Hey, I owe this to “Inside Towers” for the story. Yesterday, September 10th, 2014, Firefighters went to a tower that is disguised as a farmhouse near Cotati, Ca. Firefighter in Sonoma County rescued him after he fell a few feet, about 4 feet. He was suspended 50’ up in the air and his safety gear caught him. He was hanging upside down for a short time until one of his workmates climbed up and got him upright. However, his workmates could not get him down. So they waited around 40 minutes until the fire department showed up and rigged their ropes and pulled him down. The firefighter said they were practicing rope rescue earlier that day.
It appears he was moving from a pole to a catwalk. The guy is OK! No injuries from another near miss. So happy everyone is OK!
2 books. One for the new tower climber, the green hand, to understand that will be expected. The other is a handy aid to help out when you are at the site. I am writing a new book to go over all of the paperwork that you could encounter on the job so you understand what you are working on and what you should be doing. You may expand to other jobs in the industry. This can be the beginning of a great career path in the wireless industry.
OK, not the best title but the FCC and DoL have come together to develop standards for “Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program” (TIRAP), for the occupation of Telecommunications Tower Technician.
OK, this is very exciting. The FCC and DoL have decided to outline the requirements for the Telecommunications Tower Apprentice, Level 1. You may ask why this is so interesting to me. Well let me tell you it’s because the DoL is defining the requirements that are going to be put on the tower technician aka the tower climber.
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When will they announce this? October 14th, 2014, 1PM in DC, so it’s Eastern Time. WOW! Requirements laid out! Requirements defined along with a public announcement.
When you look at the schedule and training document you will see they require OSHA 10, PPE training, CPR/BBP//First Aid, RF Awareness, Job Site Analysis, and SOW training. They also outline basic rigging and material handling. Does it stop there? But wait, there’s more! Operate hand tools, operate truck s and trailers, and introduction to structures and Appurtenances! Oh yeah, so much to learn! Let me tell you, this may not be cheap so the customer will be expected to pay more, like they would for an electrician, a mason, or any skilled labor. Maybe the executives complain as they still expect the laborer of years past that had no training but would risk their life for that $10/hour that went out to the lowest bidder. Band together climbing companies because those days are over! The requirements are laid out for you to demand more money to hire skilled labor! These guys are entering a new era, an era where they are going to be viewed as skilled talent. Remember those guys? They are the ones that most companies let go so the carriers could build out the systems for less money! I digress, apologies, let me get back to the point!
In the details they have knots listed, imagine that, the bowline and the clove hitch. They have the SOW listed so they actually want you to know and understand what you are supposed to do at that job site! Amazing insight!
Safety training is outlines, OSHA 10, Authorized climber, PPE, CPR, RF Awareness, Job Hazard Analysis, and SOW. All this required so the climber knows what is going on at the site. These are all explained in the documentation. I love it because this is something I have been saying for a while, not because I am right, because it should be expected that the guys out there should be prepared for anything that could happen. Training and practice will make them the best they can be. Don’t think that you can take the training once and that’s all. You need to make sure your people are trained early, trained often, and trained well! Practice makes the training sink in and if an emergency comes up there is no guess-work, just quick and thoughtful planning to save lives! Practice makes the safety training a habit. We all want good habits, not laziness. We all deserve to have the chance to save our workmates, our partners, our friends, our work family!
Technical training outlines the SOW, basic rigging, material handling opes/knots, antenna/line installation, lightning system installation and maintenance, tower structural installation and maintenance, and applicable standard awareness.They don’t stop there, they add test equipment, exothermic welds, basic understanding of regulatory issues, and operate trucks, trailers, and equipment. Bu hold on, there’s more! Operate hand and power tools like the normal power tools like drills and saws but also torches, connector tools, and tools applicable to the SOW. So much to learn. So many climbers already know this but don’t get the credit they deserve for such knowledge. Skilled labor, professionals are in this industry and now they will be recognized for it.
