CPUC Safety Division Urges More OTMR Study

attachment rules. The CPUC should study “technical, safety, and regulatory challenges, barriers, and opportunities" of adopting OTMR and self-help procedures, the safety division said: Don’t adopt them “without sufficient evidence to indicate that attachments can be installed safely and in full compliance with Commission requirements.” The proposed changes don't enhance CPUC safety provisions and might "interfere with the utilities' safety compliance by imposing time constraints that could limit the utilities’ presence during surveys and make-ready work performed by attachers,” and it’s unclear how the commission would enforce OTMR, the division said. Adopting OTMR would be “a sweeping change that should not be adopted until thoroughly and thoughtfully vetted,” commented Southern California Edison. OTMR “has serious safety implications,” the energy company said. More study is needed, agreed San Diego Gas & Electric. Communications Workers of America and the Coalition of California Utility Employees said one-touch policy “jeopardizes public and worker safety and threatens good jobs.” Telecom companies supported adoption. "OTMR Rules, which have been widely implemented across the country, have proven effective to promote efficiency for pole owners and attachers and to reduce barriers to wireless deployment by decreasing siting delays,” said CTIA. Frontier Communications, Consolidated Communications and AT&T said OTMR in California "would bring consistency and efficiency to the process for all pole owners and attachers who operate in jurisdictions where the FCC rules currently apply.” It lets the CPUC “take advantage of the FCC’s experience, developed over more than a decade, which led to rules that were further refined as the FCC learned from the experience of some other state commissions,” said Crown Castle. It will reduce delays, said ExteNet.