NEAR MISS IN WEST VIRGINIA

NEAR MISS IN WEST VIRGINIA

Two Cable Splicers from CWA Local 2004 and 2011 were involved in a near miss accident recently, due to poor quality work done by outside contractors.

The first CST was dispatched on a cable failure on 10/14/06 in Mannington, WV, near Fairmont.  He found an old 11 pair cable down and broken in two, and three poles broken at ground level.  A fourth pole was cracked, but still standing.  A customer advised the tech that the damage had occurred on Tuesday, 10/10/06. 

The tech notified the duty supervisor of the incident, who said he would contact the construction duty supervisor.  Late that day, after another call to the duty supervisor, the tech received a call, indicating the cable and poles would be placed by the outside contractor the next evening, Saturday. 

The tech told the supervisor that he and another tech were scheduled to work on Sunday, and they would plan to splice the cable if it were placed by then.  The supervisor agreed this was a good plan. 

On Sunday, 10/15/06, the two techs arrived and began their work.  They set up their bucket trucks at two different poles.  As they began the actual splicing, and removed the sheath of the cable, the strand pulled loose at the second tech’s location, and the strand and cable fell to the ground.  At the first tech’s location, the pole swayed a considerable amount.  He didn’t have line-of-sight contact with the second tech, and called out to him, but received no answer. 

The first tech brought his bucket down, and went to the second tech’s location.  Other than a minor cut on his finger, he was ok.  Both technicians left the job site and called to advise the duty supervisor of the incident. 

The first tech requested that the outside contractor be immediately dispatched to the scene to correct the situation.  The duty supervisor said he would contact the construction supervisor.  When the outside contractor arrived on the scene, their lineman told the Verizon tech that the wrong strand wrap had been used to splice the strand.  While the correct size would have been a 6M to 6M, what was used was a 6M to 6.5M. 

In addition, the Verizon tech requested that an additional pole be replaced, along with more cable.  The additional pole was cracked and unsafe to climb, and should have been replaced when the original work was done. 

We are concerned that Verizon doesn’t appear to be treating this as a very serious incident, due to the fact that there was no injury.  With a very minor change in circumstances, this could have resulted in significant injuries or even a fatality. 

Subsequent to this, the CWA became aware that the contractor lineman involved in this incident had been suspended, and that the contractor foreman had been removed from his supervisory duties.  In a discussion with the Verizon director of operations, she said she wanted to see proof of training for all the contractor crews.  To date, this has not occurred.  The manager over construction in WV has advised me that her supervisors will be visiting contractor worksites, and questioning the linemen on proper work and safety practices.  I have concerns that the local supervision are not adequately trained to ensure that the contractors are doing their work properly. 

In Unity,

 Ron Gaskins
Safety Representative
CWA-WV