At Modesto Irrigation District, a cement truck vs pole caused an unusual event for a line crew who worked to do repairs. What looked like an easy job brought a surprise when the 30ft service pole would not pull, even though the crew was using the largest digger derrick available and a backhoe to extricate the pole. When the pole butt split in two it was revealed that an AT&T bore crew had bored through the middle of the pole butt with 4″ conduit!
There were no injuries involved and it was unknown if the fiber optic cable inside the conduit was damaged. This event calls into question the practice of crews boring into energized areas and the accuracy of bore locators. AT&T was notified and the hole was left open for the time the crew remained on site to allow the company to inspect the damage. However, no one from the communications company showed up.
–Mike Gomes, IBEW 1245 Health & Safety Committee