Canada celebrated Toronto’s iconic 1,815-foot CN Tower’s 40th birthday yesterday as many of the iron workers who built it, lots of them now in their seventies and eighties, possibly celebrated that they weren’t killed during construction due to what appeared to be limited use of personal fall protection. But many of them photographed without any harness on didn’t appear to …
A deceased Alabama tower technician’s family is struggling to bring him home
An Alabama tower technician was killed Saturday when the company vehicle he was a passenger in crashed into another vehicle that was towing a semi-trailer on I-10 in Hudspeth County, Tex. Adding to the tragedy, his family doesn’t have the funds to bring him home. Department of Public Safety officials said that 37-year-old Kenny Roach was driving on I-10 West …
Rescued tech is in a two-week coma as his employer and OSHA wait to see if it is work-related
UPDATE: June 2, 2016 – OSHA said today that they have thoroughly reviewed the incident that resulted in a 38-year-old Tennessee tower technician lapsing into a prolonged coma after being rescued two weeks ago off of a cell tower in Bethany, Mo., and have closed their investigation after finding that the incident was not work-related. OSHA Kansas City, Mo. Area …
Kentucky fall claims the life of a West Virginia tower technician
Update: May 25, 2016 – The tower technician who died yesterday had been working on a project installing a 310-foot self-supporting tower for Appalachian Wireless. The Federal Communications Commission’s database identifies a construction completion date of May 25, 2016. Appalachian Wireless has built a number of towers recently. In March, they built one in Mud Creek, Ky. and in April, …
Two tower technicians are killed in two separate incidents
UPDATE: May 23, 2016 – Burial services were held yesterday for Thomas Edward Taylor, 37, of Purvis, Miss. who passed away when he was electrocuted on a jobsite in Wadesboro, N.C. on Monday, May 16, 2016. He is survived by two brothers, David Busha of Lamar County, and Chance Taylor of Tupelo, his mother, Bertha Taylor of Lamar County; his fiancé, Susie …
Frontier Communications technician dies while the company is swathed in complaints
A Frontier Communications worker was working on overhead communications lines when he reportedly fell off a 15-foot-high ladder yesterday, according to Azle, Tex. authorities. The 64-year-old man was found lying on the ground on West Main Street around 12:45 p.m. and had suffered a severe head injury. It is not known whether the service representative was part of a team …
Participating in the stand-down? Let us give your company a plug
This week’s national safety stand-down to prevent falls in construction’s goal is to reach 5 million workers. If OSHA meets that goal, they will have touched more than half of the construction workers in the country. That count will double last year’s 2.5 million workers. Anyone who wants to prevent falls in the workplace can participate in the stand-down. In …
Severely injured tower workers now eligible to receive scholarships
The Tower Family Foundation announced today that the eligibility criteria for its scholarship program has been expanded to include severely injured or permanently disabled tower workers. The revised scholarship guidelines are effective immediately and will ensure that eligible tower workers who sustain serious injuries on the job can now receive a Tower Family Foundation scholarship to continue their post-secondary education …
Reports of tower techs losing their hands appear to be false social media posts
On Tuesday, a post appeared on a Facebook group’s website stating that, although it was possibly a rumor, someone had lost a hand when they were at an AT&T cell site in Idaho when a blasting cap exploded that was attached to a lock or possibly in a lock box. However, another poster emphatically said he had “confirmed” that it …
Wireless industry tackles needed improvements for failing safety climb systems
Officials from the Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program (TIRAP), which aims to promote worker safety, quality and efficiency within the wireless infrastructure industry, gathered representatives from wireless carriers, tower companies and safety climb system equipment manufacturers to hold a Safety Equipment Manufacturers Summit to maximize the critical role safety climb equipment plays in protecting climbers. The purpose of the gathering …
Tower tech’s condition still critical after a safety climb failure in Texas; his rescuers are sacked
UPDATE: – April 21, 2016 – According to Troy White’s father, Mick Whitecotton, White is scheduled to undergo surgery on his left leg today. It was severely cut as the tower tech slid down a guy wire. Whitecotton said White was still in the trauma center intubated with a brace on his back. Nurses were able to allow him to stand …
Safety trainer CITCA lands Jocko Vermillion to expand their services
Steve Wilder, Chief Operating Officer of CITCA, LLC of Bourbonnais, IL has announced that Jocko Vermillion will be joining the safety training organization effective April 18, 2016. Well-known in the tower safety industry, Vermillion will assume the role of Vice-President of Safety Management Services. In that role he will work with both CITCA clients and with clients of CITCA’s sister …
Ohio cell tower climber’s death wasn’t industry related
A 20-year-old man who fell 70-feet from a cell tower in Oxford, Ohio on Thursday and died, was not an industry-related fatality, according to Miami University Police Chief John McCandless, who said it was a sophomore majoring in university studies from Seoul, Korea, and Beijing, China Although a number of industry workers contacted Wireless Estimator on Friday, stating that they …
Over $13,000 in fatality citations vacated after Virginia’s OSH ignores a filing deadline
UPDATE: March 24, 2016 – Summit Tower Construction co-owner Allan Hadfield said today that although he welcomed the dismissal by a Waynesboro, Virginia Judge of six Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) citations based upon a judicial filing technicality, following a 2013 fatality, he and his attorneys were prepared to show that his employee’s death was caused by an equipment …
NATE and Tower Family Foundation Announce the Ernie Jones Memorial Civil Engineering Scholarship
University of Evansville Civil Engineering Scholarship to honor Jones’ legacy as a sructural engineer, industry icon The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) and the Tower Family Foundation today announced the official establishment of the Ernie Jones Memorial Civil Engineering Scholarship at the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana. The official announcement, honoring the legacy of the late Ernie Jones, …
First climber death in 2016 reported in Iowa after tech falls from Hamilton County tower
The Hamilton County Iowa Sherriff’s Department has confirmed that a 28-year-old tower technician fell to his death yesterday at approximately 4:45 p.m. from a cell tower. The man has been identified as Stefan Watermann who was employed by Tri-State Tower of Marion, Ia. A spokesperson said that Watermann lived in Anamosa, Iowa. The investigation is underway into finding the cause. …
Great video tips unveiled in NATE’s 100% tie-off safety video
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today released a 100% Tie-Off Safety Video as part of the Association’s Climber Connection campaign. The video was released by the Association in advance of next week’s NATE UNITE 2016 Conference in New Orleans, La. The video highlights practical 100% Tie-Off safety tips for industry workers to follow to ensure that they are …
Fall protection equipment malfunctions result in serious injuries for Texas climber
A 26-year-old tower climber is expected to be in intensive care for another ten days after he fell from a guyed tower in Rosenberg, Tex. when his personal fall protection equipment failed after he slipped from a brace on a climbing face as he was descending after a day’s work on an LTE project for AT&T. Wesley Scott, who had …
Crew and subcontracting requirements could change with proposed OSHA/FCC best practices
If the best practices (BPs) being developed by the Federal Communications Commission and the Occupational Safety & Health Administration are implemented nation-wide, it is likely that the industry will see a marked improvement in fatality and injury counts. It will also assist in reducing the number of companies in the industry that provide lower bids because they’re not burdened by …
Workshop panelists ferret out tower climber concerns and possible solutions
During his opening statement at a Department of Labor / Federal Communications Commission tower climber safety workshop on Feb. 11, 2016, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that “everybody has to be proactive,” emphasizing the need to champion pre-emptive strikes by all wireless industry stakeholders in order to continue to improve upon a lower climber fatality rate that was achieved in 2015. …
