All posts by Wade

Feedback from “Climber Rescued by the Fire Department”

This is feedback from my post “Climber Rescued by the Fire Department”. Don’ forget to listen to the podcast for my opinions!

Before I get into all of this don’t forget to go to the bottom of the post and see the new Hubble Foundation logo, pretty cool! Also, I see workman’s comp is becoming an issue in DC because the DOL put this out, Adding Inequality to Injury, a PDF explaining how injury leads to a serious loss of income and a change in lifestyle. I thought you would like to see it.

Comment: It appears that this is becoming a frequent occurrence–and thank God he was rescued without injury. But Wade, we shouldn’t have to be in the rescue business. If there is a platform on the tower, the workers should be able to work on it,,,not have to hang under it with a 40 pound safety harness restricting your ability to climb back up. Why not lower the platform three feet and mount the antennas on the handrail. This improvement would not only eliminate the need for rescue missions, but it would also place the owner in compliance with the “Provide a Safe Workplace” regulation as required by OSHA.
I lost a friend last year in a hunting accident caused by wearing his safety harness. Evidently he fell out of his tree and was unable to climb back up to get loose,,,and he was a very physical guy. He unbuckled his leg straps hoping to slip out the bottom of the belt but never made it. When they found him, the belt was up around his chest cavity and he probably suffocated.
Richard Bell

 Response: One thing that we need to know is not only how to use the gear we have, but to make sure that we have the proper gear. What I am saying is make sure your harness fits you properly. Make sure that you are prepared for not only your job, but the rescue if needed. Make sure you know the plan to rescue someone if needed. I know this is easy to do, but as you can see it is very easy not to do. Many crews simply think it won’t happen to them, and many times it doesn’t. But what if it does?

As for mounting the equipment in a way that the climber can access it, I am not sure. There is a preliminary design done and many times the arrays are built on the ground without the forethought of what may happen in the air. So what I would say to the crews is think about the maintenance, think about repair, and think if you had to do it, what would you do. Maybe the installation crew would have prepared to descend and then have someone else remove the gear but the maintenance crew did not think it through, at least not like that. The guy probably thought he could pull himself back up and that just didn’t work out.

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I will be speaking at the IWCE conference on March 17th, 2015!

Paying attention to the scope of work?

Wireless Deployment SOW Training

Comment: I am well aware of situations like this.  The company I worked for last winter took in a new ‘class’ (21 started, 12 finished) of men with no previous experience and after 1 week of training and approximately 3 weeks of mentor-ship under guys with somewhere between 3 months and 2 years experience they began dividing us off into crews of two.  Which the supposed construction manager asked me to help him with because I was ‘the smart one’

The rest of the guys got to stick with another experienced climber, but I was writing reports by my second week, and pressured into taking over my own truck and crew by week five (no previous experience mind you)!

Anyway, in just a few months I witnessed my partner be blown off the tower (he’s ok–his cable grab worked) because we were told to climb in 25 mph winds with 40mph gusts and —  minus 10 air temps.  I kept him on the ground for over a week after that–it shook him up.  On that same day my other guy had the tip of his index finger ripped off raising a new radio because he couldn’t even feel it (he’s ok now too), but no worker’s comp or paid medical attention.  I patched him up myself.  And last Christmas Eve we were out in an ice storm at 10 pm in an ice storm trying to complete our fourth site of the day under orders.  No code for that gate so we were told to climb the fence!  Nobody else was willing so I gave it a try, but by about 80′ the ice was an inch thick and it was getting ridiculous so I came down and we got home for early Christmas morning.  A couple of months later my partner ended up with a staph infection in his arm and was too sick to do anything let alone be available for a rescue if I got in trouble yet we were kept in the field and ordered to go out anyway.  He laid in the front seat of the truck and tried to keep an occasional eye with the binoculars.

I could go on but you get the point.  I never saw a man fall, but we were constantly put in the position to make an already dangerous occupation simply ludicrous–all for $12/hr!

I love climbing and problem solving up there, and as noted above was forced to learn fast, but I am seeking a reputable company that offers a good training program, a little respect for its employees, their families, quality of work, and OSHA/safety standards.  If interested I can be reached at 989-449-2413 and/or heathjabs@gmail.com.  Thank you.

Heath Jabs MS, PT

Response: Thank you Heath for letting us know what is going on out there. I wish you the best of luck!

