27 Oct 2010

Lines company fined over rotten pole

4:24 pm on 27 October 2010

A Christchurch lines company has been fined $30,000 after an employee was seriously injured jumping off a rotten telephone pole as it collapsed.

Independent Line Services Limited was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court on Wednesday over the incident in Governors Bay on Banks Peninsula in April 2009.

The pole had rotted below ground level and broke as the worker was climbing down.

He jumped about five metres to avoid the falling pole and ladder, fracturing his pelvis and injuring his left ankle.

The Department of Labour says the accident highlights the dangers of working at heights and the importance of checking for defects in wooden poles.