Electric pole workers safety up in the air

Hyderabad: Negligence of safety by the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSSPDCL) has caused over a 100 deaths of pole workers this year. About 2,500 electric pole workers are employed in the city on a contract basis. They work without any proper safety equipments but get barely sufficient salaries for performing these life-threatening tasks.

On April 3, a 42-year-old man Bhumaiah was electrocuted to death when he was working on an electric pole at King Koti. Many electric poles in the city are clustered with different wires which confuse the workers and the lack of guidance from their own staff engineers.

Telangana Vidyuth Contract Workers Union State President G Nagraj said, “Many of the pole workers get severely injured during work because of the negligence of safety. Pole workers cannot simply rely on poor equipment provided by the government. They still lack facilities like carabiners, hooks, ropes, ladders and helmets which are the basic safety equipments to be provided to the pole workers.”

Most of the pole workers in the city are not trained or educated and are directly exposed to field work which is resulting in fatal accidents, he added. Speaking to The Hans India, Mohammed Yousuf a pole worker shared his grief. He said that his arm was dislocated by falling from the pole and it was because only two workers were assigned to handle a major issue. He opined that government has to employ more staff for the safety of working staff. 

Another pole worker Anil from Indra Nagar complains, “A pole worker has to do the work of engineers also because they have to involve themselves in making the plans while the engineers rest inside the office, whose job is to look after the field workers and to instruct them.”­

BY Mayank Tiwari