Have a good week! Remember to be smart, be safe, and pay attention! Follow the plan but don’t be afraid to adapt, improvise, and overcome!

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Listen to  iTunes or Stitcher for more commentary! Podcast Download

Start learning with some products I created just for you! Start with the Introduction to Tower Climbing, then get The Field Worker’s Aid for Tower Site Work, then to do the work you need to look at the Scope of Work Training, and finally the Tower Worker’s Logbook to log your high time and drive time and your project responsibilities, go to Learn more about my products! for more information!

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.

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wade

FISK Videos

I thought this week I would show some videos of tower climbers using the FISK.

That is all! Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

Climbing and Repelling in Little Rock AFB


Fisk Descender with Red rope.

Do you understand the SOW! Maybe some training would help.

Wireless Deployment SOW Training


DBI Sala Fisk Descender Instructional Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqivkZ1uF58
How to use Fisk / Control Descent / Light load

So remember to be smart, be safe, and pay attention to what you’re doing! Make a plan, follow the plan but don’t be afraid to adapt, improvise, and overcome your obstacles!

Listen to iTunes   or Stitcher for more commentary! Podcast Download

Start learning with some products I created just for you by going to http://wadesarver.com/products-wade4wireless/ for more information!

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See you at the IWCE conference and you will see me on the “Tower Safety and Regulatory Compliance” panel on March 17th, 2015.

Support the Hubble Foundation!

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Tower Climber Union Poll (Tell me how you really feel!)

I have been getting so much feedback on both sides on how tower climbers can be represented. Some think union, some thing private group, some say it’s fine the way it is. So here is a poll so you can tell me what you think. Then if that is not enough, you can offer feedback below. So quit your whining and take action, fill out the poll and give me some feedback!

Have more to say? Here is your chance to tell me what you really think!

Also, I will add you to my newsletter.

Do you understand the SOW! Maybe some training would help.

Wireless Deployment SOW Training

So remember to be smart, be safe, and pay attention to what you’re doing! Make a plan, follow the plan but don’t be afraid to adapt, improvise, and overcome your obstacles!

Listen to iTunesorStitcherfor more commentary!Podcast Download

Start learning with some products I created just for you by going to http://wadesarver.com/products-wade4wireless/ for more information!

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See you at theIWCE conferenceand you will see me on the“Tower Safety and Regulatory Compliance”panel on March 17th, 2015.

Support the Hubble Foundation!

Wireless Deployment SOW Training

Feedback from “PCIA Setting the Wireless Training Standards”

This is from my post “PCIA Setting the Wireless Training Standards”. Now when you read these, they are two opposite views, whereas one is pro PCIA and the other is trying to detect whether the climber’s best intentions are really the reason for this. Remember that PCIA is funded by large companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. They have lobbyists that represent the carriers in government. This isn’t necessarily a bad ting because wireless builds come to a crawl when government regulation steps in so they work hard to make sure that deployment can happen in a timely manner. PCIA has done a lot of good for the industry. They were at TIRAP showing support, like AT&T was represented there. So read both responses then make up your own mind.

Comment: As the Director of Education and Training for PCIA and a climber, I very pleased to be leading the effort to bring a standardized industry training program to our industry. Today we are forming the National Credentials Committee (NCC), a committee, although lead by PCIA is an industry committee.  The NCC will be charged with the how to portion of training with the creation of textbooks, study manuals and industry competency testing, all of which ties back to the larger program.  NCC will also provide guidance on continued education modules and next steps of curriculum / outline development.  Also, in creation and expected to be operational within the 6 months is the industry National Database.  The database is a registry and centralized location that tower climbers, DAS / Small Cell, etc., employers and other can utilize to develop safety practices and create career pathways.  The database will also be the location for the industry testing module that will provide proficiency and understanding of knowledge based retention in all facets of our industry.  Testing created and approved by industry is a keystone to ensuring our workforce is competent and safe and meets industry standards. PCIA is starting with Tower Climbers, but the program is for every discipline of our industry. This is an industry program, “by the industry and for the industry”. I welcome anyone who would like to know more about this program or who want to serve on the NCC, to contact me directly. (Phil Larsen)

 Response: This is great that PCIA is stepping up to tracking all credentials in the industry, wow, what an undertaking. To be fair though, it may be hard to get to many field people to participate because many of them travel extensively for work, as you probably know. They often spend more time on the road than home. However, I am curious, why start with the climbers? Is this where the grant money is going? Who is funding the database support down the road? Will this system stay in place for the next 10 years? What are your plans to capture the existing climbers training data? What about companies that do more than carrier work, is this a standard for them as well? So many questions. I originally tried to talk to Phil who did reach out to me, but then we got busy so I just sent an email to him about this so when I hear back I will update all of you! I sent the questions to him at the same time I worked on this post, so to be fair, we should have answers soon.  FYI – PCIA does support TIRAP!

