Whose fault was it? ‘Safety compromised with ‘absurdly’ placed power pole at Wickham
Social media is abuzz over the ‘absurd’ placement of a power pole in a Newcastle street.
Newcastle
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A rather strangely placed power pole in Wickham has been gathering a lot of attention on social media, with locals labelling it ‘absurd’ and utter ‘stupidity’.
Newcastle City Council recently moved a kerb side at Foundry St, but that was before Ausgrid were able to move the power pole.
That in itself was an interesting move and then over the weekend, barriers that were also put in place for safety, were moved.
On its Facebook page, the City of Newcastle said someone had vandalised their construction site.
“We’d be laughing too if it wasn’t so dangerous,” it read.
“All signs and barriers were moved and our hazard lights around the pole on Foundry St were smashed up. We’ve put the barriers back in place.”
In a statement, a City of Newcastle spokesperson also said Ausgrid’s ban on live line work had caused delays to a number of civil works projects, however it was working to ensure delivery of works according to its schedule.
“We’ve cordoned off the pole again and expect Ausgrid to realign it as soon as practicable,” the spokesperson said.
It drummed up hundreds on comments on social media, some finding it comedic, while others hit out at the dangers it presented.
“Won’t be long until someone takes it out with their car,” a Facebook user said.
“It is a liability,” another said.
“Heading down tomorrow to get some tourists shots before they rip it down,” added another.
Even City of Newcastle’s CEO Jeremy Bath got involved blamed Ausgrid for the works, telling a Facebook user people were blaming the wrong organisation.
“Slow your hate. We have found over the past six months that undertaking work is the only way to get Ausgrid to temporarily left their ban on live works. The alternative is not to do the work and just keep on waiting for Ausgrid,” Mr Bath said on Facebook.
In response an Ausgrid spokesperson said it was disappointing to read comments by the Council’s CEO, who stated Council proceeded with the work to move the kerb knowing full well that the pole would be left in the roadway as a result.
“As the Council is aware, Ausgrid introduced a pause on live work on our network after one of our workers tragically lost his life while completing live work in April,” they said.
“This was the first fatality of a worker on our network in more than 20 years and prompted a comprehensive safety review.
“Our decision was driven solely by Ausgrid’s commitment to the safety of our people, contractors and the community who work on, and use, the network.
Ausgrid acknowledged that the pause on live work had caused some disruptions, but did not step back from their commitment to ensure workers could go home to their loved ones safely at the end of the day.
“Given the Council has proceeded with the work leaving the pole in an unsafe location, Ausgrid will work as quickly as possible to schedule an outage to move the pole. Our priority remains to ensure the safety of the community.