Tag Archives: tower climber job

Deadly Lies and Feedback

Deadly Lies:

I heard about this firsthand when someone came looking for information. Wireless Estimator wrote about it here. What happened was someone called several people stating that a climber fell and died. This type of thing worries so many people. We have enough problems in this industry without people making up stories about death. I don’t know the whole story, but I will tell you that someone thought it would be funny to make up a story that a climber had died. To call people and then put it on Facebook that a fellow climber, a towerdog, a brother in climbing, had fallen. This happened about 2 weeks ago.

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OK, to start with I think that people out there need to understand that many people really care about the industry, so when someone says something like this because they think it’s funny, they cause sleepless nights. They cause OSHA and climbing groups to research the facts. They waste a lot of time of many people because of some sick joke, a sick prank. I get calls all the time of past and present problems, some true and some made up. I research issues and I understand that there are so many angry people in this industry that want to make it look worse that it already does. With so many people working around the clock to make this industry a better place, it’s a shame that there are a few people giving it a bad name.

If you know one of these people, deal with them accordingly. They really are not an asset to the industry nor to anything in the wireless profession. They are a disappointment to not only to the wireless industry, but to themselves as well. I like to think that we can all learn from this. Unfortunately, next time something terrible happens we will need to say, prove it because of people like this.

All I can do is complain about and, forget about it, then move on and be thankful that the FCC and DOL are working together to understand the industry and make the workplace safer than it has ever been in the USA.

For the person that started this rumor, congratulations, you made some people worry and feel like crap because they genuinely care about other people and the industry. As you sit at home this weekend and laugh at the pain you caused, at the company you slandered, and at the profession you maligned you can be proud that you were able to sink to a new low by setting the standard for decency even lower.

For everyone else – Do me a favor, don’t be despicable, be decent and make the world a better place by helping each other out. Helping each other takes time and effort but it’s worth it. There are so many good people in this industry. So many people who do good things for as many other people as they can reach. I am thankful for that. I worked and talked to many of those people. So let’s work together to make this a better work place. We all make mistakes, so let’s forgive, get over it, and push forward.

In my opinion, the wireless industry is a great work place. I get frustrated at times and like any business you have scum buckets. Then you meet people who really care and want to make their work shine, people that really care about each other, then I have hope that wireless is the best industry to work in ever.

Feedback:

I got quite a bit of feedback on the post, “My Company won’t Pay Me, Now What?” so here is some of it.

Comment: The only comment I have is to NEVER spend your own money for supplies.  You are a naive sucker if you do.  Plus, it will save you all the trouble of doing what this gentleman had to do.  These companies for the most part will take advantage of you if you give them the opportunity. If they want a project finished badly enough, they will get the supplies to you.

My response: Good advice to follow, I learned the hard way, much of that depends on who you work for.

Comment: I’m very happy that you ultimately got paid – sorry that you had to spend even five minutes fighting for what was yours to begin with.
I complain on one axiom you mentioned:
“they thought they would get away with because this company did business by not paying unless they absolutely had to … “
This should have been worked out unambiguously, immediately before signing on as an employee or contractor.  I’m not chastising you – I’ve been burnt before – became wiser afterwards, immediately. I got burned once – never again. I recouped my stolen loot – and will die with the secret as to how I did it. I surely wish all of you who trust people [companies] – only because you’re trustworthy yourselves, will learn as quickly that snake oil people are embedded even in Fortune 500 Companies.

My response: It actually was worked out in my work contract, that is why I got paid, and thank you for understanding. You are correct, I am wiser now and I pay attention to how the company does business, that matters. I research a company and the people who are in management before I work there. I worked for a company that didn’t get paid and they went to court and won, yay, however they still didn’t get paid. Just because you have it in writing doesn’t mean they will pay you, it only means you won and that you may have to go back to court again. I have seen some companies spend more time working not to pay people than working to make a profit.