Get the training to get paid for your work!

Wireless Deployment SOW Training

And now, from someone who has been in the industry for over 30 years!

Comment: Wade, pardon me if my BS detector goes off here! It’s political overload mode is on.

Doesn’t it look really good for the big guys if they are really doing something? And the government (not them) ponies up a few million for a few favorite institutions (including PCIA). And politico Adelstein is in charge of the show. But, note that there is no mention in any of this of the small businesses that really make the system run. And no comments ever about keeping that base financially safe so that it can actually pay for training (your comments noted).

I have walked in barnyards before. The odor is curiously similar…

Response: WOW!, Tell me how you really feel! OK, I know that this may not be the way the climbers want to see standards set, but we have to start somewhere and we all have to align. Right now we see to have several different standards out there but nothing official. If something can get set and we have an industry standard I think it will be a good thing, especially if they are documented in a database somewhere we can all access them. I believe we need to progress, the result will be a better system, someday.

Comment: Unfortunately, I agree.  I think your more likely to see an improvement in Safety & Quality if U just took that money and distributed it to the last 2 contractors/sub-contractors in the food chain.  Not the end workers (sorry to say but…) but their employers and their employers’ clients.

Get some profits to the people who are actually adding value to the projects not to mention taking significant financial risks.  I hate saying it’s all about money and I hate picking on the Fat Cats (when they’re looking), because it’s not ALL about money and the Fat Cats played their role (most of them) in making the industry what it is too.

But we all know that many of the bigger Turf Vendors absorb sometimes the majority of the profits while adding debatable amounts of value to the product.   I’m sorry but it’s true.  And U want to at least give them credit for improved logistics or organization or something, but that’s not always true either.

Us “bottom of the chain” people,  Our employers (mostly) all want us to be safe.   We want to be safe.  But just as humans didn’t learn to read and otherwise become civilized until we weren’t worrying about what we were going to eat or what we would be eaten by – 24hrs/day.

Which is exactly (the slightly exaggerated) position most of our employers are in…..Eat or get eaten.  You’ll never change the safety culture when the end businesses are in survival mode.  They can’t help their employees if they don’t have any.  Survive first, learn to read 2nd.
 Johnny wants to learn how to read.

Response: You make a great points, (I hope I summarize this properly) nobody wants to see someone get hurt and businesses in survival mode are more worried about surviving. As long as the businesses are trying to make a profit they can’t be overly concerned with training standards but they really don’t want to see someone hurt because that’s bad for business in all aspects. Unfortunately there are so many people in the industry trying to make a name by pushing workers that they don’t think through the liability issues, if something happens they just move on to the next company and start pushing. If companies don’t survive, the thought is the workers will work somewhere else until that company sinks. I can tell you now, this will drive people out of the industry, at least those of us who aren’t building a career. It is hard for those of us who have been in this industry for 20+ years to throw it all away you become a greeter at Wal-Mart or Target. We really want to move ahead and grow in this exciting industry, but it’s all of the companies that put schedules ahead of human decency that make the entire industry look really bad, so remember to set realistic expectations.

So remember to be smart, be safe, and pay attention to what you’re doing! Make a plan, follow the plan but don’t be afraid to adapt, improvise, and overcome your obstacles!     

Do you have an opinion on this?

Listen to  iTunes or Stitcher for more commentary! Podcast Download

Start learning with some products I created just for you! Start with the Introduction to Tower Climbing, then get The Field Worker’s Aid for Tower Site Work, then to do the work you need to look at the Scope of Work Training, and finally the Tower Worker’s Logbook to log your high time and drive time and your project responsibilities, go to Learn more about my products! for more information!

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.

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Feedback from “Tower Injuries, Is this the Price of doing Business?”

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!