Let me tell you, this is a wonderful thing to be done by the FCC and the DoL. They are changing the landscape of this industry in the USA. We need the help. If you wonder why, then you live under a rock! This move is because so many out there have been falling, so many have been hurt, so many have been careless, and mainly because the industry let it happen! When I say the industry I lay the blame all around. Do you really think that $10 to $15 an hour is a fair wage for someone to make the schedule so someone’s smart phone will be able to download “Angry Birds” and get Facebook updates? Apparently it was the case. It’s the one thing that someone pushing a deployment could control, or so they thought. Then by simply saying, “I told them to be safe and use safety gear” they could wash their hands of it.
How will this affect you, it depends who you are. The climber stands to get more training and eventually get paid more. The tower crew companies stand to bid higher, make more money, but pay for more training and pay to maintain the training. If you are the end customer like a carrier, your prices will go up. That means that you will pay more for the climbers. I know you will complain, but let me ask you, what is a young person’s life worth anyway?
How will it affect the industry? Well, deployments may be delayed, but will they be delayed any longer than the auctions were delayed? Will the installation take longer than site acquisition? Will the installation take longer than the OEM takes trying to work out the bugs? You know, it goes back to what I said, everyone thinks that the climbing crew is the one thing that they can push and push. Well, now they will be pushing back.
I get a little fired up about this, but I have been on both sides. I know what it’s like to push and be pushed. If you push, take time to listen. When you listen you realize that there is a good reason that the crew can’t do the installation. When you listen you solve problems. It’s really a great thing. Schedule can be a bitch, but losing a life is something that people don’t forget. Schedules are something that’s forgotten in the end as long as the company doesn’t go under. Then they blame the costs and schedules. But when someone dies, all that fails to matter, at least to the family of the lost.
So I think this is a great thing and I am hoping the industry changes for the better. Remember that it takes talent and brains to do this job. Just because climbers get high for a living doesn’t mean that they lose sight of what’s important.
Tell me what you think about TIRAP! How is it going to impact the industry? Who do you think it will hit the hardest?
FCC = Federal Communications Commission
DoL = Department of Labor, OSHA is part of the DoL.
For more information on knots go to www.netknots.com and Adam wrote a book, go to http://www.telecomrigging.com/ to get one. I do not have any type of agreement with Adam Beck, but I think that this could really help you out.
2 books. One for the new tower climber, the green hand, to understand that will be expected. The other is a handy aid to help out when you are at the site. I am writing a new book to go over all of the paperwork that you could encounter on the job so you understand what you are working on and what you should be doing. You may expand to other jobs in the industry. This can be the beginning of a great career path in the wireless industry.
Near Miss Stories: I have another near miss story I wanted to share. “We had to lift an H frame mount up to put our CDMA next to our LTE antenna on the point of a tophat on a 250 ft guyed tower. The H frame alone weighed about 250-300 lbs without antennas. Rigging plan was to lift H frame with mast pipes and then put the CDMA and LTE antennas on afterward. Being at the top of the tower, we had no headroom. The CM said to use one of their in-house made rooster heads. We questioned it, but the safety manager, operations manager, and CM said it would work. We rigged the tower with our rooster head into an existing antenna mast pipe. Instead of playing it safe, the crew lead added a nose bag half full of angle adapters and filled up the rest of the way with 3 ways, a sunsight aat, topped off with 2 nose bags full of 1 5/8″ snap ins. So at this point the total load weight we figured was around 350-400 lbs. The green guy on the ground was tagging using a munter hitch to get the load around one guy wire. As the load was being raised up to us, the boy who was tagging put a slight amount of tag on and got the load around the guy wire. The load finally got up to us and right as we went to put our hands on it the rooster head snapped, dropping the load onto the first guy wire below us. The load rode the guy wire about half way down, flipped over, slammed the next guy wire below it, and rid that guy wire about 1/4 of the way to the anchor head where it fell off the guy wire and hit the ground. The tower was shaken violently, me and the other guy up top bolted for the ground. We got down, the owner showed up on site and said that this will never happen again. Come Monday morning during our weekly safety meeting, the CM, operations manager, and safety manager all concluded that what almost got us killed was the tag. They said too much pressure was applied to the tag and that’s what caused the rooster head to snap. They would not accept the fact that they were using an unapproved rigging device with no load rating. To this day, 2 months later, they still say the tag is what did it.” Good story!
