Although Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program Chairman Scott Kisting embraces every opportunity available that will assist wireless technicians in working safer, he believes that there are two key components that ride above all others: human dignity of all within the workforce and the proper awareness, planning, education and application of existing standards. While there are many people at work trying …
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 …
Man who fell from tower is stable, but news reports aren’t healthy with facts
On Sunday, weekend anchor Andrew Havranek for WDTV in Clarksburg, W.Va. provided a 29-second news story on a man that fell from a “cell phone tower” in Summit Park in Harrison County Friday afternoon. The incident, Havranek said, according to Harrision County EMS officials, required the worker to be flown to Ruby Memorial Hospital with a head injury, but he …
Tower Family Foundation highlights founding donors at Vegas CTIA conference
Companies, organizations and individuals recognized for distinguished level contributions The Tower Industry Family Support Charitable Foundation today announced the list of founding donors who have made distinguished level contributions to the Foundation since the organization’s official launch in September 2014. The Foundation made the official announcement at CTIA’s “Super Mobility Week” in Las Vegas, Nev. The non-profit Foundation has been …
Texas climber succumbs to injuries after falling from water tower
Update: September 1, 2015: The employer of the 21-year-old Texas tower technician, Pedro Samuel Salazar, who died yesterday, Orbit Broadband, released the following statement: “We at Orbit are deeply sorrowed by this and our prayers go out to the individual and his family. There is an ongoing investigation and we are working with all those involved. Out of respect for …
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 …
Memorial fund set up after fiery crash takes the lives of five cell site workers in Florida
UPDATE – July 31, 2015 – Memorial services for all five crew members that died following the accident earlier this week will be on Monday, August 3, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. at the Mission of Guadalupe Catholic Church, 2150 Bomber Rd., Eagle Lake, Fla. The Wingate Communications Lost Employees Children’s Memorial Fund, has been set up to assist the deceased’s children. Donations have been coming …
Safety alliance reaches out to tower techs and appoints two climbers to their Board of Governors
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) announced today that Ed Owens from Broken Arrow Communications in Sacramento, Calif. and Kevin Schmidt from Sioux Falls Tower and Communications in Sioux Falls, S.D. have been selected to fill the tower technician seats on the organization’s inaugural Board of Governors. Owens and Schmidt were selected from a competitive applicant pool of 22 candidates …
Newest Hall of Shame tech should be severely disciplined or let go by his employer
The message is clear, 100% tie-off at all times. The message that you shouldn’t allow someone to be climbing a tower without adequate PPE, training and supervision is even clearer, especially since a 28-year-old Texas woman died last March after her boyfriend took her on a test climb on a site where he had no authorization to be and she fell …
Tower contractor’s owner refutes report that his worker fell from a tower
A Massachusetts contractor said that, although he had a worker who sustained jobsite injuries, his tower technician did not fall from a Crown Castle International tower yesterday in Gorham, Maine, as reported by a Maine newspaper. In a Portland Press Herald article, based upon a police ‘news release,’ an employee of Centerline Communications of Raynham, fell from the 300-foot guyed tower while …
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 …
