Contact: Steve Schultz (608) 458-3285
Items sticking out of poles or around base create safety hazards for workers
MADISON, WI – July 7, 2010 – The heart of summer often means rummage sales, lawn mowing services being offered and help wanted signs for any number of projects. A lot of the time signs promoting these types of things wind up posted on utility poles. That’s why Alliant Energy is reminding you not to attach signs or anything else to utility poles with nails or staples.
Whether it’s a paper sign attached with staples or a plastic sign hung with a nail, anything sticking out of a utility pole creates a safety hazard for those workers who have to climb that pole to do their work.
“At Alliant Energy we take the safety of our employees very seriously,” explains Mark Hawley, Safety Manager – Alliant Energy. “Something like a nail sticking out of a pole could catch on clothing, gloves, boots or any of the equipment our line technicians carry and cause them to lose their balance or grip, leading to an injury.”
And it’s not just things sticking out from the poles that can cause safety hazards, but items placed around the bottom of a utility pole have the potential to cause significant injuries too.
“It’s important to keep yard signs or anything else at least five feet away from the base of a utility pole,” Hawley adds. “If a worker fell and landed on a sign or something else, an already serious injury would have the potential to become even more severe.”
Alliant Energy would like to thank the people in the communities we serve in advance, for their cooperation when it comes to keeping our utility poles hazard free.
Alliant Energy Corporation is an energy-services provider with subsidiaries serving approximately 1 million electric and over 412,000 natural gas customers.
Providing its customers in the Midwest with regulated electric and natural gas service is the company’s primary focus. Alliant Energy, headquartered in Madison, Wis., is a Fortune 1000 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LNT. For more information, visit the company’s web site at
www.alliantenergy.com
