CONTRACTORS are urged by Davao Light Power Corporation (DLPC) to inform the electric company of any electric lines they might find distractive in their operations as DLPC promises to install insulators without charge for security purposes.
“If you have ongoing construction right now and you see that you’re construction is proximate within our lines and you’re uncertain about it, call us and we’ll visit you and if there’s a need to install those insulators, we will install it for free. No charges at all,” said Rodger Velasco, DLPC executive vice president and chief operating officer, adding proximate distance may vary from one meter to three meters.
Velasco said installation of insulators take about three to five days.
Aside from the free installation, he also said they offer orientation to foremen and workers.
“If they just let it be, it is really dangerous and prone to electrocution because the materials they use in constructions are about 20 feet long or when they put up scaffolds, that might move our lines,” he said.
Velasco said there had been at least 10 records of hospitalized constructions workers just within the year due to electrocution after failing to contact DLPC for installation of insulators for the electric lines.
Fortunately, he said, out of the 10 workers there were no fatalities. There had also been records of construction equipment and vehicles damaged because of the electricity as well, he said.
“What we do, since we’re very concerned about electrocution, we always make it a point to coordinate with the building official to please require them to see us if they suspect that the line is high voltage so that we can help them insulate the line,” he said.
Velasco said the service will be free of charge regardless of the number of insulators needed or the amount of voltage in the particular line.
“The other problem though is that there are construction operations that do not ask permits such as small-time expansions, installing a roof or a gutter. So most of the time, they don’t have permits. For those customers, please call us. We have 229-3572. Give us your address, your nearest post number, and we’ll visit you. We’ll see if it’s dangerous or not,” he said.
