Most wooden power poles in use today will have power pole tags on them around five or six feet above the ground. These tags offer valuable information to the workers that maintain the poles and are critical to keeping a record or history of the power pole. 

Pole Tags

There are many different power pole tags in use by various utilities. Some contain specific information about the pole. The owner of the pole, when and where it was made, and what it was made from are all stamped on the power pole tags. Additionally, most manufacturers also indicate the treatment used on the wood for easy reference by the utility.

The information is stamped into an aluminum tag that is nailed to the power pole. Aluminum is used because it is soft enough to stamp easily, and it is corrosion and weather-resistant, so it can stand up to just about any weather conditions and remain on the pole.

Additional tags can be added to a pole as utilities are added, containing information about what is on that specific pole. If the pole owner leases space on the pole to another utility, there may be multiple tags on it to indicate how the pole is being used.

Pole Inspections

Keeping track of the utility poles in a system and maintaining or replacing them is critical to ensuring they are in good condition. Installing power pole tags on each power pole that indicates when it was produced and installed makes it easy for the utility company to check the age and condition of the poles in their system.

The pole inspector can also determine what material was used, and what the wood was treated with. This information can help the inspector determine if the pole is nearing the end of its life and will need replacing soon. Most utility companies will set a lifespan for a pole, and in large utility systems, the tags on the poles are often the most accurate record of the pole's age.

Buying Pole Tags

Power pole tags are available from suppliers that make them in batches for the utility company. If the utility company is replacing a hundred poles in a year, they may order tags for those poles, printed with the information for that specific time frame. 

When making the poles, the utility company that owns them will tag them as they come out of the plant. This helps to ensure that the information for each pole is accurate before it is used. Each utility company that shares space on the pole will have its own tags, but the manufacture's tag is always the most critical one, and it will stay on the pole until the day it is removed from service. 

Contact a company that has power pole tags for sale for more information.  

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