Funeral services have been announced for James Robert Belcher of Magnolia, Texas, who passed away on November 4, 2024, after a work site incident in Grovetown, Texas. Belcher, 38, was a tower technician supervisor employed by MasTec Network Solutions. According to Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace, his office received a call for a welfare check on November 5 when Belcher …
Industry questions why a co-worker wasn’t on site when a MasTec tech died after falling from a 500-foot tower
UPDATE: November 11, 2024 – Services have been set for James Belecher, the 38-year-old tower technician supervisor who died on a Crown Castle site while working for MasTec Network Solutions. A tower technician is dead today after having fallen from a guyed tower, according to Trinity County Texas Sheriff Woody Wallace. According to a press statement, the Trinity County Sheriff’s …
Tower Family Foundation: A decade of delivering financial support to affected industry workers and their families
The Tower Family Foundation officially celebrates its 10-year anniversary today as a 501c-3 non-profit organization supporting the industry’s workforce and their families. The Foundation officially launched during a reception and press conference that was held on Wednesday, September 10, 2014, at CTIA’s “Super Mobility Week” in Las Vegas, Nevada. The impetus behind the Tower Family Foundation occurred when representatives of …
Louisiana tower tech gets up to 20 years for killing a crew leader at a Nebraska work site shooting
David Phillips Jr., a 22-year-old tower technician from Kenner, Louisiana, was sentenced Monday by Nebraska Judge Bryan Meismer in Cedar County District Court to two to 20 years in prison for the involuntary manslaughter of his coworker, crew leader Israel Matos-Colon, of Puerto Rico, on March 1, 2023. With the days already credited to his sentence, he will be eligible …
Florida contractor’s owner succumbs from a 200-foot fall off a Crown Castle cell tower in North Carolina
A 52-year-old owner of a Kissimmee, Florida, contracting company that specialized in structural reinforcements and welding passed away on Monday when he fell from a Crown Castle tower in Shelby, North Carolina. Wireless Estimator has identified the deceased as Jose Ramiro Covarrubias. He fell from a 300-foot self-supporting tower around noon. The circumstances leading to his fall are still under …
New Board members will help shape the future for the Tower Family Foundation’s worker support initiatives
“As an Executive Committee, we are excited to add the visionary leadership and philanthropic spirit of Ron, Eric, Jake, and Michael to the Tower Family Foundation’s Board of Directors,” said President Jim Tracy. The Tower Family Foundation announced the newest appointments to the non-profit organization’s leadership team. Ron Bizick, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vertical Bridge; Eric Dudek, …
Ohio tower technician succumbs from injuries following a 250-foot fall during an AT&T installation
Services have been announced for Darren Bishop, 28, of Proctorville, OH, who passed away on Monday, September 25, 2023, after falling approximately 250 feet off a 300-foot guyed tower in Huntsburg Township, OH. According to individuals knowledgeable of the incident, Bishop, employed by Overland Contracting, had been working on an AT&T overlay project managed by Black & Veatch when he …
Sadly, the first fatal fall in 2023 took the life of a 33-year-old tower technician in Kansas
Burial services were held today in Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, for 33-year-old tower technician Frankie Rivera-Rivera who succumbed from his injuries after falling from a 350-foot tower in Andover, Kansas, on May 9. According to individuals knowledgeable of the incident, Rivera and a co-worker were reportedly performing maintenance services for AT&T on a tower off Zenith Rd., owned by Harmoni …
CWA’s questionable climber injury and death rate data from their survey get a fact checking F from experts
The Communications Workers of America’s (CWA) Tower Climbers Union published the results of a survey designed by tower technicians Thursday with critical findings showing that their members’ safety is being compromised. The press release announcing the study said more than 65% of technicians have been on a job site where someone has been injured and 4% where someone has been killed, a horrific life-shattering …
Until there’s a consensus standard, industry experts provide initial hoisting grip guidance following fatality
When a 32-year-old tower technician passed away on December 15, 2022, in Weatherford, TX, while engaged in an installation project for Verizon, Wireless Estimator identified shortly after that that a secured cable grip failure might have caused the death. Huber+Suhner provided the hybrid cable and factory-installed hoisting grip, which was later identified as a FIOMA grip. OSHA investigated the accident and has not …
