NATE UNITE 2019’s Keynote luncheon yesterday in Grapevine, Tex. began with a heart-warming Climber Connection video, entitled “Tower Family Foundation: A Helping Hand” that highlighted the incredible impact the foundation plays in providing financial resources and scholarships to industry workers and families in the aftermath of a work-related accident or fatality. It presented the touching personal story of how the …
High climbing tower techs bear the brunt of Artic blasts
A Georgia tower tech might be cursing the bone-chilling 26° temperature he’s working in this morning in Atlanta. At the same time, a Fargo, ND tower climber might be pleased with this morning’s weather report of -19° for most of the day in an environment that can see extreme cold temperatures of -70° as it was earlier this morning in Grand Fork. …
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 …
Wireless contractor’s required Job Hazard Analysis is front and center with NATE’s newest informative video
The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) has unveiled their newest video entitled “Job Hazard Analysis: Reducing Your Risk” that highlights the important elements of conducting a Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) at a communications tower or any other infrastructure site. The Association is taking an active role in promoting the need for a JHA, an endeavor that Wireless Estimator has been assisting the industry with …
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 …
OSHA construction chief and friend of the industry Dean McKenzie passes at age 62
OSHA Directorate of Construction Dean A. McKenzie,62, passed away Nov. 4, 2018, in Maryland after a year-long battle with cancer. McKenzie, who assisted the wireless construction industry in many of its efforts, including federal safety workshops, was instrumental in seeing if there could be an industry balance with the possibility of a new wireless construction regulation that would encompass current …
Mount failure being investigated in accident that killed a New Mexico tower technician
A 28-year-old tower technician was killed Friday afternoon in an industry accident that occurred off of NM 14 northeast of Albuquerque, N.M. According to sources knowledgeable of the incident, David Fernandez of Las Cruces, N.M., employed by Enertech of New Braunfels, Tex., was performing a Sprint antenna change-out on a water tower in an all-terrain man lift when he fell …
Fed’s findings could stymie new OSHA tower rule and lead to adoption of A10.48 Standard
An extensive 266-page report from The Small Business Advocacy Review Panel (SBAR) regarding a possible new OSHA standard that would apply to all work activities performed on cell, broadcast and all other communications towers was released this week with 10 key recommendations (below) for OSHA to consider if they’re going to introduce a new industry safety rule. OSHA is required …
Fund set up for MasTec construction manager’s family after he died in weekend tower collapse
On Saturday morning, Ken Mitchell Waddell, 30, of Crossville, Tenn. kissed his wife, Cadie, and their five children goodbye and drove 45 minutes to Cookeville to help erect a 70-foot guyed tower for a ham radio operator on private property. Late in the afternoon, expecting him to be home shortly for dinner with their five children, she received the horrific news that her …
FCC’s rules passage will serve to put the U.S. as a leader in the race to 5G
As expected, the FCC voted this morning to approve rules, available here, designed to speed up the deployment of small cells and other 5G network equipment by regulating in part the fees and timelines cities and states can impose on wireless network operators and other wireless players. Although Democrat FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel voted for the rules, she dissented in …
NATE debuts “Be Your Brother’s Keeper” tower rescue video
The National Association of Tower Erectors today unveiled a video entitled “Be Your Brother’s Keeper” that focuses on the importance of the planning, procedures, equipment and training necessary to perform a successful tower rescue. The video includes an interview with an experienced industry safety instructor walking through a rescue scenario and discussing the measures that must be planned for and implemented …
‘Tower Woman’s’ standoff pales compared to ‘Tower Guy’s’ six-day televised rescue
A 29-year-old woman was arrested Thursday night after she climbed to the top of a 300-foot SBA Communications self-supporting tower in Wooster, Ohio, and refused to come down, taunting police and emergency personnel as she traversed diagonals in flip-flops. After a three-hour standoff that drew dozens of rescue workers and hundreds of spectators, Jessica Lee McCarty descended the tower on …
Fund set up for Georgia tech whose arm was severed in an accident
A Waycross, Ga. tower tech was on his way to pick up a new safety climb sleeve Friday afternoon to replace his aging unit when, according to a Georgia State Patrol report, his truck was struck by a tractor with a planting rig implement attached that crumbled the entire driver’s side of the GMC Sierra pickup in Blackshear, and in …
Less ‘headache’ calls championed by NATE’s new dropped object video
When a tool or other object is accidentally dropped by a technician from a tower, the customary bellow to those below is to yell ‘headache’ – the customary warning of a dangerous, possibly deadly situation. Desirous of Aleveiating headache concerns, the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) today unveiled a video entitled “Look out Below” that focuses on the risks associated with dropped objects …
AT&T settles for a record $30 million to injured tower technician’s family
With a Philadelphia, Pa. jury trial scheduled to begin today to determine whether AT&T and other defendants were negligent and contributed to a tower technician falling 50 feet to the ground and causing him to sustain severe and permanent injuries, the carrier agreed to a $30 million settlement, the largest recorded payment in the U.S. to an injured wireless infrastructure worker, …
Erector’s owner identified as the deceased worker in horrific Missouri tower collapse
Steve Lemay, 56, of Washington state, the owner of Steve Lemay LLC, has been identified by authorities as the erector who died yesterday morning when an 1,892-foot TV tower in Webster County, Mo. collapsed while his crew was performing structural upgrades in order for Ozarks Public Television KOZK to comply with their FCC repack requirement to move from channel 23 to …
Tech is killed after 1,892-foot tower collapses while being repack retrofitted
UPDATE: April 20, 2018 – The deceased has been identified by authorities to be Steven Lemay, the owner of the erection company that was performing structural upgrades. April 19, 2018 – An 1,892-foot TV tower in Webster County, Mo. collapsed this morning just before 10 a.m., killing a tall tower worker and injuring at at least five others with non-life-threatening injuries, …
Puerto Rico death is second industry tower tech fatality in April
A 28-year-old tower technician died Saturday after he was electrocuted while working on an AT&T LTE installation in Puerto Rico. According to sources knowledgeable of the incident, Josean Matos Rodriquez, employed by FM Technology Group of Dallas, Tex., was working on a residential rooftop when he came into contact with a 13kv power line. Authorities said the incident occurred at 10:50 …
