Health and Safety
Openreach Plant Safety
11 December 2009
The CWU has regular meetings with Openreach on a range of issues under the broad-heading of Plant Safety, the most recent meeting was on 9 December 2009.
Low Drop Wires and D Poles
Openrach aim is to have the backlog of Low Wires and D Poles (decayed or damaged) cleared by the end of March 2012 so after that date it will only be necessary to deal with the annual find rate. Currently it is estimated that around 99% of wires are put up correctly.
There has been a trial of repairing damaged poles rather than replacing them. It is estimated that around 40% of damaged poles could be repaired. For ‘new finds’ this will become business as usual and carried out by Pole Testers who will be suitably trained. Discussions are ongoing on how to deal with the backlog.
Pole Testing – QUETRA
For some time, experiments have been going on using a piece of equipment which can ‘test’ poles using sonic waves. Around 2000 poles have been tested with a number of these being subsequently cut up to verify the QUETRA result. Analysis of the findings is still being done using Herriot Watt University.
The next steps are likely to result in a more focused trial using 25 units in the 2010. If this is successful, then full roll-out would rapidly follow. The CWU has urged that any efficiencies gained from the new equipment will be used to catch up on the back-log rather than reductions in resource.