Drugs: I have one more feedback note that is a follow-up to the drugs, “OK, the drug topic is very strong to me. I have a daughter that is 19 and went through a drug treatment program for, yeah you guessed it, pot. Yes the non addictive drug, that can be detected for 90 days… blah blah. Well guess what. It is tested, and there is acceptable ranges and different levels for time elapsed. Some factors that will change this though is frequency of use. Somebody that uses it more frequently will test positive at higher levels through urinalysis. Hair follicle tests are more accurate, and becoming more prevalent. These tests are more accurate, and of course more expensive.”
I also looked up a past case. All of you asked about how pot will affect the outcome of a case. If you go tohttp://www.propublica.org/article/cell-tower-fatalities(released in 2012 and mentions Wally Reardon several times) you will see that Jay Guilford, the young man who died doing an AT&T install in 2008, did indeed test positive for marijuana in his system. To quote, “Under policies provided by Phoenix of Tennessee, Pierce received $200,000 in life insurance, but was denied worker’s compensation because an autopsy showed Guilford had recently smoked marijuana. Lawyers advised Pierce not to sue because of the drugs”. The point I am trying to make is that he did get his life insurance, but they could have gotten more and perhaps maybe they would have found fault with the process. He was making $10/hour. He worked for All Around Towers, (now out of business) who worked for General Dynamics who worked for AT&T. My point is that if they find anything in your system, it changes the outcome.
I also got some feedback about how I don’t know anything about pot, well, that is true, and I only know what I read. I am told I am against potheads – that’s not true, I am only trying to point out what happens when things go bad. I hope nothing bad ever happens to you, so please, prove to me that it doesn’t matter and stay safe. Prove to me that you know better and be the best at hazard prevention you can be. If you can do that and stay alive for the next 10 years on a tower, then call me anything you like, just remain alive and well. More links,http://video.pbs.org/video/2237737729/.
2 books. One for the new tower climber, the green hand, to understand that will be expected. The other is a handy aid to help out when you are at the site. I am writing a new book to go over all of the paperwork that you could encounter on the job so you understand what you are working on and what you should be doing. You may expand to other jobs in the industry. This can be the beginning of a great career path in the wireless industry.
I wanted to just give you a quick note about spending. (If you don’t want to hear me talk about expenses then scroll down to the videos below!) So many new tower workers are going to start making better money than they have before. This is a job where you will get your pay and per diem. I don’t think many companies will allow workers to expense meals, they offer daily per diem, based on where you are working. Per Diem is a daily rate to cover your living expenses, normally meals. Hotels are generally expensed unless you are a contractor, then you probably pay for all of your expenses.
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I know most of you are already angry that I am trying to tell you what to do with your money, I am not. If you want to spend it all every week, that’s fine. I just want to offer you some advice I got from living on the road. Also, if you are broke in 10 years because you partied every night, I don’t want to hear you whine. There is so much bitterness already, why add to it with complaining about your poor habits.
So when you start making some money take the time to think about what you are going to do with it. If you spend all of your per diem then you will have to dip into your own pocket to pay for whatever is above and beyond. I see so many workers say that they spend their per diem on beer. That’s fine but when the bill is more than your per diem then you are wasting money.
Often we need money ASAP, it is not an easy thing. It’s like losing weight, we all want to see the results immediately, but it takes time to do it right. To stay healthy we need to invest in exercise every day and eat right every day. To have money you need to be smart with your money every week. It doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it once in a while, you just need the smart decisions to outweigh the bad ones most of the time. Buy what you want, just do it wisely.
Personally I think if you can spend less than your per diem then you will have a slight edge over most people. You may be able to put more money aside. So many people travel and get into party mode. This can become a habit and the next thing you know at the end of the month you may not have enough for the rent or mortgage.
I have been there, I was just not smart with my money. With age comes wisdom and we learn about priorities. I am only trying to offer some advice based on my mistakes. I won’t get into telling you how to build a budget. You will need to figure out what your priorities are. I only want you to think about where your money goes. If you have been doing this for 10 years and only have scars to show for it, then maybe it’s time to plan better.
