UPDATE: December 13, 2016 – According to a representative of Motive Energy Telecommunications Group, Inc. (METG), their tower technician who fell from a roof and died in Chula Vista, Calif. on Nov. 23, 2016, was not near the telecom worksite area when the accident occurred. In a statement to Wireless Estimator, he wrote, “METG is informed that Matthew Vukasovich fell …
Officials feel Mobilitie is disingenuous as moratoriums mount throughout the nation
Cities and counties are continuing to slap moratoriums on the installation of towers and mini-macro sites in public rights-of-way. The most recent city registering concern is Boynton Beach, Fla. whose officials this month issued a moratorium on installing them until June so that they can examine the current regulations to determine if changes need to be made. The action came …
New ANSI/SSE A10.48 standard now available for purchase from NATE
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) announced today that the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) A10.48-2016 Standard is now available for purchase on the Association’s website. The A10.48 Standard – Criteria for Safety Practices with the Construction, Demolition, Modification and Maintenance of Communications Structures is a game changer for the industry as it has …
Pittsburg communications confab focused upon industry safety issues
Safety officials from carriers, tower owners, regulators and training companies converged in Pittsburg, Pa. last week at the 2016 Environmental, Health & Safety Communications Panel (EHSCP) symposium hosted this year by Crown Castle. A wide variety of topics related directly to the communications industry were presenting during the well-attended sessions. A panel discussion on the upcoming Washington State Standard, was …
ASSE and TIA launching their awareness campaign for new communication tower standards
The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) are launching a joint effort to raise awareness of new standards that are important for all workers and companies that install, alter or maintain communication towers. The new American National Standard Institute (ANSI) approved standard, ANSI/TIA-322, Loading Criteria, Analysis, and Design Related to the Installation, Alteration …
Verizon Exec Laurie Gebhardt joins National Wireless Safety Alliance Board of Governors
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) announced today that Laurie Gebhardt, Director – Network Engineering and Operations at Verizon Wireless, has joined the organization’s Board of Governors. The NWSA’s leadership made the announcement at the 2016 CTIA Super Mobility Conference in Las Vegas, Nev. The NWSA is a national non-profit assessment and certification organization that has been established to provide …
Amended colocation agreement lessens historic preservation reviews and speeds up 5G
The Federal Communications Commission took another significant step to facilitate the deployment of infrastructure critical to ensuring American leadership on next-generation wireless service, or 5G. Building on previous infrastructure reforms, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau signed an agreement to eliminate historic preservation review for small facility deployments across the U.S. that do not adversely impact historic sites and locations. The agreement …
A long overdue game-changing tower safety standard is finalized
The long-awaited game-changing ANSI standard, A10.48-2016 – heralded as being the first comprehensive standard encompassing the entire wireless construction, service and maintenance industry, and clearly living up to its expectations – has been finalized, according to the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) and other individuals knowledgeable of its completion. The 107-page standard, although currently not available for purchase, is …
New FAA rules will require some 50-to-200-foot towers to be marked
Last December, the FAA established new obstruction lighting and marking rules, and Wireless Estimator developed a handy industry reference tool that breaks down and easily explains the 90-page document’s changes from the previous advisory circular. However, the most current regulations will likely be changed again by the FAA within the next year when certain towers, in the 50-to-200-foot in height …
State by state industry deaths analysis provides a linch pin for continuing dialogue
For 13 years, Wireless Estimator has been compiling data on industry-related fatalities, and presented that information last month to a dozen public and private safety professionals for analysis to see if there are any common threads that could be explored to reduce tower climber deaths. The only commonality, however, was that although there were 116 fatality incidents since 2003, assigning any significance based upon …
The Glass Half Full: Rats live longer with cell phone RF radiation
After the preliminary findings of a $25 million National Toxicology Program (NTP) cell phone radiofrequency radiation study on rats were released last Thursday, conversationalists at Memorial Day picnics, whose endless knowledge base is fragilely built on headlines, most likely had their fellow guests wondering if they should hold their phone at arm’s length while texting their children at the other …
OSHA is readying new RF, fall protection and hoist standards
Although the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had known that fall protection in the wireless construction industry has either been used improperly or inconsistently due to the high fatality rate of tower climbers, after analyzing the responses to their 38 questions on tower safety published last April, the agency has decided that it will be moving forward with revising their standards …
OSHA issues workplace injury reporting rule alongside a chorus of concerns
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a final rule on Wednesday designed to modernize injury data collection to better inform workers, employers, the public and OSHA about workplace hazards. A number of trade groups and professionals believe that it will create more harm than the intended benefits OSHA anticipates it will provide. OSHA currently requires many employers …
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 …
An engineer’s report has officials on edge over a possible tower failure
UPDATE: May 4, 2016 – Paulding, Ohio village officials have determined that a 400′ guyed tower is not a danger to the community after reviewing a second engineer’s report, and have opened Fairground Rd. As suspected, the reported overloads were due to the fact that the newer ANSI/TIA-222-G standard includes more stringent ice requirements, compared to the 222-F standard which was …
A Pope and carrier exec quote highlight cell phones and mobile/spiritual networks
The rote quote of the week comes from a British carrier executive who finds that cell site permitting is too tough in the UK, while the Pope quote of the week told teens that life without Jesus is like a smartphone without bars. British carrier Arqiva’s director of M2M, Nicolas Ott, said in an interview, that “In rural areas we …
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. …
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 …
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 …
