In ESB Telecoms Ltd, we work with many outdoor structures, towers, monopoles, wooden poles and cabins on our compounds. The maintenance work on that is done regular and because that involves many times heavy equipment and cranes, security risks are a real hazard. Not only for crane drivers, but more so for all staff around the works. In the vicinity of radio towers and high voltage lines, the controls have to be in place and operations must be done very carefull. In ESB Telecoms we apply the same strickt security regulations as applied and the whole ESB and we leared with proud that 2008 has shown us a 100 percent safe trackrecord with zero lost time due to incidents.

Last month, February 2009 ESB Telecoms had to move one of their POP cabins from a location near Nenagh to a new place in the Waterford region. Those POP stations are line exchange hubs, where access can be provided to ESBT's high capacity fibre network, or the NTFON. Maintenance and constant upgrade of the network require sometimes the re-location of cabins and that will be done with deep loaders. Those truck carry their own crane by times, but sometimes a separate big truck with separate crane has to come to the rescue, for example if the lift is higher or over a more stretched area. Without the proper safety rules in place, hazards can be overseen and an uncontrolable risk could be the result. Recently with the relocation operation, all went well. And the engineers were happy that the job went smooth in the one day.

Good preparation is half the job, we say in ESB Telecoms Ltd, but total security must come in all plannings first.

For more information, please contact Mick Clavin. Phone: +353 (0)87 8266177 or info@esbtelecoms.ie.