When you get your paycheck, look it over and figure out how to break it out for each expense you have. Most people have car payment, mortgage or rent, maybe child support, all the expenses with living. If you live with your parents, many do, then put as much money aside for when you want to buy your house or a car. I am a fan of saving what I can.
So much money slips through your hands, on things like fast food. When you travel it’s all that available many times. Just be smart with your per diem, be smart with your paycheck. I don’t blame you for eating, but look at your spending. If you are buying crap that is a waste of money, think before you buy next time. Sometimes you may spend more on food, but if you get better food then you won’t be hungry again in an hour.
If you buy tools, buy tools that you will use. If you are buying a big tool think of the payback. When you buy a work truck, think of how it will be used and what you will be hauling and of the gas mileage. It matters.
Next time you go out to have a few drinks with your buddies think about a budget ahead of time. Don’t spend all of your money in one night. Especially if it is literally all of your money. Your friends should understand if you are honest with them.
If your company offers a 401K and they match it, I suggest you put in what they match. Why not, you will want to retire someday. Why not put away what you can. You should save as much as you can. However, don’t put it all in a retirement fund, it is smart to put some of it in savings or a CD or somewhere where you can access it in case of an emergency.
A few notes:
Try not to lend too much money to co-workers. That usually ends badly.
Try not to buy a fancy work truck if you use it for work, they get beat up quickly. Fancy versus practical, practical should always win. Trust me, when you buy fancy and something falls on it, it really hurts.
Spend per Diem wisely! Try not to spend more than you get in a week. The less you spend the more you save. However, you have to eat, so make sure you eat well so you have strength and energy.
Your boss may care for you, but the company cares about the bottom line. For all of you that think the company will take care of you, I hope they do. The reality is that if the work stops, they will not hesitate to lay you off or let you go. It’s not fair and it sucks, but that’s the way it is. Think about this when you are stashing money away. The company will ask you to be loyal and have you sign non-competes, but will they be loyal to you? Maybe, maybe not.
If you pay child support, this is a priority. If you don’t pay, they will track you down and take it from your paycheck. If they take it from your pay then that’s one more thing that you need to explain when getting hired.
Take care of yourself, you matter. Be safe on the job site but be healthy off of the job site. Only you will take care of you. Good habits really help you and your body become better with age.
Listen, bad things happen, the better prepared you are then maybe it will help you get through a rough patch. I talk to so many people who prepare and they still have a tough time. I am just trying to help you think through your life and plan for the good and the bad.
Tell me what you would do better!
And now some videos that may help you know that you are not alone in this job.
Cell tower installation:
Studio link installation:
Installing DB420:
Removing a 900 lb 12’ microwave dish (great video):
Update: Fallen trespasser was 37-year-old Edward Squellati and he was found there by a technician that had to do work at the tower. It was a 100′ tall tower owned by American Tower on Route 53 and New River Road. His body was found about 6PM.
Today I thought I would post some of the feedback comments. Mostly from theDrugs, Morons, and Steelpost.
Concerning the incident in Norman, OK. I wanted to say how sad it is that those climbers yesterday got hurt. I hope they are OK. Let’s all pray that they will be OK. They all were working together to make it home and hopefully they will be with their families soon. Read more here.
First off, I had no idea there were so many experts on pot. Second, I had no idea that harder drugs were so rampant in the industry. Third, so many people thought that this article was about everybody in the industry. So I had many different kinds of feedback.
