The Barbados Light & Power Company Ltd (BL&P) will be keeping a close eye on election posters being put upon its utility poles.
In particular, said managing director Roger Blackman, the company was concerned about metal objects being stuck into utility poles.
He was speaking at the BL&P’s Bay Street, St Michael headquarters to announce the upcoming Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) Chief Executive Officers & Leadership Conference, which will be held from May 20 to 23 at Hilton Barbados Resort.
“The key for us is making sure that our employees and people who are working in the field are safe, and they are well aware of what they need to do when they go into the field to make the job safe . . . but we will monitor the situation,” Blackman said.
He was responding to a question on whether they would be removing posters of political candidates on poles.
The practice has been a tradition during several elections but this year political parties have resorted to using tape rather than staples.
“We don’t have a programme of going down there and taking posters down. Rather, we assess the situation as we reach a job on a job site [via job hazard analysis]. But the use of staples and metals on the poles poses a risk, not just to our employees but to the persons putting the posters up as well so we really want to discourage that,” he cautioned.
Meanwhile, BL&P communications coordinator Jennifer Blackman said the company continued to work with other service providers, including Flow, Digicel and other technicians to help them conduct the analysis. (TG)
