MAY Hazard-of-the-Month

The Terminal that Disappeared!!!

1001 47th Street - Emeryville

The small silver terminal above the BUGS (Big Ugly Green Safety Hazard) on this pole was obviously made inaccessable with the ridiculous placement of this huge green box. We complained about this hazard, even making it the front page picture on a report we submitted to management concerning this problem. The cable box should have been placed on the next pole, less than 50 feet away (with no telephone terminal). Instead, the terminal was removed from the pole altogether as you can see in the bottom picture. This was done after they moved the BUGS, creating more holes in the pole, expanding the hazardous condition.

The problem with this "solution" is that it makes our job much more dangerous. Now, in order to accomadate the hazard placed by Comcast Contractors, telephone service comes to the corner house from the pole down the block. This involves a wire that must be attached or replaced with an additional dangerous and unnecessary step called a mid-span connection. This involves placing a ladder against the line between the 2 poles and making the attachment to the corner house from the middle of the span, while on a ladder leaning on the wire!

This is not a solution to the hazard. This is a dangerous accomadation that lends itself to more ladder accidents. This is the case even while management is keenly aware that ladder accidents top the list of injuries for telephone technicians!

Remove the Hazard - Not the Terminal!!!

Pole Hazard PPt Presentation