Listen to  iTunes or Stitcher for more commentary! Podcast Download

Start learning with some products I created just for you! Start with the Introduction to Tower Climbing, then get The Field Worker’s Aid for Tower Site Work, then to do the work you need to look at the Scope of Work Training, and finally the Tower Worker’s Logbook to log your high time and drive time and your project responsibilities, go to Learn more about my products! for more information!

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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.

Support the Hubble Foundation!

News Around the Tower!

Word on the tower!

OK, so I have been looking around and found a few articles that may interest you.

First off, there was a safety climb system failure that resulted in injury. It happened to a Kentucky tower climber that was working in Ohio on a Crown Castle tower. Allstate tower employee Taylor McDonald, 32, was climbing down the tower when he slipped on a step bolt around the 50 foot level and his safety climb did not properly slow him down. People on the scene said the cable grab appeared to be attached properly. OSHA did investigate the site and removed 50’ of the cable grab cable. He is currently in a coma according to Wireless Estimator. Just as a note, I reached out to Crown Castle to see what their safety policies were and I didn’t hear back. I have interviewed people in the industry before this happened and the common response was that Crown Castle doesn’t feel they play a role in climber safety. If you know more than let me know. I was told that they feel it’s not their problem. Can anyone corroborate that statement? Read about the accident here. There will be a law suit and I get the feeling that fingers will point blame both ways.

Go to the IWCE conference and see me! I will be on the “Tower Safety and Regulatory Compliance” panel on March 17th, 2015. 

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Did you hear? Wireless Estimator did a report stating that the tower climbing industry is 29,000 strong! Read about it here. If there are 29,000 climbers, it’s a huge industry and should grown even more next year, for those that can handle the work. Do you think seeing these numbers may make a union interested in recruiting these workers and helping train them? I wonder. Could 29,000 climbers agree to unite? Probably not. This is amazing since on that same day I read that tower climbing is one of the worst jobs, link here. There is also an interview about how one guy fell into the job, link here.

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OSHA is busy, they handed out a $114,000 fine to Sherwood Tower Service. That is who Thomas Lucas, of Toledo, worked for when he fell from the tower in Stockton, Ca while paining. He had three children. OSHA handed out the hefty fine because companies that have workers at heights are required to provide adequate fall protection. Also, the harness should have been replaced due to visible signs of wear. These are called willful violations because it could have been avoided. Read about it here and here and here and here. To view current OSHA citation go to https://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/SherwoodTowerServices_989451_0206_15.pdf and you can check it out for yourself. Listen, I know most of you don’t appreciate OSHA, but they are trying to make a difference, so support them!

OSHA stand down week is coming up! May 4th to May 15th and the information is on OSHA’s website! They show the tower workers representing the worker’s at height. Inside Towers wrote about it here. What can you do? You can maybe take a day that week and practice rescue, maybe inspect all of your gear and tools and rope. Maybe spend the time working on your CPR and First Aid training. Review your OSHA 10 handbook. Take the time to make progress! Refresh your skills, inspect your gear, show that you care about yourself, your workmates, and your company! If you need more ideas here is the link to the FAQ on what to do! OSHA is trying to help, so accept what they offer and work with it. If it’s not good enough for you, then by all means, make improvements, that’s what you do in the field, right? Adapt, improvise, and overcome, where here is your chance to step up. If you take the 5 minutes it takes to read this, you will learn that it’s not about standing down for a week, it’s about educating yourselves. For some reason last year many of you said that you could not quit work for a week. Education takes time and you need to learn to read and listen. Nuff said!

Anyone going to NATE United? I wish I were but I just could not make it. If you are LBA is giving a RF Safety Awareness class, read about it here. It’s a great reason to go to Lake Buena Vista, Fl, this time of year.

What do you think????? Feedback!

Start learning with some products that will help! Start with the Introduction to Tower Climbing, then get The Field Worker’s Aid for Tower Site Work, then you will be ready to move into the Scope of Work Training. The entire time you are working you should be completing a Tower Worker’s Logbook to log your high time and drive time and your project responsibilities! Learn more about my products!

Go to theIWCE conferenceand 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! Meet me face to face and let’s talk after the conference.

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Feedback from “How do You get Paid for Change Orders?”

This is feedback from my post “How do You get Paid for change orders?”

Comment: Well done, Wade. So many small companies don’t pay enough attention to being paid fairly, and of planning cash management around it.