My overview. I was hoping to point out that when something bad happens the first thing that most people will look at is the drug test. If you don’t believe this, maybe you should wake up. The interesting thing is that most people took this to the extreme and thought I was calling all climbers potheads, which I was not. Some said I should have pointed out that climbers are doing hard drugs like crack and cocaine. I just wanted the tower worker to realize that if something bad happens the first thing that will be looked at will be the drug test when making a final evaluation on what happened. I want people to be conscientious when going to work. Granted there are so many things that could go wrong, why make your bad habits one of them to be blamed whether is had anything to do with it or not. Why risk your reputation or your job? If you still don’t understand this, then maybe it’s time to move on. Many tower workers I know are outstanding workers and people, it’s a shame that there are a few that make the majority look bad. Trust me, this is a hard job that deserves respect. Hard for more than the physical aspect or the fact you need to know so many different things to be successful. Most travel and are luck to be with their family for more than a weekend. It takes its toll on your personal like. Most climbers are a jack of all trades from steel to electrical to rigging to RF to Telecom and so much more. It’s not an easy job. It’s not just labor. It is a skilled profession. Many others in the industry forget all of that, they just expect it to be done quickly and on time. I believe it is time to start demanding skilled workers. With all of that said, I would bet there are still guys out there that crimp with pliers.
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STEEL
Let’s start with Steel, some people got back to me about what should be done to help make steel safer. Someone mentioned how dangerous it is to work on lights atop the tower. Here is what they said.
“Working on lights on top of masts there is rarely anything to tie off too. It’s excessively difficult to work inside a flash head when the flash head is your only way to hang on. I’ve been climbing 5 years and that’s the only time I get scared for my safety is when I’m at the top and cannot work safely due to lack of points to tie off too”
Another comment was about the guy wires and anchor points and that we should inspect them. So here are some pictures of some rusted guy wires someone gave me on Facebook. Comment, “Everybody is forgetting that the guy anchors need to be inspected. If rust is found please dig down to see if it is safe I have had to tie heads to heavy equipment then do repairs (install new anchor) to make tower safe.”
DRUGS & MORONS
OK, let’s move onto the drugs section. On Facebook so many people mentions the drugs section. Some of them mentioned that I should not bring this up because it is only a small amount of climber, which I believe. Then others brought up about the heavy drug use in the industry. I had no idea that crack and cocaine were so common. Most of the information I got back was about the time that THC stays in your system. I just have what is on the websites. That is why I put 3 sites up there to use as references.
Here is a great response, “I see you forgot to mention that THC metabolites can stay in your system for up to 90 days. So if I smoked legally on vacation in Colorado or Washington last month and get drug tested at work, I would fail and lose my job. Even though I was more aware and alert (being sober) than the other workers who are on prescription drugs with a huge list of side effects. Or what about the guy who smokes meth or crack? That crap is out of your system in 1-2 days. They would pass the drug test. If you want to test do an impairment test.” If you wrote this, all I ask is that you send me a link or a book to back it up. I honestly have no idea.
Another powerful comment, “I’d just like to say that weed is probably the smallest problem when it comes to climbers doing drugs. It’s just the one that stays detectable in your system the longest. There are much bigger problems with heroin, crack, coke, meth and the most widespread issue drug, alcohol. I would rather climb with a pot head than a drunk any day of the week.
Weed is addressed all the time in terms of safety while alcohol seems to be forgotten about. Someone who is hung over is much more likely to cause an accident that a pot head but they’ll pass a drug test almost every time.
It’s time that as an industry, we start looking towards the individual who is actually responsible for the incident rather than the one crew member who smoked some dope three weeks prior. We should be using drug tests to see who is more of a risk instead of using them to place blame after an incident.” This response makes some great points! However, if something goes wrong they will look at the blood work to see what they can find. It will become a legal issue, like it or not.
A note about drug testing from LinkedIn, “All safety sensitive positions should be mandatory drug tested. Blaming the pot head gets you nowhere. Start at the top (I know, shocking). When you do not implement proper procedures to manage your “safety sensitive” employees, you will have people do things on their own time that will no doubt have an effect on others. Legally you cannot test someone under federal law if they are employed and you have probable cause to test. It must be corporate policy. Only corporate policy can mandate when a random test can take place. It’s expensive and today, employers are gambling with everyone by not following their own policies. It’s not the pothead or the moron……it’s the CEO, not running the company.” I hear that drug testing is becoming more and more common.
