When a light on one of the four turrets that light up the flag above Australia's Parliament House was smashed in a hail story recently the man called to replace it was Jon McQuade, of Barrack Heights.
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On Friday Mr McQuade will use all his experience as a rigger to rise 70 metres above the iconic building to fit a new light bulb on the giant flagpole.
But it is nothing out-of-the-ordinary for Mr McQuade. He has been doing maintenance on the giant flagpole for 15 years.
Mr McQuade said the toughest job comes every five years when "I abseil beneath the lower deck to inspect the flagpole rope pathway when we undertake a rope change".
For this Friday's light bulb change he will gain access by two lifts.
"The first lift takes you up the leg of the structure and is capable of taking two people," he said.
"It is a fairly bumpy rattly ride. You need to be inducted and be able to self-rescue from that.
"Then there are two platforms. The top platform is where we access the flagpole. So there is some rigging that needs to be done at the very top of the flagpole. A small one man lift goes vertically up the spine of the flagpole."
Mr McQuade is only allowed to work on the Australian Parliament House Flagpole lighting and rope hoist system when Parliament is not sitting. And relies on good weather to do the job. It is not advisable if it is cold, wet and or windy.
Ms McQuade said he interest in such work really began 23 years ago when he was called in to work on the roof refurbishment at the Sydney Opera House.
"I got to work with a group of English steeplejacks and some scaffolders who had worked on the Opera House before," he said.
"I was surrounded by some amazing people and I learned a lot in a short space of time. That is where the love of doing this difficult access stuff came from. We were working off ropes before rope access was really a thing."
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Since then Mr McQuade has worked on many major sites with the latest technology (including powered rope access equipment). And he now trains people to work on buildings such as Barangaroo as well as giant wind turbines.
He has also provided training systems, training and rescue plans for Mirvac
Mr McQuade said he has a very healthy respect for heights and says there is a good reason to be scared of heights. But it was the ability to focus on the task at hand and not let himself be distracted that made it safe.
"I got started in the training game because I was running a whole bunch of riggers for Bullivants when I moved from Sydney to Wollongong.
After eight years I was regional manager and had eight crews of riggers out on jobs."
During that time Mr McQuade was always thinking about better ways to do the job more safely and developed more training to the company.
He saw that it made a difference and enjoyed it so much he decided to start his own own height safety access training and rescue company with his wife Dianne McQuade.
Mrs McQuade said Heightsafe Solutions basically started on the kitchen table.
She said they later sold the house and moved the business into its own office, warehouse and training centre opposite the Salvo's store in Barrack Heights.
From those humble beginnings Heightsafe Solutions has gone on to do many major projects and brings in specialists with mechanical and electrical skills when needed.
This Friday it is predominantly a rigging job that involves two advance riggers.
Mr McQuade and a colleague who will manage the rescue support system so they can self rescue should anything go wrong.
"The reason they call us in is we are familiar with the structure and the rescue requirements and have the ability to provide that," Mr McQuade said.
"The other reason is their own staff are not comfortable doing that work.
"How many McQuades does it take to change a light globe? Just one really."
Mrs McQuade said her husband originally worked in transport. He was once one of the youngest managers of Mayne Nickless and opened his own abseiling school for a while.
"He still loves climbing," she said.
"He is the top of his field."
Mrs McQuade worked in retail (bedding and furniture) before establishing the business with her husband and focusing on the admin and human resources side of Heightsafe Solutions.
Including the two weeks of planning that goes into a job like Friday.
She was also the founder of a pop-up co-op in Kiama.