Last night on the Columbus Ohio news the cause of the boy's death report finding was released. The expert the city hired stated that there was a failure in the insulation of a splice of a 480 feeder to the light. The grounding was also defective so the current leakage was not detected by a circiut breaker. When the boy touched the pole and the fence the circuit was complete and 480 volts went thru him. Now the city is checking all of it's light poles for the same problem. I wonder how many poles around this country have the same issues. When you drive into any parking lot even a first year electrician can see problems with light poles.

Are there any standards for inspections? For example, I know that wooden utility poles are checked for strength periodically, bridges are inspected, etc.

I do not know of any requirement for inspecting light poles on private lands after the origional install has been accepted. There may be some companies who have internal requirements but they are few.