FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 08/30/99
CARON
ASSAILS OPEN HAND HOLES IN UTILITY POLES
State
Representative Paul E. Caron (D-Springfield) has announced that he has begun
an investigation into the problem of open hand holes which exist on many of
Massachusetts’ utility poles. A hand hole on a street light pole is a
knee-high opening that allows utility workers to hook up the underground 220
volt electric wires that power the light.
Rep. Caron was responding to
a letter from Warren Mason of East Longmeadow, who brought this problem to his
attention. “Upon receipt of his letter, I explored the problem surrounding
this issue and found that the lack of attention on this matter may be rooted
in the fact that there is no one single entity in the Commonwealth that is
routinely assigned the responsibility of maintaining these utility poles,”
said Rep. Caron. “One would assume that the ultimate responsibility lies with
whoever owns the utility pole, but ownership may vary from town to town. It is
entirely possible that you could have the ownership divided among a number of
different entities including; private individuals who own commercial shopping
malls or business districts, utility companies, individual cities and towns or
the state. With the possibility of divided ownership, often there is confusion
as to who is ultimately responsible for maintaining which light poles in a
community.”
“Open hand holes on street light poles are a problem
across the country. Children stick their hands inside open holes while
playing, waiting for the bus, or just out of curiosity,” said Warren Mason,
President of W.E. Mason Associates. “Open hand holes also allow rain and snow
to damage the wires’ insulation which causes light failure, and at times,
permit live wires to touch the aluminum pole, electrifying the entire
pole.”
Mason said that open hand holes can largely be attributed to
four major causes:
1.) the brackets on the pole break off and no
factory made cover can be attached again,
2.) Aluminum covers are
stolen for the recycling value,
3.) Vandals have removed the cover to
disconnect lights to darken the area and
4.) Maintenance crews did not
have the specific model cover for a particular pole and no other factory made
cover would fit.
In response to Mason’s letter, Caron is filing
legislation to require that whoever owns utility poles in the Commonwealth be
responsible for ensuring that open hand hole covers are secured. The
legislation will come before the Committee on Government Regulations in early
September, when it is scheduled for a public hearing.
“I look forward
to working to safeguard our children from these electrocution hazards” Caron
said. “Unfortunately these knee high temptations, which oftentimes expose live
wires, can be found at all too many intersections, cross walks, school zones
and bus stops. In fact, a short survey of the five (5) light poles in the
front of my district office revealed that 2 out of 5, or 40%, had open hand
holes exposing electrical wiring. Hopefully something can be done to address
this problem before a tragedy occurs.