One thing, I am told that drug tests are not always accurate. Sometimes they give a false positive. Make sure if you test positive and your company’s policy allows, you see the test results. If you did not do anything illegal and you test positive, then speak up or volunteer to be tested on a regular basis. There was a scam, I was told, going around where companies would ID employees as testing positive to fire them to cut headcount. This is a rumor but it would not surprise me. I try to be fair, I know if something bad happened then the drug testing might be blood to be more accurate. It would not be a swab, urine or blood. I just wanted to bring this up to be fair.
Feedback! Feedback! Feedback!
I talk about the new OSHA release on climbing and winches with Kelly Hill of RCR.
I wrote 2 books. One for the new tower climber, the green hand, to understand that will be expected. The other is a handy aid to help out when you are at the site. I am writing a new book to go over all of the paperwork that you could encounter on the job so you understand what you are working on and what you should be doing. You may expand to other jobs in the industry.
Update: Update: Workers/climbers identified as Josh Harjo and Lucas Mullins are still in the hospital. Worker/climber Don Buffarini was treated and released.
Breaking news, there were workers, assuming tower climbers, hanging from safety lines on a cell tower in Norman, Ok. From what I read it was 2 or 3 workers who were hanging from their safety ropes on the tower. Details are still coming in but they were rushed to the hospital. Some reports say 2 workers were rushed to the hospital, 1 was knocked out.From Norman Transcript, “Norman Fire Deputy Chief Jim Bailey said one of the workers apparently passed out while working up high and others were attempting to help him” which means something must have happened up in the air. It is not known who rescued the hurt worker(s).
Apparently one worker got hurt at 120′ up when a rope broke, rendering him unconscious, then another worker climbed up to attach another rope and he slipped and got hurt. The guy on the tower tried to rescue his coworker but was descending too fast and went directly on a 20′ pole on the ground. All 3 were sent to the hospital and 2 had life threatening injuries.
I got this from Koco.com; “a person who was incapacitated about 120 feet off the ground on a cell tower near North University and Highland Parkway. When crews arrived, they said a man on the tower was unconscious. A second worker was trying to assist the unconscious worker to get him on the ground, according to Bailey. A third worker was also on the pole, but closer to the ground. The two workers began to come down, but were descending rapidly and hit the pole about 20 feet from the ground. After getting them out of their safety harnesses, the two were taken to OU Medical Center with possible life-threatening injuries. The third worker was taken to Norman Regional Medical Center in good condition.“
From News channel 4, kfor.com, “Witnesses say the force knocked him unconscious.The two men were stranded near the top of the tower for about 15 minutes while a third worker tried to get them down.As the third worker climbed to secure a new rope, the two men slipped again.”
Hey, I was looking over the NATE webpage, (for those of you who are green NATE = National Association of Tower Erectors), and they have a new STAR program. (NATE did not ask me to write any of this, I just think it looks interesting!) Now, this has some interesting things in it and I would like to go over them. The page for the program ishere. They will have a live webinar on September 23rd at 11AM EDT. We should all learn from this if possible. Just a warning, it may be boring, I have attended some NATE webinars in the past and they are geared for the tower crew company owner. If you are a climber, keep that in mind! Don’t complain because they set this up to help the owner understand compliance. The guy speaking, Edwin G. Foulke, Jr, is what I would call a legal labor expert having been a leader at OSHA and now he is a partner in the firm Fisher and Phillips LLP. The guy’s write-up is on the web page and is impressive. Let’s see if he can help the tower industry.
First off, there is some free documentation that you should grab. These are all PDF documents that you can download. They may help you set the foundation for some of your checklists that you should already have.
They may not be all that you need but they will help you create your internal documentation. Use them for what they are, a tool and a starting point.
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So what else did I read in this? Well, let me tell you, if you go to theEligibility and Requirementsthen you will see something very interesting. They put requirements on the training. Go to the “Requisite Levels of Training” section. They have 10 OSHA or equivalent for all personnel working at the tower site. I see that meaning not only the climbers, but the ground guys, the technicians, and the engineers. Even the construction workers building the shelter. Anyone who might be working at the tower site. Anyone there should have the 10 hour OSHA training. This is actually very common in all of the construction industry.
