Ladder and pole?

[Frogmodem]

Chap from Openreach has just removed two redundant copper lines from my house - no complaints at all.  He rang at 0800, arrived 15 minutes later and the job is finished at 0905. Two observations though; he couldn't climb the telegraph pole as it is deemed 'unstable' so he clipped the wires and attached them as high up as he could.  As he was alone, he had to attach his ladder to my house with a bolt and various tight straps.  I offered to hold the ladder but he said that isn't allowed. He filled the bolt hole very neatly afterwards.

Why would a telegraph pole be unstable?  How many home owners refuse to allow their walls to be drilled? Could the latter be solved by sending two engineers on every job?

I now have one line onto my property instead of three and the fibre is working well on my BT connection (148/28).

[Paul608085]

"Why would a telegraph pole be unstable?"

If it is a wooden pole, it has probably rotted and therefore no longer strong enough to support the weight of a ladder with the engineer on it.

[licquorice]

Poles are regularly tested and any sign of rot are marked as not to be climbed.

[iniltous]

There are several reasons why a pole cannot be climbed with a ladder , decay is just one .

The newish standard method of ladder stability is to attach a fixing to the wall and the ladder to the fixing , ‘footing the ladder’ isn’t acceptable anymore with Openreach engineers, so even if a couple of engineers were on site the fixing in the wall would still be used.

Obviously if someone refuses to have the fixing , then they are responsible for the failed installation, but OR would look at alternatives, like a hoist/cherry picker if access for the vehicle is available, or a scaffold platform, in some situations there may not be a suitable location for the fixing so an alternative method of getting to the required height is needed