Alabama state agency is saddened by a tower tech’s death, but it appears that they caused it
Some of the Alabama Forestry Commission’s (AFC) key roles are to protect wildlife, such as inventorying gopher tortoise burrows to improve their habitat. However, its overriding mission is to protect forests from harm. Unfortunately, the state agency failed miserably to protect a Deatsville AFC communications technician last year. As a result, Brett Savage died when a guyed tower that was …
Eastman, Hester and Pleibel’s compassion and industry insight will help guide the Tower Family Foundation
The Tower Family Foundation announced today three leadership appointments to serve the non-profit organization. Jon Eastman, President of VIKOR, Dr. Bridgette Hester, Adjunct Professor and Researcher, and Chris Pleibel, Vice President at PerfectVision Manufacturing, have been appointed to serve on the Tower Family Foundation Advisory Committee. In their roles as members of the committee, Eastman, Hester, and Pleibel will be …
OSHA, media and the CWA routinely and inaccurately portray the wireless industry as the ‘most dangerous’
Commentary — In 2006, after exhaustive research, Wireless Estimator identified cell tower climbers had the most dangerous job in America, exposing a death rate per 100,000 workers of 115.2 based upon approximately 8,700 workers within the industry. The data was obtained, in part, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) lagging 2004 data, based upon ten fatalities, later revised to …
Following a December fatality, Huber+Suhner issues an urgent notice prohibiting pre-laced hoisting grips
Huber+Suhner has issued an urgent notification not to use pre-laced hoisting grips installed on all Masterline Classic Hybrid 12×24 cable that came attached to the hybrid cable when reels were delivered to installers or may be sitting in stock at customer warehouses. The notice was prompted after a pre-laced hoisting grip on a Huber+Suhner hybrid cable failed on December 15, 2022, …
A secured cable grip failure appears to have caused the death of a Texas tower technician
After a 32-year-old tower technician passed away on December 15, 2022, in Weatherford, TX, while engaged in an installation project for Verizon, the limited information provided by the Parker County Sheriff’s Office and the technician’s employer, Neticom of Arlington, TX, appeared to indicate that the Fort Worth technician was killed after a hybrid cable came loose while it was being …
Hybrid cable is severed from its rigging, causing the death of a Fort Worth tower technician
Clarification: An earlier version of this article said that a hybrid cable being raised fell on a technician causing, fatal injuries. According to the technician’s employer, the cable had been secured to the tower with a cable manufacturer-installed hoisting grip that failed. An update is available here. A 32-year-old Fort Worth, TX tower tech died on December 15, 2022, when …
Alabama tower collapse ends a tower tech’s life, leaving behind his wife and five children
A 36-year-old tower technician and father of five who worked for the Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC) died Wednesday afternoon in a “tragic accident,” the agency said yesterday. Communications technician Brett Savage with the AFC and a resident of Deatsville, in Elmore County, was killed instantly when the communications tower he was helping a crew remove collapsed in Washington County, the …
Proposed OSHA heat stress rule should be looked at from a tower climber’s elevation: NATE
OSHA states that it is aware that 70% of heat-related deaths and serious illnesses occur within the first few days of work, and upwards of 50% occur on the first day of work for workers who have not been acclimatized to hazardous heat, and recommends a reduced schedule of strenuous work in outdoor or indoor settings. The agency believes that …
24-year-old Nevada tower tech passes after a 140-foot fall in Washington — 2nd fatality in 3 weeks
Wireless Estimator has confirmed that a 24-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada tower technician, whose goal was to excel in his new career, has passed away after falling from a communications tower in Arlington, WA on Saturday afternoon at about 1:30 p.m. Michael Vasquez was a Broken Arrow Communications (Bacom) crew member working on an installation on a Crown Castle monopole when …
A 1099 crew’s 53-year-old tower technician falls to his death from a Verizon tower in Texas
UPDATE: December 2, 2021 — OSHA has released the contractor’s name that the agency will be investigating. Wireless Estimator has been able to confirm today the death of a 53-year-old tower technician in Garrison, TX on November 17. The fatality came to light when tower technician Chris Sanders posted on a Facebook group: Sad day on the tower today! He …