Then they state that the 30 hour OSHA training, or equivalent, is required for the competent person on site or the supervisor. Did you read that? They put the requirements, or at least one of them, on the competent person on the site. How many of you had the 30 hour OSHA training? I know many of you did but here it is actually put in writing that it should be required for the competent person on site. This is very important. Somebody has to lay down the requirements and NATE took the first step. This makes a difference as to who is considered a competent person. How many competent people have a 30 hour OSHA? You tell me.
OSHA defines a competent personhereandhere. They say that a competent person is capable of identifying 1) existing and predictable hazards, 2) working conditions that are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and 3) who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them. “By way of training and/or experience, a competent person is knowledgeable of applicable standards, is capable of identifying workplace hazards relating to the specific operation, and has the authority to correct them. Some standards add additional specific requirements which must be met by the competent person”. In1926.32(f)it states, “”Competent person” means one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them.” Get it? A competent person may not only identify the hazards but they have the ability to take corrective action. Who is your competent person on site? Would you take corrective action? Would you do it even if it costs your crew an extra day? Would you honestly?
Then NATE states that all people working above 6 feet should be trained in fall protection. Well that seems really obvious to me, but trained how? On the job or in a class or by the company or is it up to the companies discretion? It seems obvious that companies should do this but then again look at the company that was recently fined for sending workers up the tower unprepared.
So what are the requirements of your company? Are the standards in writing for the company. I often get mixed feedback. Some have a written policy while others don’t. We are living in a world where we need to document everything and we need to make sure we have it posted somewhere for all of the employees to see. Make sure that your company has everything available for everyone to see.
Defining the requirements is something that should be done day one, especially for a competent person. It should be changing as the industry changes, so it may change monthly. All requirements need to be in writing and they should be reviewed often. This industry is still maturing and as the bidding process may drive some prices down, safety should never be compromised.Safety is not cheap but neither is carelessness.
Tell me what you think!
BIG LOGS!
So how is your company at keeping safety and training logs? Do they do a good job? How do you know? Did you see them? Can you go back a year? Do they document the training? Do they keep a copy of all of your certifications? They should need them to present to the customer and the tower owner, so if they are not keeping them on record, in paper or soft copy, then what is going on? Maybe you want to look into that.
BIG BUTS!
When you ask you company for some of this information, do they say “yeah but”? Can they produce the documentation you ask for? Will they open up about how much they insure the job? Do they? We all have buts, and if they are big buts then you need to evaluate what is up their but. Due diligence is key to awareness and protection. Be aware of how your company is handling their logs and avoid the buts!
I got 3 things to talk about today – drugs, morons, and steel.
Drugs:
Let’s start with drugs, yes drugs. In fact, I will make it simple, let’s talk about marijuana, pot, hemp, or the wacky weed. Whatever you want to call it, pot stays in your system for quite a while. I read this article about POT onTruth on Potwhich says that detectable amounts are in the system for up to 12 hours, but could be detectable for up to 27 hours. Why am I telling you this, because if you smoke the night before and then you have a drug test the following day, guess what, you may fail. If there is an accident and they test everyone, then if there is a trial it is no longer about the accident but about the incompetent drug user on the site. In fact the blame may be put on the guy smoking. So we probably will have drug testing for all tower crews in the near future. Apparently, from the feedback I have been getting most people just can’t stop. One big party on the road. More pot articles arehereandhereorhere. Remember that if something bad happens, there will be someone looking to lay blame, who better to blame than the pothead? Drug test should be mandatory after every incident. Random drug tests may become the standard. Get ready for the changes.
If you care about the coworkers on your site, you need to curb your habits! Even if you are on cold medicine, you need to speak up and say something. Anything that could dull your senses or could cause problems should be brought to the chief’s/boss’ attention. If you are the chief, then wake up and let your crew know. Team relies on each other to live. Lives matter, blame is too late.
Wake up pothead, I don’t care what you do on your own time, none of my business, but if a family loses anything because you’re smoking dope then we have real problems. This industry needs professionals!