Response: Thank you, I wanted to do what I can to be sure people get paid for change orders. Many crews tell me they don’t get paid, which really stinks because they are doing the customer a favor by doing the work and completing the job. Many PMs feel that it’s not their problem, if the tower crew walks off the job, chances are they will call someone else to finish the job and not pay the first crew. It is a real issue.

For starting the job the right way, get Scope of Work Training

Comment: This was a great piece. It seems like a simple enough process, yet, a lot of companies suffer because they don’t follow these simple rules. The day of so and so said it was OK to do the work is over. Document everything and always keep good records. Thank you for making this process easy to understand and abide by.

Response: Great point, if you plan ahead and have a change order process in place, document all the work and changes, take pictures, then chances are much higher that you will get paid. It pays to be organized.

Do you have an easy way to make sure you get paid? Share the knowledge!

Listen to  iTunes or Stitcher for more commentary! Podcast Download

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.

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Support the Hubble Foundation!

Start learning with some products I created just for you! Start with the Introduction to Tower Climbing, then get The Field Worker’s Aid for Tower Site Work, then to do the work you need to look at the Scope of Work Training, and finally the Tower Worker’s Logbook to log your high time and drive time and your project responsibilities, go to Learn more about my products! for more information!

Feedback from “Wireless Deployment Efficiencies”

OK, this is from my post on Wireless Deployment Efficiencies where I wrote about ways to make you deployment as efficient as possible by thinking about your deployment plan.

Comment: You are so right, I’ve been a PM for over ten years and you wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve said these same things. Great Post!!!

Response: Thank you! I know that becoming efficient is something you need to work at to cut costs and raise profit. It will also make you more competitive. However, you need to know how to become more efficient without hurting the essentials like safety and worker morale. Being efficient will often come from a good idea someone has in the field that everyone can adopt. However, being efficient doesn’t mean taking shortcuts, it means finding a better way to do a task.

Go to the IWCE conference and see me! I will be on the “Tower Safety and Regulatory Compliance” panel on March 17th, 2015. If you go let me know! I would like to borrow a harness and helmet for my talk!

From LinkedIn I got this response which I wanted to share:

Wade:
I don’t know if you are fully aware of what happened in his case. Ray was called in to erect a self-supporting tower in Nebraska after the general contractors Erector announced they didn’t have the men that could erect the tower with a crane. But they didn’t inform the general until they had completely assembled the tower, a 300′ SST, and the crane had arrived.
Ray took the deal without a schedule extension, but only because the crane was there and waiting. The first day he and his crew arrived, they corrected the previous crew’s assembly mistakes and stacked 240′ of steel before dark. The next morning when they arrived, the crane company was tearing down the crane for removal. They had a guaranteed commitment on another job
The general contractor offered Ray $3,000.00 in addition to their original contract to finish the job with a hoist and pole, which they would furnish, however Ray would have to go pick the equipment up, and also, the general contractor would not slip the scheduled completion date. Ray took another man with him and drove all day and night to San Antonio, and then over to Houston and back to the job site near Omaha in 54 hours.
Upon his arrival at the job site in early afternoon, the crew rigged the tower with the gin-pole in a “Chicago Boom” fashion and disassembled the sections because they would have to assemble them in the air.
Their first pick was a single leg with step bolts. As they were setting the leg, they called the operator to raise the load a few inches but a step bolt was fouled in the pole. Ray climbed up on the pole and pushed the leg out and called for the operator to come up a few inches, but instead of pulling back on the load drum lever, the operator pulled back on the jump line lever. The jump line broke causing the pole to fall 240′ down through the inside of the tower with Ray attached to it.
It’s a miracle he survived. But the reason I call this to your attention is to give you an example of how the owners and general contractors, the brains of the operation, bully the workers and chisel them into unfair and dangerous situations and then gloat about how good they handle problems.
RB

Response: Sometime trying to be too efficient can be a hazard, especially when you rush to make something happen without having the time to plan it out. Planning should include not only the best way to deploy but also the safest way to work. It really makes sense to take your time to plan out the steps. Being efficient doesn’t mean skipping very important steps like hazard assessment, tailgate meetings, and making the plan with your team! Think and pay attention to what is going on!

Do you have an opinion on this?