Comment: Wade,
I’m glad you (a) sought out an attorney to find out about your rights, and (b) the attorney you spoke with gave you sound counsel.
Sadly what you experienced is more common than most people realize, and many just give up.  I’m very happy that you stood your ground and fought for what you had earned. Jonathan Kramer, Esq. Telecom Law FIrm, P.C.

My response: Thank you sir!

Comment: Worked for them a few years back. They decided to close the Dallas office without warning while my crew was on the road. We were left high and dry, and told we could just go home. The XXXXXX brothers have a history. Glad you could fight for yours.

My response: Thank you!

Comment: Hi
Good work you have done!
The industry is full of bad moral.
I have worked as self-employed in Denmark for many years.
At several occasions the customer will not pay.
It is much too easy. They can do it with no risk.
The customer get a free credit and probably a discount, due to a compromise. I have always made a legal case against these companies.
The law should be changed in a way, so that the companies risk a penalty if they don’t pay what they owe you!

My response: Thank you!

OK, that’s it for this week and there is much more in the podcast so listen there for more information.
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FCC & DOL Tower Safety Workshop

Let’s talk about the FCC and the DOL tower safety and injury prevention workshop! The link can be found at http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2014/db0804/DA-14-1131A1.pdf if you want to read about it. This is great news, hallelujah! Way to go FCC & OSHA! (OSHA is part of the DOL.) This is a good thing and needs to be looked at! This year, 9 fatalities to date and 13 last year, this is something that really needs to be addressed. The FCC & DOL released the document on August 4th, 2014, and it’s great that they are stepping up. If you would like to watch it online and live make sure that on October 14th at 9AM ET you go to http://www.fcc.gov/live and see all the action.

By the way, this is post #131 that I put out there for you! I am on podcast #25 already! Tell your wireless friends!

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Wireless Estimator has an update at http://www.wirelessestimator.com/breaking_news.cfm if you want to see what Jonathon Adelstein, President and CEO of PCIA says. There is speculation that PCIA is pushing this and I know that they publicly endorse the event.

So what do you think they will discuss? Remember that it is safety and injury prevention, so that will open up many issues. I am hoping they stick to the death prevention first. We really need to prevent as many deaths as we can. That isn’t just going to be saying tie off 100% of the time. It’s going to be about making sure that the climber has something to tie off to on the structure! It’s going to be making sure that installations are thought out to the detail that a climber can make it around or through the structure on the tower.

Let me ask how many of the tower climbers have had to climb off the climbing leg to get around a dish or a mount or over an antenna? How many monopoles did you squeeze through the platform opening just to get to the next level? How many faces did you cross by holding on?

I think now that the communications industry is changing it would be a good time to update the towers. There will be 2G and 3G decommissioning happening soon. The next wave of LTE-A and 5G builds will be starting. This is a good time to see the industry work together to improve the conditions on towers. Pretty soon the entire radio, BBU and RF, will be on the tower in communications. Only fiber and power will be run up the tower. If there is wireless backhaul, then only power will be run up the tower.

Let’s think ahead, not just in wireless technology but also in mechanical and safety technology to make those structures safe so that the climbers can follow safe processes. Let’s make it so that the tailgate meetings include someone saying how much they love climbing this tower because they have an easy time maneuvering and tying off. Would that be a pleasant conversation for a change?

With the RRHs getting heavier and more common the tower will be asked to hold more and more weight in the radio and the steel. Let’s make sure that we plan out the tower modifications carefully! Let’s make sure that the mechanical engineers are ready to make the changes to the towers. It’s a team effort and when they beef up the tower they can also add some tie off points and plan out the climbing paths. Maybe a better way to cross the face.

So let’s make some noise and let the FCC know that it will take more than just OSHA trying to report what happened. Let’s see if the industry can come together to prevent all the threats. Let’s make it safer than ever with careful planning and thought. I don’t want them to just throw another initiative that is lip service; I would like to see real planning and industry buy in! If the money is going to be spent on growth, let’s grow the best way we can!

