• Design engineers
• Systems executives
• Pole purchasing managers
• Operations and engineering managers

• Line staking engineers
• Utility contractors
• Asset/Investment recovery specialists

  Wednesday, October 12th

8:00 - 8:15 AM - Welcome
Butch Bernhardt, NAWPC

8:15 - 9:15 AM - National Wood Pole Standards and NESC Update

An overview and key takeaways from national wood utility pole standards, including ASC-O5, RUS and AWPA – and a review of key updates to the 2023 National Electric Safety Code.

Speaker: Chad Newton, Osmose Utilities Services 

 9:15 - 10:45 AM - Panel: Today's Wood Pole Preservatives
Updates from manufacturers on the wood preservatives used today that extend the service life and durability of wood utility poles. 

Speakers:
CCA, ACZA - David Pike, Arxada
Copper Naphthenate - Jeff Lloyd, Nisus Corp.
Creosote - Heath Huschak, Koppers, Inc.
DCOI - Jonathan Whitehead, Viance, LLC
Penta - Kevin Ragon, SPTA

 10:45 - 11 AM - Break

 11 - 11:45 AM - University-Utility Partnerships to Power Improved Pole Performance
For 40 years, OSU has collaborated with the utility industry through the Utility Pole Research Cooperative to improve wood pole durability and performance. Hear the latest in research underway at the coop. 

Speaker: Gerry Presley, Oregon State University

12:45 - 1:30 PM - Rethinking Strength Assessments of Wood Poles in Service

Recent research through MSU’s new pole testing facility may change some of the traditional thinking when it comes to assessing the strength. This presentation will review the MSU testing facility, the ASTM D 1036 standard for testing pole strengths and results of tests on poles taken out of service.
Speaker: Dr. Dan Seale, Mississippi State University

1:30 - 2:15 PM - BIL - More than Just a Lighting Strategy
The long-standing purpose of poles, wire, crossarms and insulators was to keep the high voltage conductor safely away from the public. Thus, most legacy construction practices – and many current standards – have unintentionally built a system that cannot withstand a low to moderate lightning event. High BIL of 300kV and higher distribution systems can be built to withstand all but the most powerful lightning events. This presentation will show that lightning related outages can be minimized by simply increasing the BIL of the distribution system. 

Speaker: David Taylor, Entergy

2:15 - 2:30 PM - Break

2:30 - 3:30 PM - Sustainable Wood Pole Design for Overhead Systems
When it comes to increasing the resiliency of overhead systems utilizing wood poles, increasing the size of poles is not always the best options. This presentation will review the impacts of modern forestry on pole size availability and offer sustainable options to harden overhead systems using pole sizes readily available from today’s forests.

Speaker: Tom Greene, Stella-Jones, Inc.

3:30 - 4:15 PM - Obtaining High-Quality Wood Utility Products – A Team Concept
Building a reliable overhead infrastructure requires purchasing consistently high-quality treated materials. Hear how a three-part team concept involving plant quality control, third party quality assurance/inspection and direct customer involvement provides an effective way to accomplish this task.

Speaker: Jim Carter, Wood Quality Control, Inc.

4:15 - 5:00 PM - Protecting Your Utility Wood Structures
There are many environmentally safe technologies available to increase the service life of your wooden structures. This presentation will look at remedial treatments that focus on both external and internal applications to prevent and or arrest decay, termite attack and bug infestation. In addition, we will cover how a utility can harden your system against fair without negative impact on pole inspections and or linemen duties.

Speaker: Rodney Hardison, Genics