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. …
FCC Chairman’s zero fatality message is clear even with slightly different fatality count
Thursday’s message at the Occupational Safety & Health Administration and the Federal Communications Commission workshop was loud and clear as stated by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “The industry that provides world-class wireless service must have world-class safety for its employees and contractors. Period,” said Wheeler in his opening remarks during the half-day session (video available here) at FCC headquarters in …
The cell phone in your pocket shouldn’t cost a worker’s life
By Dr. David Michaels and Roger Sherman – Wireless services have opened up avenues of communication and resources unlike any in history. We rely on these connections to stay in touch with friends and family members, operate businesses and communicate on a global scale. But providing these innovative services through networks of communication towers should not come at the cost …
Australian tower tech’s death is a sad reminder of lower international fatalities
A tower tech fell to his death from a communications tower in Australia today, according to a local news report that stated he was 43-years-old and died after falling off of a structure near Adelaide River around 4:00 p.m., but offered no additional information. The worker’s death accents what appears to be a safer environment throughout the world for tower …
TIRAP investigates life-threatening tower safety climbs, a problem that needs to be fixed
The Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program (TIRAP), announced the release of the latest installment in the TIRAP Telecommunications Video Series: “Safety Climb Systems.” Although it’s an instructive and well-produced presentation of the important role safety climb systems play on telecommunications towers, it strikes an uncomfortable chord in identifying the number of incorrectly installed safety climbs that are in the industry …
NWSA subject matter experts continue their tower technician certification program efforts in Texas
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) convened its distinguished group of leading subject matter experts this week to continue the assessment and certification development process for the Telecommunications Tower Technician I (TTTI) and Telecommunications Tower Technician II (TTTII) programs. The intensive NWSA task force meetings occurred over a three-day period and were hosted by AT&T at the AT&T Center for …
NATE releases PPE inspection safety video as part of Climber Connection campaign
‘When in doubt, take it out!’ The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today released a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Inspection Safety Video as part of the Association’s 2016 Climber Connection campaign. The video highlights practical safety tips for industry workers to follow when inspecting the required PPE associated with working at heights on a communications towers. The video includes …
Former OSHA construction safety chief believes some companies see agency’s fines as a ‘business cost’
Jim Maddux, Director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Directorate of Construction, retired at the end of December from the position he held since Dec. 20, 2010. During his leadership at OSHA he was instrumental in creating a serious conversation about climber safety in America, and shepherding new proactive initiatives targeting the telecom industry. He began his carrer with OSHA …
FCC and DOL announce second workshop on tower climber safety and apprenticeship program
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Employment and Training Administration (ETA) have announced preliminary details of a second workshop on tower climber safety and the Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program (TIRAP). The first joint FCC-DOL workshop on these subjects was held on October 14, 2014. The upcoming workshop, to be …
Lawmakers’ RF concerns are on target, but media inflates dangerous site totals
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D. Calif.) have raised concerns to the FCC in regards to radio frequency radiation and the impact such exposure can have on tower technicians and other workers not involved in wireless work such as HVAC technicians and electricians. They’re also concerned about residents who might be exposed to excessive RF exposure on …
Deceased tower techs’ signatures were forged to falsely state they were W-9 contractors
A U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission Administrative Law Judge has found that a Louisiana tower erector’s owners, during a hearing to vacate a $7,000 Serious OSHA fine received following the death of two of the company’s workers in 2013, purposely misled the court, fraudulently altered documents and were deceitful in a number of representations, and he denied their …
Carabiner’s use in lieu of shackle could have caused tower tech’s decapitation
The Kentucky Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (KY FACE) has released a comprehensive examination of an industry fatality that happened last year when a 28-year-old Indiana worker died in Cynthia, after he was decapitated by a cable when a 5/8” shackle failed while his crew was lifting a 1800-pound boom with antennas on it. One of the key findings was that …
Going beyond compliance standards and use of SAUCE could curtail tower-site accidents
Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program (TIRAP) board chairman Scott Kisting today urged members of the wireless infrastructure industry to watch a newly produced video aimed at strengthening workplace safety, enhancing workplace quality, and improving worker health and safety training. Initiated by TIRAP and produced by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), the video released today, the first of a planned ongoing series, …
Some techs don’t appreciate the long history and reasons for riding the line CPLs
Riding the line, when done properly, can be the safest method of ascending or descending a tower, but some industry workers continue to flout the current riding the line instruction that took safety stakeholders almost 19 years to get OSHA to agree to a compliance directive (CPL) that made sense. The picture at right, which could pass for a sepia-toned …
Sheriff’s report: Woman’s death in March was 2015’s first fatality
Although OSHA has not stated whether 28-year-old Stephanie Gurney’s death on March 28, 2015 was industry related when she fell off of an SBA Communications tower near Eden, Tex., a Concho County Sheriffs Office Deputy’s report obtained by Wireless Estimator identifies that the woman was being assessed for her ability to climb by the owner of Jostan Communications for possible …
NWSA delivers a detailed overview of their tower worker certification program to OSHA
In response to OSHA’s request for information regarding communication tower safety due by Monday, the National Wireless Safety Alliance provided an emphatic ‘yes’ to the agency regarding its question: Is there a need for a standardized, industry-wide training or certification program? Provided by NWSA consultant Chuck Slagle, a former Sprint EH&S executive, the safety alliance said, “The NWSA will standardize …
Leading safety expert steps forward as the tower industry’s response to OSHA tanks
Whereas an embarrassing majority of industry safety professionals and tower climbers, as high as 99% or more, have ignored an opportunity to assist OSHA in assessing current practices and ways that will result in lowering fatalities and injuries in tower construction and maintenance, an Illinois State University professor, Dr. Thomas P. Fuller, while traveling in France, took the time today to …
Four new lawsuits claim tower owner and its engineer are liable in deaths and injuries
UPDATE: June 9, 2015 – Wrongful death lawsuits have been filed on behalf of the administrators of Kyle Kirkpatrick and Terry Richard, both of Oklahoma, who were both killed when an SBA Communications tower collapsed on February 1, 2014, and personal injury lawsuits were filed on behalf of Randall McElhaney, of Texas, and Jerry Hill, of Oklahoma, who also sustained …
Deputy Secretary Barab is busy in the background driving OSHA’s tower safety efforts
Although Assistant Secretary of Labor David Michaels is frequently identified as the drive behind OSHA’s enforcement and regulatory emphasis for the wireless construction profession, Deputy Assistant Secretary Jordan Barab continues to champion the need to focus upon the industry, most recently, touching upon the thorny topic of when a subcontracted worker is injured on the job, who is ultimately responsible? …
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. …