Listen to iTunesorStitcherfor more commentary!Podcast Download

Start learning with some products I created just for you! Start with the Introduction to Tower Climbing, then get The Field Worker’s Aid for Tower Site Work, then to do the work you need to look at the Scope of Work Training, and finally the Tower Worker’s Logbook to log your high time and drive time and your project responsibilities, go to Learn more about my products! for more information!

Go to theIWCE conferenceand 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 withCory Crenshaw, Charles Ryan,Dr. Denis Boulais, and Robert Johnson. Our moderator will be J. Sharpe Smith ofAGL 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.

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Feedback from Feedback about Policing the Industry

I had some feedback from my “Feedback on “Will the Tower Industry Police Itself?”

I wanted to get this out because this guy thought I deleted his feedback!

Comment: WHY DID YOU REMOVE MY POST……..

Response: I didn’t, here it is! I put his name in here because I think it’s funny, and I am pretty sure it’s not his real name!

Name: One of the few Intelligent ones
Comment: I will say this. YOU WILL NEVER POLICE THIS INDUSTRY. WHY……In most other industries you must have degrees, training, certs, etc. For example to be an engineer you need degree, certs, etc. To be a manager you need all plus more. See this is the only Industry I know where a person can have dropped out of High School, be working at a 7-eleven on Friday night and that following Monday be a tower climber installing high dollar equipment for major carriers. It is unbelievable.

What I mean is be careful what you ask for. This industry does not have professionals. There are some, but most rant and rave about being underpaid, so dangerous, etc but yet the industry is filled with drinking, pot smoking, not show up for work on time, rough necks who do not know a thing about being a professional. If they were to make qualification a determination for employment most would not make the cut. Urinalysis on a regular basis would weed out another chunk. Punctuality would probably get the rest. The professional powers to be known this and therefore it will never happen because 95% of the work force will not make the cut. You better not police the industry I should say.

Why is this industry so dangerous, I have climbed for over 20 years, had over 300 climbers under my supervision and no accidents or deaths. It is really quite simple. If your Physically tied to an object that is anchored in the ground, it’s physically impossible to fall. Pretty simple I think.

When climbers fall 100% of the time it is climber error. You never hear of equipment failing.

Response: Tell me how you really feel! First off, congratulations on training so many climbers, working with so many, and never losing any, thank you for that! I really mean it, great job! You are correct about most of this, you have those people but you also have some great people that think of this a profession, not a job. I often think of it as very skilled labor. However, I have also met many that fit the description you put in. You also make a great point about tie off, while not all the deaths last year were from tie off problems, there was also rigging failures, heart attacks, and tower collapsing. However, you are correct, there were many that obviously didn’t tie off. We need to drill into everyone’s head that if they don’t tie off they could die.

As for safety gear failures, there have been some this year but I don’t know if anyone’s safety lanyard failed, so you make a great point if you are referring to the safety lanyards!

Go to the IWCE conference and see me! For a discount enter code SPK! Remember that the communications people for public safety and fire departments will be there. Fire departments rescue climbers!

You want to learn about safety? Then listen to me at the “Tower Safety and Regulatory Compliance” panel on March 17th, 2015

What are you missing? Listen to the Podcast, on iTunes, or Stitcher to find out!

Comment: After 25 years in the business, I still find that one of the biggest problems is drugs on and off the job sit. Another thing that causes us problems is NATE. NATE is like a lot of females. They love to keep something going all the time and I’m a firm believer if something isn’t broke, don’t fix it. My grandfather use to tell me, don’t stir in shit,, it will stink. If NATE would butt out and, leave OSHA alone, we would be better off. All of these company owner’s that claim they are a member of NATE and it is not nothing to be proud of. We have a safety guy in our company that is always talking about safety, safety, safety but, out of the other side of his mouth, he condones smoking pot in the company, on and off the job. It’s BS.

Response: OK, I take it you are not happy with NATE. I do know that NATE is working towards setting realistic safety training requirements in this industry. While they do serve the company owners, they are working to make the industry safer because this is the only way we will grow. Remember that no one wants a climber to get hurt. However, we have different views on how to prevent accidents.Prevention sounds easy, but it takes industry buy in and there are still so many climbers that do not tie off 100%!

OK everyone, this is a long comment, so be patient!

