A tower tech working on a 120-foot self-supporting tower in Los Flores Ranch Park, southeast of Orcutt, Calif. was rescued after he became weak and nearly fainted, and could not descend the tower this afternoon. According to Santa Barbara County Fire Capt. Dave Zaniboni, the worker was doing repair work on the structure owned by the city of Santa Maria, …
Discrimination lawsuit against Mobilitie mirrors plaintiff’s groundless racial issues with Bechtel
A wireless construction manager has filed a discrimination lawsuit against Mobilitie, LLC, a nationwide wireless infrastructure service provider, alleging that the company “engaged in a pattern or practice of failing to hire African-American and non-Caucasian applicants” for numerous construction-related positions in its offices throughout the country. Rufus Lovell Brooks of Orlando, Fla. filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for …
Tech’s condition is stable after he allegedly rode guy wire down from an ATC Texas tower
Update: July 11, 2017 – According to reliable sources, the company that the injured worker was employed by was Advanced Data Technology of Pearsall, Tex. Established in 1995, Advanced Data is a systems integrator of voice, data, and video solutions in rural markets. The company did not respond to a request for additional information regarding the incident. The injured technician has …
Response time to rescue tower tech was way too long claims caller
Update: June 14, 2017 – According to tower technician Jake Caldwell of Avon, Ind., he had been on the tower and had a mishap with a grinder and cut his arm pretty badly. “Upon hearing my screams, one of my buddies on the ground came up and rescued me. All in all it took seven minutes to get me from tower …
Crown sued for not having climbing safety devices on Texas tower
A Michigan tower tech is suing a lift manufacturer and a tower owner in Harris County Texas District Court for more than one million dollars, alleging their negligence caused him to fall and suffer injuries in Richardson on January 29. Stevin Ammerman filed a complaint May 31 in Harris County Texas District Court against Safway Group Holdings LLC, Crown Castle …
Tower tech’s 150-foot fall in Mississippi is nation’s second 2017 fatality
Update: May 3, 2017 – Kris Edward Runyon, 39, has been identified as the tower technician who fell from a Crown Castle guyed tower near Meridian, Miss. yesterday evening and was pronounced dead at the scene. A resident of Portsmouth, Ohio, Runyon had been working for D&K Nationwide Communications Inc. of Bristol, Conn. for the past year, but according to the …
Industry’s contractors readying for national safety stand-down
Next week’s national safety stand-down, May 8 through May 12, to prevent falls in construction, is an ideal time for contractors and other aligned businesses to take time out to discuss the very real problem in wireless construction of civil workers and tower techs injuring themselves. And even though the industry has not had any fatalities of a wireless worker …
Crane collapse takes the life of a 51-year-old Texas industry worker
Update: April 26, 2017 – The cell tower compound that RMCI’s crane toppled into is owned by Crown Castle International. April 25, 2017 – A 51-year-old industry worker was killed yesterday afternoon when a crane tipped on its side in downtown Dallas, Tex., crashing into a cell tower compound in the 1700 block of Arts Place, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue …
Ivanka puts in a hostile bid for 3M, wants crown jewel DBI-Sala
April 1, 2017 – Traders were turned topsy-turvy yesterday afternoon after The Wall Street Journal reporter Ryan Knutson, in an exclusive interview with Ivanka Trump, said she had made a hostile bid for Maplewood, Minn. industrial giant 3M, offering a 46% premium for the company’s stock which closed Friday at $191.33. “Thulin [Inge G., 3M Chairman and CEO] will be hard-pressed …
New Washington telecom construction safety regs could see widespread adoption
Exclusive “quick links” document is available for rule review The State of Washington Department of Labor and Industries has submitted a 106-page Safety Standards for Telecommunications proposal for public review that is expected to be adopted in July following three public hearings. And even though it would just affect those companies working in Washington, it is possible that a number of other …
Stung by hundreds of bees, tower technician is on the mend
A tower tech has recovered after being stung by hundreds of bees on March 15 in Las Vegas as he was working on a monopalm, according to authorities. The North Las Vegas Fire Department responded to a tower on Craig Rd. and Ferrell St. where a crew was working on the site and the bees started stinging them. One worker was …
Tower tech in Kansas is injured after falling approximately 25 feet
Update: March 20, 2017 – The tower tech that was injured on March 15, 2017 while dismantling a tower in Salina, Kan. is still in the hospital, but recovering, according to an individual knowledgeable of the accident. Randy Smith was employed by his own tower company operating under the business name of Randy Smith Tower Services of Rolla, Kan. March …
Rappelling tower tech may be disqualified from receiving workers compensation
The Supreme Court of Georgia has ruled that a tower tech who disobeyed his supervisor’s instructions not to use a controlled descent and fell, severely injuring himself, may not be entitled to workers compensation benefits, reversing a Georgia Court of Appeals decision. Tower technician Adrian Burdette, employed by Chandler Telecom L.L.C. of Eatonton, Ga. during November 2012, according to the ruling, …
No barriers in the way of the un-carrier’s drive to support tower techs/veterans
All carriers and tower owners support the need for a safe environment for tower techs, but T-Mobile has unfailingly gone the extra mile in its deeds and donations. The un-carrier, consistently ranked for having the nation’s fastest 4G LTE network speeds for its 72-million-plus subscribers, has quickly and deservedly captured a reputation for having the greatest concern for the safety of …
Texas space program post says student was never in danger while climbing tower
A representative of the Eldorado Space Program, an Eldorado, Tex. high school program that teaches students to design instrumentation packages and launch them into space, said on its Facebook page Saturday that a cover story photograph in the March edition of QST published by the National Association for Amateur Radio, represented an inaccurate, unsafe depiction of a student climbing a …
Cover girl climber shot could send high schoolers to their death
Commentary – The March issue of a well-respected magazine published by The National Association for Amateur Radio (ARRL) will most likely latch onto the literal lunacy award for depicting in a photograph the most egregious tie-off violations one could imagine. In QST’s latest edition, their antenna issue, the cover shows a picture of Chase Mertz of Eldorado, Tex. climbing a …
Tower technician is seriously injured when a staged monopole section collapses on him
Update: February 10, 2017 – According to a tower technician who visited the hospital yesterday evening where Tobi Koons is being treated for his injuries, Koons is still in serious condition and is expected to be in ICU for at least a week. Two tower technicians who are friends with Koons, informed Wireless Estimator that he is employed by Mission 1 Communications of …
Coax reel takes off down a highway in the direction of a tower
A number of Wireless Estimator viewers directed us to a YouTube video of a freewheeling reel of what they believe is coaxial cable rolling down Route 40, heading east into Uniontown yesterday morning in Fayette County, Pa. You can view it in real-time, 10 times the speed and slow motion. A cell phone video captures the alarming wrong-way travels of …
Welding crew kayos two carriers on Winnipeg airport cell tower
The U.S. doesn’t have exclusivity of crews burning down monopoles while welding, as witnessed Thursday in Winnipeg, Can. when a cell tower providing services to MTS and Telus Mobility subscribers caught fire at the Richardson International Airport . An individual, knowledgeable of the incident, informed Wireless Estimator that a crew was cutting new portholes on the monopole when the transmission …
Deceased tech was not near work area when he fell
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 …
