A 2016 fatality of a 19-year-old West Virginia tower technician in Kentucky has resulted in the young man’s employer and the company’s owner entering pleas to the felony offense of engaging in a scheme to defraud Brickstreet Mutual Insurance Company, now known as Encova, of approximately $186,700 in insurance premiums. Kanawha County, West Virginia Prosecuting Attorney Charles T. Miller, in …
U.S. pales in comparison to India’s unauthorized tower climbers
Since Americans are largely exposed to national headlines when an unauthorized person climbs a cell or broadcast tower and has to be talked down, there might be a perception that the U.S.’s towers are fertile ground for unbalanced individuals doing a high steel balancing act. Such was the case in Orlando, Fla. yesterday when a reportedly disturbed man climbed to the …
Canadian climber succumbs from injuries received in an August 16 fall
Services were held Tuesday for a 22-year-old tower tech, Maxime Asselin, who passed away on August 26, 2019 after suffering serious injuries from a fall off of a monopole in Candiac, Quebec on August 16, 2019. Asselin is survived by his wife Elodie Julien, his parents Josée Langelier and Marco Asselin, his brothers and their spouses Jean-François Asselin (Cindy), Francis …
Louisiana tower tech passes after sustaining serious injuries from a July fall
Services have been announced for Devon Cornelius Masico Smith, a 35-year-old Tower Tech ll for Midwest Underground Technology, Inc., who passed away August 31, 2019 after succumbing from critical injuries he received when he fell from a 390-foot Kansas City Power & Light-owned guy tower near Warrensburg, Missouri on July 30, 2019. Smith was the seventh wireless infrastructure worker in …
Three tower techs in Germany die after their man basket failed at 164 feet
Three tower technicians were killed this morning in Germany when the man basket they were working from broke loose from a TV broadcast tower at the 164-foot level, throwing them to their death. According to multiple news reports, they had been working on the mast approximately 18 miles southeast of Kassel in the Hoher Meissner hills when the accident occurred. …
Sixth 2019 tower tech death was kept quiet for over six weeks
After six weeks of investigating leads, Wireless Estimator has confirmed that an 18-year-old tower technician working on an AT&T installation project fell from a New Jersey monopole and died upon impact. The New York resident’s death had not been reported in local, social or industry media and most likely would have been kept private by the worker’s company and the …
BACOM updates information on deceased California tech who fell in Nevada
To clarify the misinformation that has appeared on social and other media regarding a recent industry fatality, Broken Arrow Communications, Inc.’s (BACOM) President, Dan Filler, has provided a statement to Wireless Estimator: “On July 11, 2019, Joel Miller, a Broken Arrow Communications, Inc. employee lost his life following a fall from a tower near Sparks, Nevada. “Joel was a father …
California tower foreman passes in Nevada after falling off a 253-foot tower
OSHA is investigating the industry’s fifth tower climber fatality in 2019 after a Pittsburg, California man fell from a Nevada self-supporting tower on Thursday, July 11. Wireless Estimator has confirmed that Joel Joaquin Miller, age 41, passed away when he fell from an American Tower 253-foot self-supporting tower in Patrick, Nevada, east of Interstate 80. Miller, a seasoned tower climber, …
Friday’s ham radio climber’s death is a stark reminder of dangers present this weekend during Field Day
Field Day is ham radio operators’ open house as approximately 40,000 amateur radio operators throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places this weekend to demonstrate ham radio’s science, skill, and service to the nation’s communities. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills. It also can be deadly. In 2009, while installing an …
New inductees profiled in ‘Tower Climbers Hall of Shame’
Facebook pages provide an uncensored opportunity for stupidity June 5, 2019 – For over a dozen years Wireless Estimator has highlighted some of the most egregious tower climber safety infractions in its Tower Climbers Hall of Shame. Almost daily you could view violations on Facebook. Thankfully, most Facebook group moderators took the high road and now delete troubling photos. But …
Services set for tall tower technician Kevin Wright of Indiana who passed away last week
