A Double Wood Double Feature: What does Your Company Do?

Posted by Ashley Little on August 11, 2014

a_double_wood_feature_what_does_your_company_doDouble wood is an issue we have tackled before. A couple of times, in fact. Double poles, often the result of transfer backlogs, can lead to bigger problems, so we would like to revisit.

Double wood or poles can cause a number of problems and should be remedied as soon as possible. Communities often see double poles as an eyesore. Pedestrians complain that redundant poles block sidewalks and views. Finally and perhaps most dangerously, however, old or damaged poles have the potential to topple, causing personal injury and/or property damage. The difficulty happens when companies neglect to transfer equipment from old pole to new in a timely fashion, leaving two poles standing for longer than necessary. This results in a backlog of pole transfers waiting to happen and a forest of redundant poles standing without reason.

We have our ideas and best practices regarding this timely issue, but what are utility companies around the U.S. doing to remedy their own double pole issues? Here, we have compiled a few of our favorite answers.

Share a contractor with attachers

One Joint Use Administrator from Ohio tells us that their utility relies on a reputable third-party contractor to remove most of the company’s double wood. The contractor holds transfer agreements with most attaching companies in their area, and is fast and reliable with regard to making simple pole transfers. When the utility sends a proposal to an attaching company, they also send a copy to this contractor. The attacher has the choice of what provider to use for transfer, but more often than not, they choose the one already familiar with the proposal, as it is easy and gets the work in motion with little effort. This streamlines the process immensely.    

Make it a one-stop transfer-and-pull

Another popular solution is to work with contractors capable of making attachment transfers and pulling excess poles in one visit. This significantly shortens the time between work request and the job being 100% finished.

Choose the right software to help

Another smart recommendation is using software that manages pole attachments to get a handle on who needs to be notified and who must be chased to transfer their equipment. It is good advice: using a joint use management solution that not only plots and records attachment data but also opens lines of communication between utilities and attaching companies, gives easy access to contracts and keeps correspondence in one convenient place, which is a great help to remedying the double wood issue.[1]

Straight from the field, the above represents only a few tactics joint use managers use to combat double wood. What are you doing in your area to do away with these dangerous and intrusive redundancies? Add your voice to the discussion in the comments.

 Top 6 Reasons to Tackle Your Double Poles

[1] https://www.linkedin.com/groups/power-companies-how-do-you-3823662.S.5817268244003721219?qid=417df810-a2f6-40ca-b0d6-e0c37005c830&trk=groups_most_popular-0-b-ttl&goback=%2Egmp_3823662

 

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