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MidAmerica Tower Service proves it can be done as…
OSHA chief presses the tower industry
to get off of the top ten fatality list
February 18, 2008 – While the PCIA – Wireless Infrastructure Association show was winding down last October, if you stepped into an adjacent conference room you would have heard the head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration tell a Florida human resources conference that he had “irrefutable evidence that MidAmerica Tower Services protecting employees is good for business.”

The economies of a safe workplace is a frequent thread in presentations made by Edwin Foulke, Jr., Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, a topic he touched upon at the National Association of Tower Erectors’ conference on February 13, 2008. He also heralded OSHA’s web site as an excellent resource for occupational safety information.

During many of his speeches following his confirmation by the Senate on March 15, 2006, he credentialed his ability to lead the 2,200 employee group by informing conference attendees of his prior employment as a partner with the law firm of Jackson Lewis, LLP in Greenville, S.C., and Washington, D.C., where he chaired the firm’s OSHA practice group.

However, during his NATE presentation, he passionately departed from his customary talk by reminding audience members, “Unfortunately, tower climbing does remain the most hazardous industry, or maybe the most dangerous job in America."

In addition, Secretary Foulke sadly reflected upon a personal involvement he had with a tower erection company that had a fatality while he was in private practice as head of the firm’s tower erection group.

He still sees the fatality
Secretary Foulke said he had worked with a number of tower erection companies and one of them had a fatality. Having completed over 200 fatality investigations, more than most workplace safety lawyers in the country, Secretary Foulke said that the one that was indelibly etched in his memory was a climber that had fallen from a communications tower.

Secretary Foulke's presentation can be heard by downloading these two files.

Depending upon your internet speed, please allow up to two minutes to load.

”Quite frankly, I can still see, right now, pictures in my mind of the person that died. It was a person who tried to help somebody. It was a newer employee. As they were bolting up one of the cell towers, he hooked his lanyard on one of those pegs that sticks out that are used to climb the tower. And he was moving over to help that person to get his bolts into place and the thing just slid off the peg and he fell. There were pictures of the fatality and I can see them, right now. So it is important personally to me as to what you all are doing,” Secretary Foulke said.

“The type of work you do is somewhat unique, in fact it’s very unique. And I’ve dealt with your industry so I know why this is so important, and that’s why I’m so glad that we got involved with this,” he explained.

Effective November 8, 2006, OSHA and NATE signed a three year national partnership to promote safety and help participating companies eliminate job-related accidents, illnesses and fatalities (See current 97 participants).

“Through the partnership, we sent letters out to all the major owners, carriers and general contractors asking them that they adopt 100 percent fall protection for all worksites. And that is what it is going to take to get to zero where we have to get to. That has to be your goal, and that has to be the goal of every employer in the United States. We have to focus upon getting to zero in injuries, illnesses and fatalities,” Secretary Foulke said.

“You may have to set interim goals to get there. But you can get there. I have seen companies get there,” he said.

Citing the most current information his agency had available, based upon data obtained by WirelessEstimator.com and OSHA officials in a joint effort to identify the industry’s ranking in regards to the number of fatalities per 100,000 workers, Secretary Foulke said that in 2006, the deaths of 18 tower workers that fell from a communications structure equated to 183.6 per 100,000 workers . Fishing workers, he said, were second at 141.7.

In 2007, the industry saw a marked improvement with ten recorded fatalities, still up from 2005’s seven deaths. There have been no fatalities reported in 2008.

First VPP erector participant in the country is NATE member
In addition to the OSHA/NATE partnership making an impact upon worker safety, Secretary Foulke emphasized the rewards achieved by companies that are awarded his agency’s Voluntary Protection Programs Star status, stating that he was proud to present the coveted achievement status to MidAmerica Tower Service, Inc. of Mahomet, Illinois. Mid America Tower

Approval into VPP is OSHA’s official recognition of the outstanding efforts of employers and employees who have achieved exemplary occupational safety and health. NATE membership is not required to apply for recognition.

Raphaella Garrett, safety and training coordinator with MidAmerica Tower Service, said the company was founded as a small tower contractor located in central Illininois by Phillip VanSwol who has had a long standing history with NATE.

VanSwol attended the original NATE meeting in Fort Worth, Texas as a representative of one of the founding members. In 2000 he formed his own company with just four field employees, including himself, and over the past eight years has grown to a full turnkey contractor with a combined field staff and administrative staff of 13 employees, most of which attended the VVP Star flag presentation made by Secretary Foulke.

