By R. Bruce Wright, CPCU
Not surprisingly, one of the things that Synebar Solutions consultants frequently find ourselves talking about with our program participants is the topic of pole inspections and testing. These days we find that most electric utilities have a formal inspection and testing program, although there are significant variations in how these are done, by whom they are done, and how frequently they are done. As these variations are uncovered, the conversation quite naturally leads to our being asked things like, “Do you think we inspect enough poles each year?” or “How often do other systems do their inspections?” or even “How often should we look at the poles in our system?”
The “one size fits all” approach doesn’t work well in this area, since every utility in this program has a unique pole exposure. A generic answer just won’t work for several reasons, perhaps most obviously because poles last for different lengths of time in different climates and with different care. Severe weather conditions stress poles, wet conditions promote deterioration, specific types of birds can damage poles, and as is obvious, a complete list of climatic variables would fill this page. In addition, the systems we visit also vary with respect to the average age of their poles and in the deviation from the mean age. (It is possible to have a fairly low average age, but still have sections of very old poles, especially when service areas are growing.) Finally, the nature and extent of the preventative efforts being used varies considerably from place to place. As a result, no “rule of thumb” is likely to be helpful.
Clearly the questions of "How often, how thorough, how many?" are great questions, but hard ones for us as outsiders to answer. In fact, they are just the type of question that no one can answer better than you can yourself. To do so, you only need use a basic, step-by-step approach to the question. Here’s what I mean. As anyone who has asked me these questions has undoubtedly heard, I almost always respond by asking about the current program, the current inspection failure rate, and the goal for the “reject rate” the company has set. And, all too often I get answers to only one or two of these questions, or to none of them. If you can’t answer all three, you need to do a bit of work.
We firmly believe that only when things are measured can they be improved, and only by having a goal can we measure our progress. By looking at the number of pole failures in a given period of time, such as a calendar year or a fiscal quarter, you can begin to get a good handle on the scope of the problem from a frequency standpoint. Then, in order to understand the business case, you will need to get a handle on the severity - just how much each occurance of this type, each pole failure, costs you. You will need to include all of the extra costs of the emergency response when a pole fails, including overtime or night work, the potential for other errors or problems when things have to be done in a hurry, the costs of claims that result (or even might result) and don't forget to add in something for that portion of your insurance costs that goes to handle both the paid and declined losses, along with everything else that goes in to the calculation. Then, by comparing it to what it costs to change a pole in a routine situation and what it costs to inspect and test on a per pole basis, you will have a economic basis from which to work. Of course, an allowance for good-will and service quality should enter the calculation too. Using this, you can make a logical decision on what is an acceptable failure rate. Similarly, you can look at the results of any existing program you may be using. How many bad poles are being found? (If you are not recording and measuring this data, you should be!) The frequency of testing should be adjusted to conform results with goals.
As you can see, it isn’t hard to understand what needs to be done, it simply takes some effort to make it happen. Yes, we understand it would be easier if we just told you what the “right” inspection program is, but it simply wouldn’t be accurate. You will have to figure it out for yourself, based on the myriad of individual variables that all work together to make your system the unique organization it is.
All of this should be done regardless of any decisions you might make about the pros and cons of hiring outside service companies to do this work versus doing it with employees. That is an independent issue, and frankly, one that still requires that you do the data collection and analysis required to select a reasonable goal. A contractor might assist you with some industry data, but they are not going to be able to do the entire job for you. And, of course, they may have a stake in the final decision that could possibly influence their outlook!
So, once again we find that as is so often the case, the solution “says easy, does hard.” Unfortunately, most things of value are like that. But, the good news is that it takes far more perspiration than inspiration to figure out the right answer for your system's needs.