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OK, this is from my post “Tower Injuries, Is this the Price of doing Business?”
Comment: TIRAP is yet another Top/Down approach to find safety solutions. Fundamentally, few details from TIRAP have been revealed.
So far, the end game for the program is to immerse students into the industry. To send graduates into the workforce as “top hands”, “PM’s”, and “CM’s”. So, graduates are intended to become leaders for workers already in the field. Many with many years under their belts. Do you see the friction?
As you mentioned about the deadlines, contracts, screw-ups, and the usual push to get the work done. With or without proper gear to complete tasks. What are these graduates going to do, to improve safety? They will cave in to the usual push. Just like we do already. Meaning, they will roll the dice and hope they cash in.
To their credit, if they follow through with their trainings, TIRAP this is quite thorough. at least for a short-term training solution. Sadly, long-term, careful, mentored exposure to ALL. rank and file workers is what’s missing. Every worker climbing towers needs to be properly experienced, not just “trained” or “certified”
Union apprenticeships have been a traditionally proven leader in worker experience and worker safety. This approach is a bottom/up approach that IS successful at saving lives.
Maybe this industry is not ready for this discussion now. Creating more BOSSES, by virtue of TIRAP, is just another industry band-aid to try to stick to a severed limb. So the madness continues. Families will get more shocking calls. Kids will grow up without their parent. Widows and widowers will try to carry on, with the help of the tax payers an all the stigma that endures. Because OSHA fines (a slap on the wrist or not) go to the US Dept. Of Treasury. Who really pays the price? I’ll end with a quote by Kurt Vonnegut, “And so it goes”.
Response: I believe that if TIRAP can be a model for the apprenticeship program it may really help. I don’t think that they will bypass the experienced workers because as you mention there is no replacement for experience. Experience is the key to leading in this industry. however, it is not the only qualification, common sense and brains help along with integrity. If you have a good person teaching these people the right way to do things, then it will go a long way. We all need mentors to help the process along and I think that is the one thing that has been missing in so many of these companies. Leadership helps and remember that you do not need to be the boss to be a good leader!
Remember to be smart, be safe, and pay attention to what you are doing. Follow the plan but don’t be afraid to adapt, improvise so you can overcome any obstacle!
What are you thinking, let it be heard!
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Go to the IWCE conference and see me! I will be on the “Tower Safety and Regulatory Compliance” panel on March 17th, 2015. Don’t you need an excuse to go to the Las Vegas convention center. I will share the stage with Cory Crenshaw, Charles Ryan, Dr. Denis Boulais, and Robert Johnson. Our moderator will be J. Sharpe Smith of AGL Magazine. Here is a list of exhibitors that will be there. I will be speaking and I may need some safety gear, email me at wade4wireless@gmail.com so we can talk! Make sure you sign up for this forum running 1:00PM to 4:30PM because let’s face it, these are issues you deal with on every job!If you want to talk after the conference, let me know.
