Utility Pole Safety and Hazard Evaluation Approaches
In 2017, the latest year for which data are available, 887 fatal utility pole crashes occurred in
the United States, accounting for 914 fatalities. These numbers were about the same as those in
recent years but lower than such fatality numbers from a decade or two ago.
The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's
NCHRP Synthesis 557:
Utility Pole Safety and Hazard Evaluation Approaches
summarizes the strategies, policies, and technologies that
state transportation agencies (STAs) and utility owners (UOs) employ to address utility pole safety concerns.
Specific areas of
interest for this synthesis report include methods to identify problem poles and high-risk locations,
pole-placement policies, strategies and countermeasures to reduce the risk of pole-related collisions
and resulting injuries and deaths, and available funding sources for implementing countermeasures.
Case studies were also developed for exemplary STAs and UOs, highlighting some of their utility
pole safety activities.
This Summary Last Modified On: 9/4/2020