Skyrocketing prices for metals in recent years has led to an epidemic of metal theft, especially of copper, around the world.
Thieves are targeting everything from construction sites, communications towers, and churches to power plants and train tracks for copper, which is sold for a fraction of the actual cost of the metal.
Hydro facilities across Canada have been especially hard hit. Hydro One, Ontario’s electricity provider, has been the target of a growing number of thefts, from an average of 10 per month six months ago to 16 per month this summer.
Last weekend a young male was badly burned in Toronto while allegedly attempting to steal copper from a transformer station.
In an attempt to fight the thefts, which cause serious safety concerns, Hydro One has partnered with Crime Stoppers and is working with police as well as scrap dealers to help identify and report stolen copper.
“Stealing the copper fittings that ground high-voltage equipment is extremely dangerous,” said Myles D’Arcey, Hydro One senior vice president of operations.
D’Arcey said copper thieves not only risk serious or fatal injury to themselves, but also endanger first responders, the public, and Hydro One employees.
“It’s dangerous for Hydro One employees to enter a transformer station after a theft has occurred and work around high voltage equipment that is not properly grounded.”
Metal theft around the world has grown along with the rapid industrial rise of countries like China, India, and Brazil.
Commonly used as an electrical conduit, copper is in strong demand and prices for the metal have been particularly high in recent years, which has fuelled the increase in theft.
The negative consequences of such theft became evident in the case of a Bridgetown, Ontario, business struck recently. After $100,000 worth of copper was stolen from its West Bridgetown plant, Nu-Air Ventilation Systems Inc. is pulling out.
The company is now dropping plans to begin operating in Bridgetown due to the cost of replacing the copper wire and installing the required security system. The plant would have produced 300 local jobs.
Although thieves who recently hit a BC Hydro substation were apprehended by police, the damage caused by their attempt to remove copper wire will cost B.C. taxpayers up to $2.7 million.
Copper theft is also a big problem for cable and telecommunications companies.
“We saw it really start to emerge going back four or five years ago when the price of copper surged, and then it fell to almost nothing during the recession, and this time last year it started becoming an issue again when the price of copper came back up,” Telus spokesman Shawn Hall told the Toronto Star.
In B.C. and Alberta, by the end of May Telus had recorded 125 incidents of copper theft of telephone lines, leaving customers without service.
Worldwide, roofs, church bells, statues, and even manhole covers have all been targeted. In one of the more bizarre cases of metal theft, thieves in western Ukraine dismantled and stole an 11-metre long, one-ton steel bridge that spanned a river.
In September 2009, smugglers attempted to make off with 25 tons of radioactive scrap metal from Ukraine’s Chernobyl Exclusion Zone but were caught by security guards.
Thieves are targeting everything from construction sites, communications towers, and churches to power plants and train tracks for copper, which is sold for a fraction of the actual cost of the metal.
Hydro facilities across Canada have been especially hard hit. Hydro One, Ontario’s electricity provider, has been the target of a growing number of thefts, from an average of 10 per month six months ago to 16 per month this summer.
Last weekend a young male was badly burned in Toronto while allegedly attempting to steal copper from a transformer station.
In an attempt to fight the thefts, which cause serious safety concerns, Hydro One has partnered with Crime Stoppers and is working with police as well as scrap dealers to help identify and report stolen copper.
“Stealing the copper fittings that ground high-voltage equipment is extremely dangerous,” said Myles D’Arcey, Hydro One senior vice president of operations.
D’Arcey said copper thieves not only risk serious or fatal injury to themselves, but also endanger first responders, the public, and Hydro One employees.
“It’s dangerous for Hydro One employees to enter a transformer station after a theft has occurred and work around high voltage equipment that is not properly grounded.”
Metal theft around the world has grown along with the rapid industrial rise of countries like China, India, and Brazil.
Commonly used as an electrical conduit, copper is in strong demand and prices for the metal have been particularly high in recent years, which has fuelled the increase in theft.
The negative consequences of such theft became evident in the case of a Bridgetown, Ontario, business struck recently. After $100,000 worth of copper was stolen from its West Bridgetown plant, Nu-Air Ventilation Systems Inc. is pulling out.
The company is now dropping plans to begin operating in Bridgetown due to the cost of replacing the copper wire and installing the required security system. The plant would have produced 300 local jobs.
Although thieves who recently hit a BC Hydro substation were apprehended by police, the damage caused by their attempt to remove copper wire will cost B.C. taxpayers up to $2.7 million.
Copper theft is also a big problem for cable and telecommunications companies.
“We saw it really start to emerge going back four or five years ago when the price of copper surged, and then it fell to almost nothing during the recession, and this time last year it started becoming an issue again when the price of copper came back up,” Telus spokesman Shawn Hall told the Toronto Star.
In B.C. and Alberta, by the end of May Telus had recorded 125 incidents of copper theft of telephone lines, leaving customers without service.
Worldwide, roofs, church bells, statues, and even manhole covers have all been targeted. In one of the more bizarre cases of metal theft, thieves in western Ukraine dismantled and stole an 11-metre long, one-ton steel bridge that spanned a river.
In September 2009, smugglers attempted to make off with 25 tons of radioactive scrap metal from Ukraine’s Chernobyl Exclusion Zone but were caught by security guards.