The company joined NATE as a member from the first day of business and during the first year, VanSwol served on NATE’s Safety and Education Committee. As NATE developed the Climber Training Standards, he modeled his own safety standards and policies on those recommendations. When OSHA’s Region V entered into the first NATE-OSHA Partnership in 2002, MidAmerica’s safety policies were already meeting or exceeding the requirements of the partnership, and with the opportunity there to take advantage of the benefits of the partnership, MidAmerica was one of the first tower contractors in Region V to apply and be accepted into the partnership.

Capstan accident put OSHA in a new light
The turning point for the company was during June of 2006 when they experienced a severe accident involving a capstan hoist.

”Being a small company, we consider ourselves family and this accident was devastating on many levels. The seriousness of the accident prompted an OSHA investigation. It was during this time that we learned two very important things,” Garrett said.

She said that they first learned that OSHA was not there to point fingers, write citations, and place blame. MidAmerica

”They were fair and thorough and gave us an opportunity to learn and grow. We discovered that OSHA was not an entity to be afraid of, but an organization that is there to keep employees safe which became our common goal.”

”The second thing we learned is that there was no negligence on the part of the company or employees. Employees were where they were supposed to be, doing what they were supposed to be doing and no safety policies were violated. The accident was just that: an accident. It became very clear that there is no such thing as ‘safe enough’,” she said

Garrett was hired at that time as a full time safety and training coordinator and she and VanSwol began to put their heads to together to find a way to take their safety program to a whole new level.

The newly hired safety coordinator learned about VPP from a Region V OSHA presentation in the Spring of 2007. She said she was interested in the program, but was a little intimidated because of the large companies she saw participating such as GE.

However, two months later their VPP application was submitted to the Region V office. The application was reviewed and in July of last year, OSHA conducted audits of their job sites and corporate office operations. Finally, on September 28, Secretary Foulke placed his signature on their application and MidAmerica Tower Service became the first tower contractor in the US to be accepted into the VPP program.

The benefits of the VPP reach beyond the obvious: Lower accident/illness rates, lower workers compensation rates, a lower EMR rating, or promotional opportunities. It also provides companies with an opportunity to be recognized for something positive rather than something negative in the eyes of their peers, customers, and their industry.

It provides recognition for employees who do much more than just sign safety manuals and wear hard hats. They’ve made the commitment to be leaders in safety.

Lastly, the most valuable benefit of all, according to Garrett, is that the company has developed an open and positive relationship with OSHA.

”By participating in VPP, we have proven to OSHA that we are continually striving for excellence in safety and where we may not be perfect ,we are committed to reaching a level of safety above and beyond our industry and OSHA’s standards, and assuring that we keep our family whole,” VanSwol said.

Secretary Foulke said that he believes that MidAmerica’s commitment to the program has resulted in an enviable injuries and illness rate of the company and its contractor employees that has been zero for the last few years.

“Now let me ask you this,” he questioned, “are you all at zero?”


