The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) announced today that they have entered into a professional consulting agreement with former Sprint Environmental Health and Safety Executive, Chuck Slagle. Slagle, who recently retired from Sprint after nearly a 38 year career, will be tasked with spearheading several NWSA project initiatives and assist in getting the NWSA national assessment and certification programs to …
As it mulls new tower safety rules, OSHA strongly urges everyone to comment
For the first time in the long history of the wireless construction industry, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is reaching out to all stakeholders, especially tower climbers, to assist it in obtaining information about the causes of employee injuries and fatalities that are occurring among technicians working on communication towers. OSHA is also seeking comments on safe work practices …
Lawsuit win sees contractor’s claim doubled and ownership of 32 towers up for grabs
A court decision requiring the owners of tower consolidator Horizon Towers of Marblehead, Mass. to have 32 of their towers “liquidated and distributed or otherwise used to satisfy the creditors of debtor Eastern Towers, Inc.,” also awarded Timberline Construction of Canton double its owed $264,774 for new site builds due to an unfair or deceptive act. The open market will …
Vertical Bridge, InSite Wireless, Poole, SBA, TI and TSC are in the news
With today’s Business Briefs, iHeartMedia delivers its first set of towers to Vertical Bridge, InSite Wireless jumps to being the 7th largest tower owner in the U.S., the sale of California’s iconic Mt. Wilson towers is near, SBA’s new board member is entrenched in everything telco, Tower Innovations gets a new chief and TSC Tower Specialists takes on Michigan. Vertical Bridge …
Near electrocution of two techs requires a review of safe practices
Update: April 6, 2015 – According to an individual knowledgeable of the incident where two tower technicians were shocked as their lift came in a contact with a power line on April 1, 2015, the techs did not have to jump to the ground as stated by a Beloit, Wisc. fire official, but were lowered to the ground by the …
April Fools’ news caught many off guard including site’s server
April Fools’ Day is the Super Bowl Sunday for internet pranks, and since it’s not common for wireless infrastructure media to join in, Wireless Estimator thought it might be something that could work. It did. In fact, so much so, that after a news bulletin was sent out to over 27,000 subscribers yesterday with bogus, but believable article headlines, the …
American Tower takes AT&T to court and wins a $132 million judgment
American Tower Corporation stood behind a New Jersey construction manager who used a creative approach to comply with an AT&T program manager’s directive on a new monopole cell site’s location, while suffering with hurt feelings, and was awarded $132 million by a Sloatsburg, Tex. jury today. In a statement issued by the Boston-based tower owner following the verdict, the company said, …
From broadband to a blues harp, PCIA Chief splits his time with Broadway
Whereas some vertical realtor executives spend their limited free weekends volunteering at ice cream socials with their employees to put easily detonated protective dye packs in their tenants’ leasehold agreements, PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Industry CEO Jonathan Adelstein finds playing to sold-out crowds on Broadway and at Carnegie Hall to be the answer for achieving a perfect work-life balance. The …
Anritsu’s global success tagged to God and one misspelled word in 1844
On May 24, 1844, Samuel Morse dispatched an experimental telegraph message from the U.S. Capitol to Alfred Vail at a railroad station in Baltimore, Md. The message – “What hath God wrought?” – was telegraphed back to the Capitol a moment later by Vail. Unfortunately, members of Congress witnessing the event began drooling over the opportunity to heavily tax …
Woman’s death linked to her boyfriend’s tower tech profession in Texas
It is not known why 28-year-old Stephanie Gurney of San Angelo, Tex. was on or fell from an SBA Communications 500-foot tower in a rural area 10 miles east of Eden on Saturday at approximately 11:15 a.m., but it is has been established, that her boyfriend, Stephen Butler, who met Stephanie in September of 2014, was a tower technician for …
Goodman Networks lays off 340 as construction managers’ lawsuit advances
Following a layoff of workers in December, Goodman Networks, a family-owned end-to-end wireless network deployment firm, let go an additional 340 employees on March 10, 2015, according to information reviewed by Wireless Estimator. It is not known, however, whether the downsizing was necessary due to a cutback in AT&T’s capex since a company spokesperson said Monday that Goodman Networks will …
Oklahoma tornado takes out a part of broadcasting and defense history
An AM tower array that was designated to be an emergency broadcast station in the event of nuclear war, collapsed yesterday evening in Moore, Okla. after tornadoes ripped through the area, causing what the National Weather Service believes to be the first tornado fatality in 2015 in Sand Springs. Two of the square KOKC Blaw-Knox 327-foot towers constructed in 1947 …
New tower standard expected in 2016, ANSI/TIA-322 participation invited
Following ANSI/TIA-222-G’s introduction in 2006, and after four addenda, the national structural standard for communications and small wind turbine support structures will see Revision H being introduced next year, according to a TR-14 Engineering Committee report. Changes being assessed in Rev H The committee is reviewing issues for Revision H which is expected to be completed by Spring 2016. Areas …
AT&T kayos its 40,000 small cell build-out in half
AT&T’s 40,000 small cell deployments projected to be completed by the end of 2015 took a sharp cut in the carrier’s network plans since its goal may now be 20,000, about half the original number. The company said its March 2014 acquisition of Leap Wireless required it to reconsider those plans. “Small cells remain a key part of our advanced …
Climbing higher for techs will not be possible in Google’s grand plan
Although Google is currently developing wireless service plans that will prohibit tower technicians from climbing to maintain the transceivers – because they’ll be at an elevation between 23,000 and 65,000 feet in the stratosphere – this week’s announcement that the company intends to offer MVNO wireless connectivity to customers in the U.S. will also exclude techs from working on Google-owned …
Competitive spirit can be cutthroat in leasehold ground wars of towercos
Although the nation’s major tower owners present a public face of spirited friendly competition and collective initiatives to ensure worker safety, when it comes to protecting their interests it can be a no holds barred battle between them to keep their most valuable assets, their long-term leases. One clash got so nasty that the counter-complainant wanted a leasehold aggregator’s executives …
Doty, Reski honored at NATE’s largest conference in 20 years
The National Association of Tower Erectors today honored Don Doty, Vice President of Operations at Velocitel, Inc. in Cedar Hill, Tex. and Kevin Reski, President of Great Plains Towers in West Fargo, N.D., during the Founding Member Luncheon at NATE UNITE 2015 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The conference, which began yesterday, has topped attendance records for the premiere event …
NWSA is final component for issuance of national training certifications
Although it might be eight to 12 months or more before tower techs or foremen will be able to proudly show their training and skill-set certification card, an announcement today by the leadership of the Wireless Industry Safety Task Force identified that certification in the future will be a reality and will enhance tower safety, reduce workplace risk, improve quality, …
Safety climb system failure seriously injures tower tech in 50-foot fall
A Kentucky tower climber who had been in an induced coma for the past 10 days had additional surgery yesterday, and this morning for the first time was able to talk, but he is unable to remember his traumatic fall off of an Ohio tower that required him to be airlifted to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Youngstown to be treated for …
Over 29,000 tower climbers identified in extensive wireless workforce survey
According to a comprehensive study released today by WirelessEstimator.com identifying how many wireless technicians routinely work on elevated structures in the course of their employment, the number of tower climbers has dramatically increased to over 29,000 workers, almost triple from the last available analysis undertaken in 2006 by Wireless Estimator which put the total of tower technicians at approximately 9,800. …
