§ 125. Mr. Cooper-Keyasked the Postmaster-General how many post office employees have been killed and injured to date since VE-Day through accidents connected with telephone poles; how many poles have been classified as dangerous during this period; how many have been renewed; and at what periods are telephone poles tested.
§ Mr. Wilfred PalingI much regret that nine Post Office employees have been killed and 1,658 injured since VE-Day through accidents of all kinds connected with telephone poles. Four deaths and 53 injuries were caused by collapse of poles on which the men were working. Before the war all pole routes were regularly inspected every two years, but these inspections were suspended during the war. Since VE-Day about a million and a half poles out of a total of some four million have been specially inspected and tested. Of these, some 50,000 were found to be dangerous and about 23,000 have already been renewed. When these special tests are completed, all poles will be regularly tested every two years. All Post Office engineers are instructed how to test a pole for soundness before climbing it, and methods of preventing accidents are under constant examination by a joint headquarters committee of management and staff.