The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) announced today that it is seeking nominations from qualified tower technicians to serve in leadership roles by filling several available seats on the inaugural NWSA Board of Governors. The NWSA is a national non-profit assessment and certification organization that is under development to provide thorough, independent assessments of knowledge and skills and provide verifiable …
Industry’s 2015 fatality record still undecided as OSHA continues to investigate woman’s death
Whether or not the industry this year is close to having no fatalities for the longest period of time since deaths have been accurately tracked since 2003 will not be known until the OSHA Austin, Tex. Area Office makes a decision as to whether a fatality near Eden was training related or an unauthorized climb of a tower technician’s girlfriend. …
Former OSHA chief to discuss marijuana, e-cigarettes and other smoky things
Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., former Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, will be presenting a free webinar on Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. EST to discuss marijuana laws since some states have now legalized medical marijuana and other have approved them for recreational use. Although federal law still considers all marijuana use to be illegal, there is a …
Technician accused of stealing over 4,000 cell site batteries during Northeast crime spree
UPDATE – May 27, 2015 – According to Upper Merion Township Detective Andrew Rathfon, the technician was employed in the industry until September 2014 when he started stealing backup batteries from cell sites. In the past five years he has worked for World Link Inc., Clear Wireless, LLC, and Ericsson Inc. He was able to disarm tamper switches due to his …
New membership milestone of 800 for National Association of Tower Erectors
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) announced today that it has officially reached the 800 member mark, a milestone that continues to grow. SmartWave Technologies LLC, a Suwanee, Ga.-based company, has the special distinction of becoming the 800th NATE member company. The 800 member mark represents an all-time record for the Association in its 20 year history. “We are …
Wireless Estimator’s new face is coupled with a more responsive web experience
Welcome to Wireless Estimator’s new look, a work in progress that will ensure additional branding for our advertisers and more importantly, a more mobile and tablet-responsive site that will have all of the great tools our viewers are used to, and considerably more as we invest in our framework to offer improvements in performance, navigation and speed. Also, please check …
At 3:00 p.m. Monday, take a remembrance moment for the fallen
Tomorrow the nation will observe Memorial Day, but mostly by grilling, a day at the beach or capturing a bargain of a lifetime. Most folks will not take the time to remember the true purpose of Memorial Day, remembering the courage of those who have given up their lifetime to protect the freedoms we enjoy today. At 3:00 p.m. local …
ATC ‘s Taiclet named to Forbes’ 2015 Global 2000 CEO Hall of Fame
American Tower Corp. Chairman and CEO Jim Taiclet has been named to Forbes Magazine’s 2015 Global 2000 CEO Hall of Fame. In assembling its 2015 list, Forbes viewed companies that made the biggest move up its list of the world’s largest companies during the past ten years. Forbes narrowed that group down to 128 companies that had the same CEO for the entire period and …
Safety task force continues to make progress with numerous initiatives
Approximately 50 members of the Wireless Industry Safety Task Force, consisting of top safety and operations executives representing wireless carriers, tower owners, OEM’s, turnkey/construction management firms and NATE, met in Irving, Tex. yesterday to discuss the continued progress of the National Wireless Skills-Based Training Standard This premier skills-based worker standard is being created by the industry’s leading subject matter experts …
Crown Castle severs ‘International’ with its Australian tower unit sale
Houston-based Crown Castle International announced that it is selling its Australian subsidiary, CCAL, to Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets for $1.6 billion, of which they’ll net $1.3 billion after transaction fees and other expenses. “The sale of CCAL allows us to redeploy capital towards our growing small cell networks, which we expect will be accretive to our long-term AFFO and …
Apathy abounds in the tower construction industry regarding potential safety rules
Commentary — Last June, when OSHA floated the possibility that the agency was going to request information that would assist it in determining what additional steps it can take to prevent injuries and fatalities during tower work, some workers, employers, manufacturers and others had reservations about whether the RFI would address important tower safety issues, or be a pre-regulation proposal …
LA’s earthquake-proof tower ordinance is heavily based on an incorrect news article
The Los Angeles City Council on Friday moved to require future cell phone towers to be designed and built with a 1.5 importance factor over the current design code, EIA/TIA-222-G, so that if there ever was a severe earthquake in the city, cell towers would “still be functional.” However, their concern about the current code not being adequate was heavily …
Some wireless industry musicians and singers can easily quit their day job
A traditional scathing barb heard when garage band musicians try to imitate legendary rock stars is: “Don’t quit your day job.” But at last Wednesday’s PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association’s, All-Star Jam Session in Hollywood, Fla., it was obvious that the only things being skewered, were buffet offerings as PCIA members led a rousing session that made the house …
Thousands of revelers pay $30 to watch a Crown Castle tower burn in North Carolina
UPDATE: A spokesperson for Crown Castle International, the owner of a self-supporting tower that caught fire on Saturday when a number of wayward lanterns set some transmission lines on fire during a festival at the Carolina Speedway, said that the extent of the damage is still unknown. Spencer Humiston, the Lantern Fest event director, said that his and Crown Castle’s …
Vertical realtor Crown Castle makes a $1 billion bet on going horizontal
Crown Castle International’s appetite for a fiber rich footprint in major cities across America expanded last week with the acquisition of Sunesys for approximately $1 billion. The wholly owned subsidiary of Quanta Services, Inc. owns or has rights to nearly 10,000 miles of fiber in major metropolitan markets across the U.S. such as Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Silicon Valley, …
Industry veteran “Tam” Murray takes the reins of PCIA’s Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association elected new officers during its conference in Hollywood, Fla. last week, selecting Thomas “Tam” Murray, the founder and managing member of Community Wireless Structures, as the new PCIA Board Chairman; Steven Marshall, the Executive Vice President & President of the U.S. Tower Division of American Tower, is the new …
PCIA’s ‘view from the top’ shows a little bottoming out; tall tower crew shortage possible
A common thread throughout yesterday’s PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association’s Hollywood, Fla. conference was that AT&T has pulled back on their builds, Sprint is almost in a holding pattern and T-Mobile is providing a number of opportunities. Verizon, however, is seen as a steady engine that is assisting a slower than expected build in the second quarter. “Verizon continues …
New unraveled electromagnetism theory will not unhinge the tower industry
As PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association kicks off its conference with an infrastructure developers meeting this afternoon in Hollywood, Fla., it’s unlikely that the demise of cell towers will be a hot topic, but media pundits frequently disagree, citing new technology that will replace them with palm size transceivers. One industry editor recently said, the traditional cell tower infrastructure …
Former EHS Sprint chief Slagle joins National Wireless Safety Alliance efforts
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 …
