Pole integrity / safety

[lilldpv]

Our school has several UCS poles, all purchased in 1998, about 16 years ago. They were heavily used back then, but in the last 5 years or so we only have had 3 or 4 vaulters using them during outdoor season. They are stored in a building.

My question is, do poles lose any integrity over the years? Are they still considered as safe today as when they were new?

[KirkB]

... do poles lose any integrity over the years? Are they still considered as safe today as when they were new?

I thought someone else more familiar with American HS PV rules would have answered your question by now, but since they haven't, here's my answer ...

Poles don't wear out by frequent use or by age. They will only become damaged by nicks and scratches that occasionally occur when actively used. Check them over, and if you can't see any obvious defects, they should be OK. I don't think it's possible for a nick or scratch to occur without it being visible to the naked eye.

Also check under the plugs, and see if the fibreglass has cut thru them. Sometimes the butts are worn down to the point where the fibreglass is exposed. If they were still used with fibreglass exposed, then there may be some minor damage. Just saw off the damaged part under the plug, buy a new plug, and you should be OK. But if there's a weight label on the pole, and you're planning to use the poles in HS meets, then modifying the pole in this way isn't a good idea.

Re age, that shouldn't matter either, as long as they haven't been exposed to some strange chemical that might react with them. I doubt that's the case, especially since they were secured in a building.

Most importantly, if you're planning to use these in HS, you'll have to get them labelled properly, since I think the weight label regulations were after 1998. I don't recall exactly, but I seem to remember they came into effect about 2003.

All you have to do is look at the poles, and if they're missing weight labels, then you'll have to fix that. There's some threads here on PVP that explain how to do that - I seem to recall that Rainbowgirl posted a thread about that, as well as ESSX.

I stand corrected by anyone that has better knowledge of NFHS (National Federation of High School) PV rules than me, cuz I'm Canadian ... eh!

Kirk

[rainbowgirl28]

The weight rating rule went into effect in the mid 1990s, so they should be fine as far as weight labels go.

What Kirk said, as long as they look fine they should be safe to use, there are poles from the 70s that are still going strong.

[lilldpv]

Thank you so much for the replies. That helps a lot and now we know what to look for and pay attention. The weight labels are on them appropriately, they are somewhat scratched but only surface stuff and perfectly readable.