 Where and when?

Date: October 14, 2014

Time: 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Location: FCC Headquarters

Commission Meeting Room

445 12th Street, S.W.

Washington, D.C. 20554

Remember to give me your near miss stories, it seems more relevant now that ever, right? Let me know! Email me at wade4wireless@gmail.com or leave the information below. Or call and leave a message at my Google voice mail at 510-516-4283. I cover it here.

 

Other information!

Yes, Kelly Hill of RCR did asked me about the new OSHA directive.

Tell me about your trucks, remember this post!

http://wade4wireless.polldaddy.com/s/trucks-in-tower-work

Remember that the Hubble Foundation needs your support. They help any climber in need, so remember that when you need help and if you can help! Show you care for the families of the fallen and the fellow climbers in need. They still have tickets to the car giveaway! Support Hubble, honor the fallen, and maybe win a Mustang! By the way, how much did you give today?

www.HubbleFoundation.org   OSHA deaths Tower-chart1

By the way, I am planning to put out some more books, this time on scopes of work, Bill of materials, and other useful information for the workers. Let me know what you think. I am working on 2 new projects,  a new book that outlines my different jobs in the industry and a library of reference material that you can access quickly to take to the site. I want to see you make the site safer with quick reference material. If you have any idea of what you need out there let me know. Is this going to help you? Let me know on Facebook, wade4wireless@gmail.com or leave a comment or leave a message at 510-516-4283

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Whistle blower information;

http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=330216

http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=OSHA-2011-0540-0001

Requesting more survey participants! Tower Climbers: where do you look for work? Survey time!

Hey Tower climbers, let me know where would you look for work?

Updated: request more votes in the survey. Looking for more votes!

Be safe, be smart, and pay attention!

Let me know what’s going on, Facebook, email, or comments below.






Tower Safety: Australia versus USA

Hey guys,

First off, we had another fallen worker this month and I would like all of  you to take a moment of silence in remembrance.

Well it’s time for the world cup!Soccer is exciting to the world! In North America and Australia we both say soccer, but to the rest of the world it’s football. Either way Let’s see how we stack up against each other in tower safety. I got some information on the high risk work certifications that Australia has from Dennis Lundin. I met Dennis on LinkedIn. He was nice enough to send me a boatload of information over. Thank you Dennis!

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Here in the USA we have a high number of accidents that result in death. I often wanted to compare it to other countries where the government regulates the tower business. Here in the USA we are more or less self-regulated. We rely on the industry to regulate itself. I know you have businesses out there that say they keep an eye on it, but how? They really just give guidelines and they rely on OSHA to follow-up. Are we being proactive in accident prevention?

Now that OSHA is coming out with updated rules I thought it would be interesting to see what Australia does. I virtually met Dennis Lundin on LinkedIn. He was nice enough to send all this information on how it works down under. Here is what he sent me. It covers more than tower climbing, it cover construction in general. It covers risk management.

So what is the USA doing wrong? I really don’t know except maybe we have more work or maybe the lack of safety regulation is hurting the climber’s safety. Don’t you wonder why we don’t have more regulation for an occupation where the percentage of death is so high? Is it that government doesn’t care about the workers that make their communications system work? Here is a critical cog in the machine and the accidents seem to be accepted, not prevented. Is it because when it happens it is out at a tower site, not close to the public? I don’t understand. What is an allowable death rate? I think ZERO is the only answer.

We have similar documentation here in the US. We should know better. So what is happening here? If you look at http://www.wirelessestimator.com/t_content.cfm?pagename=International%20Tower%20Climber%20Deaths you will see that deaths overseas appear to be lower than here in the US.

Dennis was kind enough to take the time to put all of this together so we can understand what they are doing there. They seem to have a better track record that we do.

