The Dangerous Practice of Retrofitting Poles for Signage

Banner poles (signage poles) are an elegant way to display advertising, with many businesses aspiring to use them. Unfortunately some businesses seek to save money by cutting corners and using existing infrastructure to retrofit signage. While this may appeal as a cost-effective solution, the risk outweighs the benefits and can be fatal.

Banner Poles

A banner pole is an engineered structure, designed for the purpose of bearing an appropriate banner or flag and compliant with Australian standards for wind action and aluminium structures. When installed properly and used for its original purpose and within its wind rating it is an extremely safe structure. In fact, PILA is so certain of the safety of our banner poles and flag poles that we provide a 7 year warranty – the longest in the industry.

Risky Business

So it is disconcerting when we hear that there are businesses manufacturing and selling bracket systems as a cheap option for attaching banners to existing poles. This practice is fraught with risk and liability, not only for the manufacturer but also for the owner of the site.

Tragic Results

A recent tragic event in Melbourne demonstrates the gravity of inappropriate retrofitting. Australia’s largest privately owned construction company, Grocon, faces charges over the death of 3 people when a wall collapsed. A sign had been hung on the wall without proper safety checks or permits. Grocon did not obtain a risk assessment on how wind would affect the wall with the added sign, nor did they have an engineer assess the wall after the sign was installed. As the site owner they are facing 6 charges while the manufacturer, Aussie Signs, is facing 2.

Bracket Systems

A pole and its footing must be engineered to support its bracket system and banner. Certifying the safety of these after-market bracket systems would involve the costly and time-consuming practice of contracting an engineer, if an engineer is able to retrospectively certify an already installed pole at all. It would be far more sensible to simply purchase already compliant new banner poles.

The best and safest practice is to always use a banner pole specifically designed for this purpose and to only install the pole and fit banners in accordance with the manufacturer’s product guide.