Ukastle forums :: View topic - Lamppost falling

Phosco152 wrote:

Over in the motorway lighting topic Sotonsteve wrote:

sotonsteve wrote:

According to an article by Lux, Highways England has reported issues of lanterns falling off columns. This issue has been noted to affect Philips Iridium2, Philips Luma and Urbis Ampera.

I've already noted incidents of Lumas shearing from their spigots on the M27 and M275 in Portsmouth, and in the midlands I have seen lots of Iridium2s with their canopies up or missing.

There are now a total of 6 Lumas missing from columns in the Portsmouth area, the first failures being noticed 18 months ago. Given the size and weight of these lanterns - the Luma and Ampera are all aluminium, the issue poses a considerable safety issue, especially given that thousands of these lanterns are installed on the trunk road network.

Fellow Ukastle member Claire mentioned to Sotonsteve and I, that a belt and braces safety restraint method is now being used on some Lumas. By sheer coincidence following a visit back from meeting with her, we saw such restraints being used on Lumas on the A43 at Towcester.

A stainless steel band is secured around the Luma (meaning it can't be opened for maintenance) and a lanyard runs from the band to the column. If the spigot/lantern housing were to fail, the lanyard will prevent the remains of the lantern falling to the ground.

Another example.

It's not clear however, what stops the loop of the lanyard sliding off the end of the column spigot - possibly the remains of the lantern. All of the Portsmouth failures have left a significant chunk of the back of the Luma still attached to the column.

Author:	the dark lord [ Sat Aug 11, 2018 7:22 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Lamppost falling
Phosco152 wrote: Less work and means there will also be one lamp working. The labour cost of swapping lanterns between columns is greater than the cost of lanterns. Someone has been asking FOI questions about this and non destructive testing in my neighboring council area. The repsonse is quite interesting and unconvincing... https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/streetlighting_column_examinatio#incoming-1097282 Interestingly a number of columns were marked up for replacement prior to this request being submitted, since then they have remained untouched. Meanwhile Bury council have been busy patching up ancient sox stock and replacing what they must with oddball stuff or reused sox. We have seen a 250W Vectra installed on a truck route (i cant think of any other vectras in the borough) some oddball phosco? lantern installed on another and several ZX1s replacing demic SOX.

Author:	deadendwaterfall [ Sat Aug 11, 2018 8:26 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Lamppost falling
I just wish in the case I mentioned earlier on that the council would have put in the new columns with the replacement lighting when they replaced the SOX on the concrete columns not this seemingly wasteful approach of replacing still new lighting.

Author:	Alex [ Sat Oct 13, 2018 3:09 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Lamppost falling
Someone has photographed an Albany near Holborn, which came crashing to the ground. It damaged a car! https://twitter.com/paulobrad/status/1050732847592599552 (Retweeted by @UKASTLE)

Author:	Phosco152 [ Sun Mar 31, 2019 8:23 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Lamppost falling
Phosco152 wrote: Over in the motorway lighting topic Sotonsteve wrote: sotonsteve wrote: According to an article by Lux, Highways England has reported issues of lanterns falling off columns. This issue has been noted to affect Philips Iridium2, Philips Luma and Urbis Ampera. I've already noted incidents of Lumas shearing from their spigots on the M27 and M275 in Portsmouth, and in the midlands I have seen lots of Iridium2s with their canopies up or missing. There are now a total of 6 Lumas missing from columns in the Portsmouth area, the first failures being noticed 18 months ago. Given the size and weight of these lanterns - the Luma and Ampera are all aluminium, the issue poses a considerable safety issue, especially given that thousands of these lanterns are installed on the trunk road network. Fellow Ukastle member Claire mentioned to Sotonsteve and I, that a belt and braces safety restraint method is now being used on some Lumas. By sheer coincidence following a visit back from meeting with her, we saw such restraints being used on Lumas on the A43 at Towcester. A stainless steel band is secured around the Luma (meaning it can't be opened for maintenance) and a lanyard runs from the band to the column. If the spigot/lantern housing were to fail, the lanyard will prevent the remains of the lantern falling to the ground. Another example. It's not clear however, what stops the loop of the lanyard sliding off the end of the column spigot - possibly the remains of the lantern. All of the Portsmouth failures have left a significant chunk of the back of the Luma still attached to the column. At J6 of the M3 at Basingstoke, the band and loop safety works have been applied to some of the Lumas on the A339 which comes under HE ownership. However around 10 columns have had the Lumas removed, around half just leaving the spigot on the column bracket, the rest removed completely.