From Dennis:
By Law, to work in Towers or on Roof Tops, etc a worker must have: 

  • License To Perform High Risk Work (renewed every 5 Years) 
  • Dogging – DG 
  • Basic Rigging – RB 
  • Intermediate Rigging – RI 
  • Advanced Rigging – RA 
  • Certification To Perform High Risk Work (renewed every 3 Years) 
  • WHS Card 
  • Working at Heights 
  • Working on Roofs 
  • Tower Climbing 
  • Tower Rescue 
  • Senior First Aid with CPR 
  • RF Awareness 

License To Perform High Risk Work 
http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/licensing/Licencesandcertificates/highriskworklicences/Pages/default.aspx 
http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/licensing/Licencesandcertificates/Pages/Scaffoldingrigginganddogging.aspx 
http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/NEWLEGISLATION2012/Pages/default.aspx 
http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/formspublications/publications/Pages/factsheetfallfromheights.aspx 
http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/formspublications/publications/Pages/WC01321_SafeWorkingatHeightsGuide.aspx 

Certification To Perform High Risk Work 
https://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/ohs/DEE_EHU-08-1-1_Working_at_Height_Procedure.pdf

Permit To Perform High Risk Work on Buildings (Roof Tops, Platforms,etc) (renewed for every job) 
A Work at Heights Permit and Induction Certification from the Building Owner and a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) which need to be Fill-Out and signed each day by the Site Supervisor and all Riggers. 

Access To Perform High Risk Work on Towers (renewed for every job) 
Access Permit and Induction Certification from the Tower Owner (which need to see all above Licence To Perform High Risk Work and Certification To Perform High Risk Work) and a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) which need to be Fill-Out and signed each day by the Site Supervisor and all Riggers. 

Induction Certification (renewed every 2 Years) 
Tower Owner or Building Owner will typical use a company like Rapidinduct to set up and run the Induction services. All above Licence To Perform High Risk Work and Certification To Perform High Risk Work) and a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) need to be uploaded to the system and approved before Induction can be permitted. 

See Sample of Induction Site 
https://www.rapidinduct.com.au 
https://www.rapidinduct.com.au/online-induction-solutions.html 
https://www.rapidinduct.com.au/contractor_Induction.html 

Also a Method Of Procedure (MOP) must be in place in the SWMS 

Per Dennis: As I install Microwave Links, my MOP is below Step by Step Tower Installation Procedure ;

  • Access site and logon as per Tower/Building Owner and Vertel instructions
  • Complete daily SWMS highlighting any apparent hazards and complete toolbox talk 
  • Confirm drawings are correct cross check with RF design plan 
  • Unpack Dish and assemble as per manufacturer’s instructions that are supplied with the Dish 
  • Assemble Dish Mount as per supplied drawings 
  • Unpack and complete visual inspection of rigging and harness equipment 
  • Check RadMan for operation and calibration 
  • Call in outage (if any) with Tower Owner, confirm with either on site technician or NOC that power has been reduced 
  • Set up block and tackle 2 meters above the intended Dish Mount position, employ 100% attachment techniques whilst accessing tower to install block and tackle, use only tower ladder to access tower 
  • Use only a block with inbuilt braking system and ensure block and tackle is suitably rated for the task at hand 
  • Approach red zone of tower with caution monitoring RadMan for RF activity 
  • Hand haul Dish Mount into position keeping clear of existing equipment 
  • Attach and secure Dish Mount as per supplied drawings 
  • Hand haul Dish and ODU into position and secure as per manufacturers instructions 
  • Pre-terminate Connector to Feeder on ground and hand haul into position, connect to ODU and seal connection in approved manner 
  • Secure Feeder to Tower Feeder Brackets with appropriate Cable Tries or Cable Hangers that suit the Feeder being used 
  • Install Earthing (Ground) Kits to Feeder as per manufacturer’s instructions 
  • Route the Feeder into the Cabinet or Hut via the gland plate and appropriate size gland and terminate as per the manufacturer’s instructions at the IDU mounting location 
  • Power up equipment and align Dish as per manufacturer’s instructions and Vertel MLT 
  • Once tower work is complete contact NOC to close outage (if any) 
  • Clean up site and remove all rubbish, log off site and ensure compound is secure.