Services have been announced for Kevin D. Wright of Evansville, Indiana, who passed away on May 22, 2019 after falling from a tower in Polk County, Iowa while performing restoration services for KDSM FOX as an employee of Precision Communications, Inc. of Grove, Oklahoma. Kevin was born in Randolph County, Indiana on October 23, 1971, to David H. and Sandra (Arnold) …
Tower Family Foundation appoints Willie Goldman to its Endowment Committee
The Tower Family Foundation announced today that Willie Goldman, Southeastern Regional Business Development Manager for Drake Lighting, LLC, has been appointed to serve on the Foundation’s Endowment Committee. The Tower Family Foundation made the announcement at the Connect (X) 2019 Conference that is taking place this week in Orlando, Fla. “The Tower Family Foundation is excited to continue to expand our …
300-foot fall is fatal to Arkansas tower technician, father of two
Services will be held Monday morning for tower technician Christopher Hawkins, 34, of Caraway, AR who passed away Thursday after falling from a 300-foot guyed tower in Brookhaven, Miss. Visitation for the father of two children will be at Monette Church of Christ, 702 Drew Ave., Monette, AR at 10 a.m. followed by services at 11:00 a.m. Burial will follow at …
Nebraska tower foundation driller’s employee electrocuted in Virginia
A tower foundation drilling company worker died on April 26, 2019, after being electrocuted on a jobsite, according to individuals knowledgeable of the April 22, 2019 incident that occurred in Accomac, Va. Kevlin Finck, 30, of Nebraska, employed by Dietzel Enterises, Inc. of Omaha, was at a construction site when a track-mounted drill rig reportedly had a winch line come …
Services set for New Jersey tower tech who died after falling from Georgia monopole
UPDATE: March 27, 2019 – Services have been set for Devon James Collins who passed away on March 21, 2019 in an industry accident. He attended Pinelands Regional H.S., and graduated from Oakcrest H.S. in Mays Landing, NJ. Devon not only loved climbing cell towers, but he loved and cherished the tower family he gained and grew into nationwide over the …
Christian radio station owner dies after fall from his Louisiana tower
Sixty-two-year-old Barry McCall died Monday afternoon from injuries he received when he fell while working on his Christian radio station’s guyed tower in Lake Charles, La. McCall founded Eternal Life Broadcasting KELB 100.5 FM in 2013, according to FCC documents. Their non-directional antenna structure for the non-commercial station is 89-feet above ground level. An electrician by trade, McCall would take …
Night climbing requirements could be “putting profits ahead of tower technicians’ lives”
“It’s obvious, carriers are simply putting profits ahead of tower technicians’ lives,” said a Texas-based contractor’s safety manager last week, deploring requirements by some carriers to perform maintenance work during nighttime hours to keep subscriber service interruptions at a minimum. He was one of many company owners and safety professionals Wireless Estimator spoke with after there was a groundswell of concern following …
Tower technician dies during a South Dakota nighttime climb
UPDATE: January 18, 2019 – According to two individuals that are familiar with Andrew Psomas’ fall from a tower on Jan. 10 that took his life, the three-man tower crew he was assigned to was performing tiger team warranty work for AT&T on the 190-foot self-supporting tower. Psomas was reportedly at the 150-foot level when he fell. It is not …
Shocking tower collapse video shows an erector just two seconds away from death
Missouri State University (MSU) has released surveillance videos of the horrific 1,891-foot-tall guyed tower collapse that occurred in Fordland, Mo. on April 19, 2018 that killed a 56-year-old owner of a Washington state tall tower erection company. OSHA’s report, stating that both the managing consultant and the tower contractor were both at fault for the collapse, is available here. The …
Contractor and consultant share blame in deadly 1,891-foot tower collapse: OSHA
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a report detailing that an April 2018 tower collapse that killed Steve Lemay, 56, resulted due to design and construction failings by the managing consultant, Tower Consultants, Inc. (TCI) and the contractor, Steven Lemay LLC. The 1891-foot-tall guyed tower in Fordland, Mo. is owned by Missouri State University (MSU) and was …