Comment: There are some interesting issues addressed in this forum that I agree with. There are no schools that can duplicate the effectiveness of OJT, however, schools can teach a lot of important points to a green hand. For example, I don’t think schools should teach that workers become totally reliant upon their PPG. I believe they should be taught to be as secure as possible on the tower, without any PPG at all, and the PPG should be considered secondary. Learning where to position yourself to avoid danger has proven to be as much of a deterrent as the PPG. I think a false sense of security is experienced when a worker wraps their lanyard or hooks their hook over a member. This is not a new argument. Years ago after an ironworker fell off the Verrazano Narrows bridge, American Bridge went on strike while pressing the general contractor to put nets under the areas they were working. Management claimed that a net would cause the men to feel a false sense of security and would result in more injuries because of carelessness. Eventually, after a short strike, the contractors capitulated and provided netting under the areas where bridge spans were being installed.
What puzzles me about all this schooling and training is, what are the credentials of the people doing the schooling and  training. Who is teaching the teachers? How many years of experience do they have actually climbing, setting iron, jumping poles, flagging cranes, using the basic tools or even tying knots. How many times have you teachers set up on top of a tower and actually endured the pain from harsh weather so you could finish a job and be home for Christmas? Few of you have ever experienced these circumstances.
The brains of the industry forget that this is a job. A job is where workers are given a task to perform and are paid to get it done in a safe and timely manner. If the works not done, nobody makes a dime. The workers that have the unique ability to get the work done safely need to be adequately compensated for what they contribute, and the “wanna-be’s”, the “professional resume writers and per-diem collectors” and the “PM brother-in-law contractors” need to be eliminated, and this is the job of the project managers and staffing people.
A crew will police itself only after they have worked together for some period of time, but it takes time. Moving boomers in from out-of-state on an “as needed” basis doesn’t give regular workers the time to learn what the boomers know or the tasks where they excel.

Response: Thank you sir, for the honest feedback. People often forget that if they don’t finish, they don’t get paid. If someone gets hurt or dies on a job, the company won’t get paid unless they finish. Most PMs and GCs won’t wait, they will bring another crew in to finish and not pay the first crew a dime. That doesn’t seem fair but that’ how it is. Ask anyone out there, this is the way the wireless business works. The GC can barely wait for OSHA to finish before they have a new crew on site to finish.

Training – I think the trainers play a key role in the process, but the experienced guys probably make more money working than training, just my opinion, unless they like going home every night, which is a huge factor after traveling for years. Most trainers are there to train the climber for a specific task, we rely on OJT training to teach them the job. That’s how invaluable getting trained on the job is, it is invaluable. When you are work with an experience crew you learn so much more than working with all people that never climbed before. However, those crews get pretty creative, but it leave so much to chance. Work experience becomes invaluable, if you are trained properly and know your job! It pays to learn what you can while you can. Learn as much as you can!

Be smart, be safe, pay attention to your task, following your plan but be ready to adapt, improvise, and overcome the obstacles in your way!

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March 16th to 20th, 2015

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Listen to  iTunes or Stitcher for more commentary! Podcast Download

Create your plan and career path with some products for wireless deployment and the tower workers! Start with the Introduction to Tower Climbing, then get The Field Worker’s Aid for Tower Site Work, then to do the work you need to look at the Scope of Work Training, and finally the Tower Worker’s Logbook to log your high time and drive time and your project responsibilities, go to Learn more about my products! for more information!

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.

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Feedback (Part 2) from “Will the tower industry Police Itself?”

Comment: Thanks Wade, good commentary. You ask some very deep questions that never seem to be honestly answered. This industry has been “self-policing” for decades. All in all, the fatality rates have been dismal. I have been hearing for decades, “We will take care of ourselves, we are professionals, who would be better than us can make this industry safer?” Things have not changed at all!
Furthermore, look at some of the tower rescues done by emergency services. While many nitwits want to talk about how they would have rescued and fired the poor guys. You overlook the reason why those men got where they were in the first place. Because they were hired to climb and they know nothing about it. It’s not a joke! We buried a number of fathers and husbands last year, because they were put in situations they had NO EXPERIENCE IN!
Anyone you speak to in this industry will tell you how safe they are and how they stay tied off 100% of the time. If this were the case, we wouldn’t have buried 14 of our own this year.
You laid out some of the ugly truths of this industry Wade. Self-policing is code for, “You don’t need to check us out, you should check out the other fools”. Free-climbing is rampant. Nobody dares to admit it. As long as the speed of the work is the #1 goal, safety and workers rights will always fall to the back. Carriers escape any culpability through turfers and subcontractors. It’s all big business and big money. Little of which actually gets to the ones being pressured, to do the tasks safely.
The policing has to come from the climbers. They must be allowed and encouraged to say “no” to unsafe situations. Any company owner will say, “We always have our men’s backs.” That is until the PM tells you the site you are on needs to be completed today and on the air tomorrow. There is no other answer he will accept, other than “Yes sir!” Safety is not honored or rewarded.
How can we possibly train every worker in the field with real-time OJT, supervised over a period of years by climbers with proper experience and safety records?
Unions already do that, and have been doing this with excellent results. While we have companies, who throw men off the street to job sites without any leadership. This is why climbers die. Sadly, climbers don’t seem to have the stomach to change this either. Sad times indeed.

