Imagine walking up the steps to your home and feeling a sharp pain in your foot or in your hand as you grasp the handrail. Looking down, you find a nail sticking out of the step and a sharp tack has punctured your hand.

Never happened to you? It has happened to linemen climbing utility poles where signs and fliers have been posted with staples, nails and tacks.

Utility poles offer a convenient place to tack a sign or flier. But doing so creates hazards for linemen and utility workers. Linemen risk injury to themselves and damage to their equipment, rubber gloves, boots and protective clothing when items are posted on poles. Likewise, nails and tacks can get in the way of the climbing hooks that linemen wear on their boots when climbing a pole.

While a tear in your clothing or glove may seem insignificant, the stakes are much higher when that equipment is all that stands between you and a power line.