Pole Safety
There are power poles in communities throughout New Brunswick that allow us to power homes and businesses. Our Power Line Technicians rely on being able to climb these poles to perform maintenance and restore power during an outage.
Utility poles aren’t designed to have anything attached by members of the public. Attaching items like flags or signs to the poles near your home may seem harmless but could cause serious safety hazards for our employees. Attachments could increase risk of a fall or puncture the gloves used to protect the workers from electrical hazards.
Damage from unapproved attachments like nails and screws will also reduce the lifespan of a pole, which could cause reliability challenges in your community.
For these reasons, we ask that New Brunswickers explore other options to display information, such as yard stakes, online community groups and local radio stations.
We also recognize that there are situations where it is more convenient to use utility poles for posters or signage. With this in mind, we have developed guidelines for two types of pole attachments to keep everyone safe.
| Type 1 - No approvals required |
|---|
| Paper or plastic that conforms to the shape of the pole |
 |
|
Attach from the ground using staples, tape, or metal bands (glue, paint, bolts, or nails are not acceptable) |
|
No approvals required |
|
May be installed for less than four weeks |
|
Attachment owner has the responsibility to remove, including the attachment method |
| Type 2 - Approval required |
|---|
| Attachment that extends from the surface of the pole |
 |
|
Requires mechanical fasteners such as brackets |
|
Must request authorization by calling Customer Care at 1 800 663-6272. |
|
Must request authorization at least four weeks in advance. |
|
Attachment owner has the responsibility to remove, including the attachment method |
Items that should never be attached to poles include basketball hoops, flowerpots, clotheslines, light fixtures, antennas or satellites.
Review our Temporary Attachments on Joint Use Utility Poles Guidelines for more details.
While it isn’t feasible for our crews to canvas every community for unapproved pole attachments, our crews will remove any unapproved pole attachments they encounter while performing work.