Response: Thanks! That is why I asked about a union for climbers. I haven’t had time to really follow through with that. I heard so many vast opinions about unions, it’s hard to determine which is from experience and which is perception. I just want to find a way to make the industry safer, efficient, and profitable. They all go together to be successful. No deaths and minimal injuries.

What are you missing? Listen to the Podcast, on iTunes, or Stitcher to find out!

Go to the IWCE conference and see me! I will be on the “Tower Safety and Regulatory Compliance” panel on March 17th, 2015

Comment: Industry driven by carrier deadline. Stressful  environment on tower owner side to meet customer  demand. Push, deployment,  change in equipment,  push, re prioritization, conference call, chastisement, lost in the drudgery to get it done. Then an accident happens. The carrier, GC, and tower owner say. We do not know how this could have happened, but we need to change.
Cooperation and standardized  SOP is the change.  Tower owners and carriers need to cooperate on a standard of keeping the backbone of the industry  safe. For without the backbone the body has no posture and is weak.

Response:This is great feedback, these are all good points and if we could have cooperation and standard operating procedure (SOP) across the industry then we could really move ahead. We really need the climbers to work together and communicate.
Comment: I am in the industry 16+ years as a climber and foreman. Recently moved into PM position and in-house instructor. I have always felt that climbers should be a union. Mainly for the purpose of people being properly trained. It is something the industry always needed and still does.
I feel a lot of the deaths and injuries over the years have stemmed from no or improper training. Having a unionized training could only benefit this industry. The days of handing a harness and gear to a guy who was telemarketing last week, showing how to put a harness on and climbing up 150′ to swap 12 antennas in one day with him, while showing him how to choose a proper anchor point for his fall arrest lanyard would be gone.
That telemarketer could have received good training for a few weeks and been sent out ready and knowing what he signed up for and knowledgeable enough to be more of a help than a worry whether this guy should even be up there right now. At the least, he would have been weeded out before he had the chance to get hurt or hurt someone else.
The training we receive through Comtrain, Gravitec, etc. is good training except for the fact that it is, as everything in the industry, rushed. Originally a 2 week class cut down to 2 days, rushed. The training is good for someone who has some type of experience already, has picked up on some of the vocabulary and who has put a harness on already. It is a great refresher course.
Climbers need a little more than that to get a good start and not try to learn under the extreme pressures of the field until.
Sign me up. I would love to continue working in this industry for years more seeing this type of change and giving future climbers a little more security in their chosen field.

Response: Great points! I think that training had to be made more efficient because so many climbers come and go quickly. One thing that doesn’t help is the fact that you don’t know how the person is going to react to the job. Will they be there for 3 months or 5 years? That is the owners conundrum. They are trying to hire and ramp up for jobs but then they lose people for whatever reason and then need to start the expensive process over again. I believe that is why so many businesses are family owned.  That also is why so many owners stop caring because they tend to get screwed over and they have a hard time really caring. It becomes all business. What we need to do is find balance. We need owners that put safety first, but they still need to make a profit. Remember that safety still costs money. Training is very important.

Do you have an opinion on this?

Listen to  iTunes or Stitcher for more commentary! Podcast Download

Create your plan and career path with some products for wireless deployment and the tower workers! Start with the Introduction to Tower Climbing, then get The Field Worker’s Aid for Tower Site Work, then to do the work you need to look at the Scope of Work Training, and finally the Tower Worker’s Logbook to log your high time and drive time and your project responsibilities, go to Learn more about my products! for more information!

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.