Health, Safety and Environment

Technique for Replacing Older Type Drop-wires

Within the BT overhead network there are still some obsolete types of CDW, as these drop-wires are being encountered they are being replaced with the latest BT products.

The "Cut & Draw" technique using pulleys No4 and No5 is very often used by field engineers to replace these older drop-wires especially when they run through trees or cross roads.

The "Cut & Draw" technique requires the use of the correct clamp for the obsolete drop-wire; very often these are not available. If the drop-wire is electrically faulty ("Dis", Noisy etc.) it will probably be mechanically faulty also.

Obsolete types of drop-wire must not be replaced by the "Cut & Draw" technique, a full description of the types can be found in eAssistant.
http://customerservice.intra.bt.com/eassistant/quality/ohrenew.htm

Additionally any other type of drop-wire that has been mechanically damaged must not be replaced by the "Cut & Draw" method. The "Recover" and then the "Provide New" techniques are the recommended method to replace these types of overhead plant.