Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX
| reply to TKJunkMail
Re: It was her rotten utility pole - she owned it
It seems obvious to me (once a foreman of an outside crew in telecommunications) that several things went wrong with this, all centered on Comcast. If a technician is overweight, he needs to be weighed to determine what type of climbing gear he can use. I believe the strongest ladder will support 325 lbs of technician and equipment. (my numbers may be off, it has been a while since I read the specs). Climbers (hooks, gaffs) have similar limitations. So there may be a supervisory error here.
Further, technicians should test the pole prior to climbing, by using a pole prod, sounding the pole (hitting it with a hammer), and a couple of other tests can be done, so here we have either a willful deviation from safety practices, or supervisory error in not properly training the individual.
Just my .02 from my outside plant days. |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| While I agree with a lot of what you're saying with weight limitations and all... but ask yourself, before you get too far into yourself there... when was the last time you ever "tested a pole"... other than a quick visual.
What we have here, pretty simple in my observation, is a pole that needed to be replaced and a simple accident.
It's the EQUIPMENT that needs to be rated for safety and I know guys in the 300 lb range working safely.. POLES can most certainly handle 325 pounds... |
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james
join:2001-02-26
antarctica
| reply to Austinloop
said by Austinloop  :If a technician is overweight, he needs to be weighed to determine what type of climbing gear he can use. That would have done nothing in this case. The pole was rotten and not functioning within specs, so all the calculations and weighing in the world wouldn't have helped. |
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Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX
| reply to fiberguy
Not in the last 2 years, I am retired. I realize that some don't test poles, that is their decision, it was my decision, if I caught someone not testing a pole to take disciplinary action. I personally know of people who have died because of not taking an extra 5 minutes to make sure all is well before climbing. Again, the tools were provided, not using them is a deliberate act on their part.
I would disagree with your observation, that this is a simple accident, it was caused by not testing the pole. |
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Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX
| reply to james
I never said that the weight check would have did anything in this case, but it is a responsibility of management to determine if the individual has safe equipment to do his job.
Further, as I said the technician, apparently, made a deliberate effort to bypass safety procedures, as I told fiberguy. The technician pretty much caused this, he should not have climbed the pole. |
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Combat Chuck
Too Many Cannibals
Premium
join:2001-11-29
Erie, PA
| reply to Austinloop
I'm still trying to figure out where anyone is justified in calling this guy a tub of lard. His weight only seems to have been brought into this situation because of his attempt at humor (picked up by the reporter) after a situation where he broke something and probably got the shirt scarred out of him.
It's a utility pole, considering that it used to support a whole tree I don't think any human with the ability to climb said pole would weigh enough for it to actually be a safety concern.
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Come let us reason together. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Comcast
| said by Combat Chuck :I'm still trying to figure out where anyone is justified in calling this guy a tub of lard. His weight only seems to have been brought into this situation because of his attempt at humor (picked up by the reporter) after a situation where he broke something and probably got the shirt scarred out of him. It is because the groupthink here is that anyone who works for a corporation is automatically an evil, consumer hating oppressor who is wrong in everything they do. Facts shall not intrude on the programmed hatred.
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My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page |
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Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX
| reply to Combat Chuck
Chuck, since you replied to me, I will answer. I do not recall calling the guy a tub of lard. I discussed actions that management should take if the individual was overweight.
If I said he was a tub of lard, please provide link.
Utility poles are of all ages and conditions, depending on the local environment. Poles that have been there for many years may be so hard on the outside that it is very difficult to use climbers to climb. I know of one incident in town where a person was on a pole and removed an attachment, the pole lost support from the cable, etc. and broke. Unfortunately the man on the pole rode it to the ground, and even more unfortunately, he was between the ground and the pole when the pole impacted the ground.
Poles do rot, in anyway you can think of, and normally at ground level and cannot support the weight of a person. Your not thinking that any human would wight enough...etc. was not agreed to by the company I worked for, which required pole testing prior to climbing. |
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Combat Chuck
Too Many Cannibals
Premium
join:2001-11-29
Erie, PA
| said by Austinloop :Chuck, since you replied to me, I will answer. I do not recall calling the guy a tub of lard. I discussed actions that management should take if the individual was overweight. What I'm saying is that there's no real reason to worry about him being abnormally overweight, as there's nothing substantial to say he was or wasn't short of a self deprecating joke he made to the customer. The issue is a rotten pole and a worker who didn't think to check for the condition.
