It’s no surprise that the cover to a small hole built into a sidewalk for utility purposes could go missing.

But it’s unsettling that the utility responsible hasn’t replaced the cover, even though it’s been that way for many months and is dangerous for pedestrians who could stumble into it.

With a lot of the pipes and wires that connect our city to essential services now buried, portals to the underground network are required to access them for maintenance.

One of the common gateways is a “hand well,” a small opening in a road or sidewalk that allows someone to reach into it to get at a valve for a water pipe, or perhaps an electrical connection.

Most of us take no notice of hand wells or aren’t even aware of them, because they have a cover over them that blends into the surrounding surface.

But when the cover goes missing, a hole is left that could swallow the wheel of a car or create a serious tripping hazard.

Sauro B. posted a photo on SeeClickFix of a hand well in a sidewalk on the south side of Wilson Ave., just west of the subway overpass that runs into the Wilson TTC station, with no cover on it.

A one-sentence note with the report says: “missing maintenance cover, many many months!”

We went there and found a hand well that’s about 10 centimetres deep, with what appears to be electrical connections inside, perfectly positioned to be a tripping hazard.

Somebody has plunked a pylon on top of the hole, but it is not fastened in place. And if pylons were good at staying where they’re supposed to without being anchored, there wouldn’t be so many scattered all over.

A Google Street View image taken last June also shows the hand well with no cover on it, which raises a question: How many people have tripped over it, especially at night, since the cover disappeared?

STATUS: Norberto Santos, acting manager of road operations in that area, emailed to say a field investigator has been sent to check it out, adding that a city electrical contractor working nearby will also be asked if they can rustle up a cover for it.

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