So who wins? Let me know what you think, get me on Facebook (hit Like while you are there!)or leave a comment. The way I see it is Australia gets an A while the USA gets a D because we still have so many fatalities. D is very poor, but look at our track record. We have so many people who try to make the USA #1 in training and prevention but we are dropping the ball when it comes to responsibility within the companies. Safety is the priority and schedule should be a distant 3rd after safety budget. Let’s make the rest of the year safe and healthy and no more injuries! At least no more preventable injuries.

Also, still have my books for sale at Wireless Field Aid and An Introduction to Tower Climbing.

I have some good stuff coming up for you faithful followers. I am working on an interview with the FCC people on RF radiation, more tick talk, and some small cell deployment problems.

Tower Shelters
Tower Shelters
RIP
RIP
Tower road
Tower road
Tower Base
Tower Base
Two Towers
Two Towers

Tower Climbers: where do you look for work? Survey time!

Hey Tower climbers, where would you look for work?

I have another survey that I want you to complete. Survey is at the bottom if you refuse to read anymore! I have a post on how to build your resume from LinkedIn here.  Remember, if you like the podcast just search for Wade4Wireless on iTunes and hit subscribe.

Guys, I have so many people coming to me for 2 reasons, they need climbers or a climber needs work. I try to help by posting. Where would you go to find a job? A website, well which one? Do you ask someone? Do you go to Facebook and put the word out? Let me know. I have several websites listed.

I know there are so many companies that need people. I know there are so many people looking for work. So what is the issue here? Why can’t we connect? There are so many sites out there that allow you to post your resume. You can go to LinkedIn, Facebook, or maybe go on a Tower Group and look for work. What about RCR, http://www.rcrwireless.com/article/ that shows jobs offered by http://telecomcareers.net/ and http://www.towercrews.net/ on a daily basis if you get their emails. There is the company I talk to once in a while, http://www.towerclimber.com/ which is also www.towerdawg.com if you’re interested. There is also http://www.towerclimberjobs.com/ for anyone looking. There are many more, I see climbing jobs on Twitter and Craigslist all the time. I know that if you go to Wireless Estimator at http://www.wirelessestimator.com/t_content.cfm?pagename=Tower_Construction_Employment and you can see the hiring tracker they have, which is really cool! They do have a job listing at http://www.wirelessestimator.com/helpwanted.cfm as well.

So there you have it, plenty of places to look for work. Do you use them all? Are you actively looking. When did you last look? If you go on Facebook you will see so many larger companies looking for climbers. Just to name a few, Mastec, Blue Stream, BIG Wireless, Super Nova Telecom, Atlantic Tower Services, Goodman Networks, and so many more. If I missed your company, sorry, but so many people are looking. Remember that just because a company is hiring doesn’t mean it’s a great place to work!

So why are there so many people looking? Could it be the price they are willing to pay. I would say that is a big part of it. The industry has so many black eyes, and I don’t just mean for safety. I hear many stories about no payment. Which, if you have a few of those stories let me know so I can write about them. Let me know by emailing me or get be on Facebook.

Did you update your resume? Do you have a cover letter? Do you call everyone? What would you do first? Well, you had better have a resume with all of your certifications listed. Make sure you have them someplace where they stand out. If a computer scans your resume it will look for your certifications. In the old days someone would read your resume, today, who knows. It all depends on the company. If a head hunter is recruiting you then you may not even get past the verification process if you don’t clearly identify the certifications. Are you on LinkedIn? Many companies are looking there before they hire. Do you have references listed?