The weight issue was used as a subliminal cue in the article to give you a bad guy (at the very least you know the reporters view of who the bad guy was). All Reference to his weight short of what he actually said should have been removed by an editor, but emotion sells, and newspapers are hurting so anything goes.
If you read most of the other stuff over there it's pretty much the same thing, newsatorials.
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Come let us reason together. |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
2 edits | reply to Austinloop
The ONLY thing that is required of pole testing is by using an FED for foreign current. Testing the quality or strength of a pole isn't done more than eying them. I mean, I can look at a pole and see that it's small, gaffed to hell, and chips away when I sneeze at it.
But, having worked for both Cable, and telephone. (PacBell, a major player) and having been in a few systems, and gone through over 15 years of training programs, pole testing has been the extend of how to climb it safely, and how to check for foreign voltage. And it's not "some" don't test.. it's MOST. (again, that's FV, ...that is outside of power guys.)
I guess we have to agree to disagree then. I'll leave it there becuase anything else will sound like an insult no matter how I try to say it. |
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idjk
@embarqhsd.net
| reply to Austinloop
Unless it looked real good I always at least gave the pole a good smack with my line hammer to catch the tone of the wood, also always look at ground wire. I was telco and often there was no power above but you never know about down the line--I really like to hook but that was long ago. |
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Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX
1 edit | reply to fiberguy
Well, whatever, however pole prods and sounding poles were trained and expected in SWB. I really have no idea what PacBell did, nor do I really care.
I was an outside foreman for around 24 years. |
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cpal
join:2002-07-10
Herndon, VA
| reply to TKJunkMail
said by TKJunkMail :said by Combat Chuck :I'm still trying to figure out where anyone is justified in calling this guy a tub of lard. His weight only seems to have been brought into this situation because of his attempt at humor (picked up by the reporter) after a situation where he broke something and probably got the shirt scarred out of him. It is because the groupthink here is that anyone who works for a corporation is automatically an evil, consumer hating oppressor who is wrong in everything they do. Facts shall not intrude on the programmed hatred. TK, your amusing hyperbole notwithstanding, I believe your posts invariably contribute to that viewpoint... |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| reply to Austinloop
said by Austinloop :I was an outside foreman for around 24 years. Well, that explains much of your post. I guess this is turning into a pissing contest. I think when you pass a certain point with time in. 15 years or 24 years doesn't really matter. But, if this does help, I was generally mostly in supervisory position. (We stopped calling them foreman positions a long time ago and called them leads and supervisors in all the shops I ever worked in)
So, in the systems I worked in, being PacBell, Comcast, Scripts Howard, AT&T, and Time Warner, none of them trained on pole testing.. I guess it's based on the system you work.
Either way.. the pole broke and a news story was posted here on a forum.. slow news day I guess. |
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digitalfreak
join:2005-12-09
49533
| reply to cpal
said by cpal :said by TKJunkMail :said by Combat Chuck :I'm still trying to figure out where anyone is justified in calling this guy a tub of lard. His weight only seems to have been brought into this situation because of his attempt at humor (picked up by the reporter) after a situation where he broke something and probably got the shirt scarred out of him. It is because the groupthink here is that anyone who works for a corporation is automatically an evil, consumer hating oppressor who is wrong in everything they do. Facts shall not intrude on the programmed hatred. TK, your amusing hyperbole notwithstanding, I believe your posts invariably contribute to that viewpoint... QFT |
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its me again
@comcast.net
| reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy :While I agree with a lot of what you're saying with weight limitations and all... but ask yourself, before you get too far into yourself there... when was the last time you ever "tested a pole"... other than a quick visual. What we have here, pretty simple in my observation, is a pole that needed to be replaced and a simple accident. It's the EQUIPMENT that needs to be rated for safety and I know guys in the 300 lb range working safely.. POLES can most certainly handle 325 pounds... yeah, but would it want to? |
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