tasks, including the installation and repair of electrical components, in addition to testing and troubleshooting.

“This apprenticeship at Sunshine Sugar is giving me a really good basis for my future career working in heavy industry. I am learning valuable new skills in the electrical field as well as working alongside other tradespeople in the mill;” says Sharma.