Here are the winners of the 2025 Transpower STAR Awards. The Awards took place at Auckland Town Hall and was attended by over 230 industry participants.
The STAR Awards recognise and celebrate those who demonstrate the highest standards of health, safety, and wellbeing within Aotearoa New Zealand’s electricity Transmission industry.
STAR Supreme Award
Lee Aldworth – Cake Commercial Services Limited
The judges recognised Lee for shaping a culture of safety and continuous improvement through hands-on mentoring, pioneering new approaches, and empowering teams to achieve higher standards and embrace innovation. Lee also won the Thought Leadership Award.
Frontline Leadership
Amanaki (Naki) Tuipulotu – Ventia Limited
Naki exemplifies calm, respectful leadership and an unwavering commitment to health, safety and wellbeing.
Thought Leadership
Lee Aldworth – Cake Commercial Services Limited
Lee is the go-to person for training, innovation and leadership. Shaping a culture of safety and continuous improvement through hands-on mentoring, pioneering new approaches, and empowering teams to achieve higher standards and embrace innovation.
Future of Safety
Ruby Raymond – Omexom Limited
Ruby demonstrates exceptional initiative, courage, and a proactive approach to safety, which has led to tangible improvements on worksites and inspired others to engage confidently with safety practices.
Hauora Wellbeing Initiative
People networks: looking after our people’s wellbeing – Northpower Limited
The team shows an outstanding commitment to mental health and wellbeing, demonstrated through a proactive, behaviour-based culture, innovative support programmes, and measurable improvements in mental health literacy and workplace safety across its workforce.
Safety Innovation/Safety by Design
Charlton Carney for Live cable identification – Omexom Limited
Charlton developed a simple yet highly effective LED indicator system that provides real-time visual confirmation of live high-voltage cables, significantly reducing risk to workers, enhancing supply security, and exemplifying innovation with real-world impact.
Team Safety
Brownhill-Pakuranga cable jointing project: collaborative safety – Northpower Limited, Transpower, Pipeline & Civil Limited and CB Civil
The four companies exemplify outstanding teamwork and safety leadership through rigorous planning, innovative risk controls, and open communication, achieving zero-harm outcomes and setting a new benchmark for collaborative project delivery on a critical infrastructure upgrade.
Judges Commendation
Jack Leask – Downer Limited
This year our judges also awarded a commendation to Jack for being an outstanding safety practitioner who combines hands-on leadership with a passion for innovation, fostering a best-practice safety culture and supporting his team through ongoing training and strategic planning. His commitment to Zero Harm, industry engagement, and ability to inspire others have delivered tangible safety outcomes and positively influenced the wider transmission sector.
These were our 19 finalists for the 2025 STAR (Safety, Thanks and Recognition) Awards. They were chosen from almost 50 nominations which all showcased the extraordinary effort our people across the electricity transmission sector put in to ensure health and safety remains at the forefront of their work.
| Frontline Leadership | A person who is an exemplary leader, demonstrating outstanding commitment to health, safety and wellbeing in the workplace. |
|
| Future of Safety | A trainee or apprentice who demonstrates outstanding commitment to health, safety and wellbeing in the workplace. |
|
| Hauora | Wellbeing | An initiative that is leading to greater physical, mental, social and/or spiritual wellbeing for people. |
|
Safety Innovation / Safety by Design | An innovation, safety improved though design, or use of technology with potential for safety improvement industry wide. |
|
| Team Safety | A team or organisation that has significantly improved its safety culture and performance by adopting better ways of working. |
|
| Thought Leadership | A person who shares their depth of knowledge with others and provides health, safety or wellbeing insights and influence, respected as a go-to person in their field of expertise. |
|