A crew foreman with Osmose Utilities Services carries out an inspection on a powerline pole along Hwy 13. About 13 crews of four people each have been working on similar inspections throughout the county for the past two weeks or so. Pioneer photo by Deb Bently
Osmose crews inspect Xcel Energy poles
Thu, 10/09/2025 - 3:30am
More than 50 workmen have been in Waseca County for the past couple of weeks with the utilities service company Osmose, based out of Peachtree. Georgia. Crew supervisor Jerry McCarty explains Osmose has been contracted by Xcel Energy to perform inspection and maintenance services on wooden powerline poles across the southern portion of the state, and even beyond into the Dakotas.
Some 13 crews of 4 or so people have been dispersed through the county to check the integrity of poles especially from ground level to about 18 inches below. McCarty reveals that, if a pole is going to break, the most likely location of the failure will be in that region, since the amount of water, warmth, and oxygen available there is most conducive to decay.
McCarty said there are unquestionably “thousands” of poles in Waseca County alone. Crews work their way along their assigned line. Workers out front open up the ground to at least 18 inches in depth around the circumference of the pole and place the dirt on a tarp for easy retrieval. A crew foreman inspects each pole to check for hollowness or signs of decay. The process of inspection includes pounding on the pole with a hammer to detect any anomalies in the sound, drilling into the pole to check for hollowness or softness, scraping the exterior to check integrity just below the wood’s surface, and possibly more depending on the results of the initial tests.
Once the inspection is finished, other members of the crew follow behind. This group applies a preservative to the wood and wraps the base of the pole in a waterproof shield. The hole is filled in and the area around the pole is returned to a presentable appearance. With the work completed, a metal tag is fastened to the pole for future reference.
McCarty says the results of the inspection are recorded and Xcel Energy makes decisions whether to replace or repair any poles, each of which is identified by its global positioning system (GPS) coordinates. He says poles are inspected every 10 years or so, and mentions information on the tags indicates Osmose performed previous inspections in Waseca County in 2017.
He predicts workmen will finish their work here and move on within the next one to two weeks; crews will be leaving the northern portion of the country around the end of October. Osmose, he said, performs utility services nationwide.