Author:	Phosco152 [ Tue Mar 10, 2020 6:59 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Lamppost falling
Sotonsteve mentioned a few weeks back about columns failing in the aftermath of storms Ciara and Dennis. One such failure was on the A31 in Dorset. By chance I had pictured the failed column back in 2013, when it was fitted with twin MA50s, one of which was later replaced with a Luma. Click.

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Lamppost falling http://ukastle.co.uk/discussion/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=136	Page 13 of 14

Author:	deadendwaterfall [ Sun Aug 09, 2020 10:38 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Lamppost falling
Phosco152 wrote: Less work and means there will also be one lamp working. The labour cost of swapping lanterns between columns is greater than the cost of lanterns. What do you suppose will happen with the LEDs on the old columns, disposed of prematurely or kept in storage as spare stock for situations such as replacing columns after car crashes etc?

Author:	GreatNorburyStDepot [ Mon Aug 10, 2020 11:00 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Lamppost falling
deadendwaterfall wrote: Phosco152 wrote: Less work and means there will also be one lamp working. The labour cost of swapping lanterns between columns is greater than the cost of lanterns. What do you suppose will happen with the LEDs on the old columns, disposed of prematurely or kept in storage as spare stock for situations such as replacing columns after car crashes etc? I would like to think that redundant LED lanterns (especially if they are of the LA's 'standard stock' and in really good condition), would be put back into store for 'ad hoc' replacements. It was always the practice where I live, especially when SOX ruled the roost, with plenty of Beta Fives and GR150s kicking around in the depot ready to be reused, especially in areas with problems of vandalism. Although my local authority has made great steps towards the elimination of SON from its roads in favour of LED, a few roads still retain it. It has been the practice to reused redundant lanterns to replace any failures, either to improve the lighting in an area which will be re-lit at some point in the future, or to avoid a 'mishmash' of lightsources. That said, in order to salvage what could be practically new lanterns, you do need to have somewhere to hold onto them. Rationalisation of highways depots and stores, has meant that there just isn't the space to store much salvaged stuff anymore. Unless it is stored carefully (and logged on a database), it tends to get damaged, lost or just forgotten about. Subsequent changes in ordering policy or manufacturer, will mean you have a depot full of slightly used, but 'non standard' inventory. Finally, the economics tend not to favour reuse, (especially in the public sector, I presume) as any savings achieved by the altruistic reuse of equipment, is 'rewarded' with a reduced budget the following year. This is why council departments, have traditionally made sure any surplus cash is spent up before the year ends. In the event of a column being knocked down, the full cost of replacement (including the transfer of the cable etc), is unlikely to be reduced by much at all, just because you have reused an old lantern. As has been mentioned previously, the labour cost has a major bearing too. Presumably most knockdowns are paid for via insurance policies, therefore even less reason to save a few bob. Even if you do reuse a lantern, its full service history will be a mystery and it will presumably be out of its warranty period too. The cost of repairing it (if it fails soon after), will probably be higher than ordering a new one in the first place. Perhaps this is why so many LED lanterns are now appearing on the online market places, or even being sent for recycling.

Author:	deadendwaterfall [ Tue Aug 18, 2020 3:32 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Lamppost falling
Has anyone here ever seen a situation like this before? It's on Hessle Road, Hull and it was a twin bracket column install, and it looks like a tree was only just cut down next to it, possible accidental damage caused during the tree cutting? The way it looks floppy like that suggests to me it would be the type of column to take most of the impact in the event of a veichle colliding with it.

Author:	Phosco152 [ Wed May 26, 2021 3:26 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Lamppost falling
Work on the roundabout at J9 of of the M27, has seen excavations near existing columns. One column now sports a "ground anchor" in the form of a webbing strop connected to a digger bucket full of spoil (dash cam image). Not clear if this was added before or after the column started to lean.

Author:	Phosco152 [ Tue Jun 08, 2021 3:33 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Lamppost falling
The column in the last post has now been chopped off above the base compartment and the main tube and lantern removed from site.

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