Company	City	State
Advanced Tower Services, Inc.	Albuquerque	NM
Advanced Wireless Solutions, Inc.	Gray	TN
American Communications	Santa Barbara	CA
Asbuilt Construction, Inc.	Reedsburg	WI
Atlantic CommTech Corporation	Norfolk	VA
Atlantic Tower Services, Inc.	Orlando	FL
B-C Walker, Inc.	Harrah	OK
Black & Veatch	Overland Park	KS
Blackhawk Tower Communications, Inc.	Sun Prairie	WI
Bright Lighting, Inc.	Tulsa	OK
Brook Hill Communications, Inc.	Mechanicsville	VA
Central General Engineering & Maintenance Ltd.	Trace Chase	Trinidad
Communication Services, Inc.	Tempe	AZ
Communications Infrastructure, Inc.	Plainfield	IN
COM-TECH SERVICE GROUP, INC.	Westfield	IN
Cross Development, LLC	Bossier City	LA
CSG Wireless, Inc.	Chandler	AZ
D&H Builders, Inc.	Laurel	MD
Deerfield Construction Group, Inc.	Lockport	IL
Dietz Brothers, Inc.	Spicer	MN
Dish Technologies	Elm City	NC
Doty Moore Tower Services LLC	Cedar Hill	TX
Dynamic Construction Services, Inc.	Forest	VA
Dynamic Construction, Inc.	Pataskala	OH
Eagle Communication Services, Inc.	Gig Harbor	WA
Eastern Communications, Inc.	Saco	ME
EasTex Tower, Inc.	Colorado Springs	CO
eciWireless LLC	Dillsburg	PA
Elite Wireless	Louisville	KY
E.M. Enterpises General Contractors, Inc.	Tampa	FL
Emergency Radio Service, Inc.	Ligonier	IN
Empire International	Temeula	CA
Excalibur Communications Inc.	Sewell	NJ
Excell Communications, Inc.	Trussville	AL
GMT Service Corp.	Conroe	TX
Great Plains Towers, Inc.	West Fargo	ND
Green Mountain Communications, Inc.	Wolfeboro	NH
Hayden Tower Service, Inc.	Topeka	KS
Hightower Communications, Inc.	LaGrange	NC
Hoosier Tower Service, Inc.	Humble	TX
Hydaker-Wheatlake Company	Reed City	MI
JDH Contracting, Inc.	Plainfield	IN
Lee Antenna & Line Service, Inc.	Hellertown	PA
Legacy Telecommunications, Inc.	Burley	WA
McCabe-Orin	Richfield	OH
MEI - Morgantown Excavators, Inc.	Morgantown	WV
Mid Atlantic Contracting, Inc.	Woodbine	MD
MidAmerica Tower Service, Inc.	Mahomet	IL
Midwest Underground Technology, Inc.	Gibson City	IL
MIKAB Corporation	Dumont	NJ
MILLENNIA CONTRACTING, INC.	New Castle	DE
Mountain Valley Tower Service, Inc.	Staunton	VA
Netrepid	Enola	PA
New Wave Communications, Inc.	Franklin	IN
Nex-Tech, Inc. - Mobile Radio Div.	Lenora	KS
Noash Construction	Sebree	KY
Northern Pride Communications, Inc.	Tophsham	ME
Paramount Advanced Wireless	Pennsauken	NJ
PERFECT WIRELESS, INC.	Indianapolis	IN
Phoenix of Tennessee, Inc.	Nashville	TN
Phoenix Tower Service, LLC	Horton	KS
Professional Resources & Services Inc.	Concord	NC
Proventus Structural Services, LLC	Columbus	OH
Radian Communication Services Corp.	Oakville	ON
Radiofrequency Safety International (RSI)	Kiowa	KS
RIO Steel & Tower, Ltd.	Burleson	TX
Seacomm Erectors, Inc.	Sultan	WA
Shenandoah Tower Service, Ltd.	Staunton	VA
Sioux Falls Tower & Communications	Sioux Falls	SD
Skyhook, Inc.	Nescopeck	PA
SOLO Romania	Brasov	Romania
South Seas Inspection (S) PTE LTD	Singapore	Singapore
Southern Broadcast Services, Inc.	Pelham	AL
Speelman Electric, Inc.	Tallmadge	OH
Stewart Electric & Communication	Chandler	AZ
Synergy Concepts, Inc.	Hazelwood	MO
System One Communications	Houston	TX
TEAM Communications	Gilbert	AZ
Texcom Construction LLC	Cedar Hill	TX
Tower & Communication Services, Inc.	Florence	SC
Tower 2000	Sauk Rapids	MN
Tower MRL, Inc.	Madison	WI
Tower Systems, Inc.	Watertown	SD
Tower Technologies, LLC	Prairie Du Sac	WI
Tower Works Inc.	Batavia	IL
TowerTel USA LLC	Houston	TX
TR Systems Inc.	Lakemoor	IL
Train's Towers, Inc.	Haddon Heights	NJ
TriCon/TowerWerks, Inc.	Acworth	GA
Trillium Development, Inc.	Sartell	MN
Trusty Construction, LLC	Lewisville	TX
United States Tower Services, LTD	Fredrick	MD
WAVE Communications	Sun Prairie	WI
WesTower Communications	San Antonio	TX
Wireless Horizon	St. Peters	MO
Wireless Infrastructure Services	Corona	CA
Wireless Legacy Corp.	Avoca	WI
Source: OSHA and NATE statistics, February 18, 2008. Partnership is effective May 1, 2007 through September 30, 2008.