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Morons:
So now we come to the morons section. This is something that most of you don’t want to admit. Hey, I was a moron a few times, what set me apart was that I learned from my mistakes and I asked for help. Isn’t it great that when someone on Facebook has a legitimate question and all the people can do is rip that guy apart for being stupid! I would like to start my own forum so I can kick those guys out. We are all professionals here, grow up. Are you a skilled professional or a laborer? Which is it? There are places for both on the crew – it’s just nice to know where you stand. What can you tell me about the job you are on? I have done both, but if you are just there for the paycheck, remember that lives are on the line. Don’t be a moron!
Steel:
And now the steel section, we need to be safe on the steel. Are we looking at the big picture when it comes to safety on the tower? Do we know how safe the tower is? Did someone look at the structural? Yes, they usually do because it is an obvious hazard that can be easily, although not cheaply, looked at.
What about the tie off points? Did anyone look to see if the tower was safe to climb and if the climber had tie off points? Ever climb a monopole where the pegs are loose? I did. Ever climb a tower where the face is so huge you need to go to the top and climb down another leg to rig in safety lines? Yup, did that too. Did you ever take two people to rig a safety line to cross a face? I did that too. It’s all extra work.
What if the tower has a ladder up the middle then you need to be able to descend to the point you are working at. Usually in something like that there is very little to tie off to for your positioning lanyard much less another point to tie off your safety lanyard. You probably will need to stay attached to the rope but it’s not an ideal situation. Should the tower owner clean that up? Should they make an effort to make the towers or monopoles as safe as possible for the climbers? Yes, absolutely! Are they doing this? You tell me! Tell me in the form below because I think that when there is an accident they are often overlooked. I worked on many towers where there were so few tie off points. It really helps when they are readily available. They can be added but it costs money.Remember this article?
Feedback let’s me know what you want to know!
I think the goal should be that if there is an accident at the tower, we can unconditionally look at the guy that’s hurt and see he was at fault! That should be the goal, to clearly identify the fault, equipment failure or stupidity. Now, however, we are still not doing that. We are still guessing at what happened. Isn’t it time we start taking every excuse for an accident away? We all know that people have to work at heights, we all know how to improve some towers, and we all know that no one wants to spend the money to do it. This is one way to eliminate a problem.
We really need to work together. Remember that this is only one hazard. Keeping hydrated on the tower is a simple way to eliminate another hazard. Working as a team will eliminate more hazards. Daily inspections eliminate another hazard. Tailgate meetings and planning, eliminate more hazards. Hazard assessment – make things as safe as possible, as a team. Training will eliminate another hazard. Practice rescue techniques, keep first aid kits andtrauma kitshandy.
My Books below. I wrote them to get you started but now I am going to put together some more to keep you going. Understand that you can build a career path to get you beyond climbing.
Hey, I thought I would offer more near miss stories because I saw that there was another rescue of some guys working a monopole on August 11th, 2014. They are not climbing but they were in a lift. Go tohttp://www.khl.com/magazines/access-lift-and-handlers/detail/item99810/Two-injured-in-boom-accidentandhttp://kingston.wickedlocal.com/article/20140815/NEWS/140818333 to see how employees working for Timberline Construction got stuck in a lift. These poor guys were probably happy to be on a lift and it breaks down. They called in for help at 5:11PM local time when the Kingston Fire Department was dispatched. The platform on the lift fell about 30’, they were about 135’ in the air. Hard and fast, then stopped. This was enough to injury the 2 men on the lift, one had facial injuries and the other had ankle injuries. It had to be scary for these guys on the lift. Actually that turned out to be a good thing because they must have been about 130 feet up and that brought them down to 100’ where the fire department’s ladder could reach. Apparently there was a loud bang before the fall.
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When both Kingston Fire Department and Plymouth Fire Department crews got on site they did not want to try to operate the list because of the problems so they sent the PFD ladder up to help these guys. Thank GOD they are alive and well. This is a mechanical failure that could have been really bad but turned out well. These guys got to go home at night with a few injuries and a story. Very special thanks go out to the Kingston Fire Department!
Both workers had all the safety gear on and were wearing it properly! They are alive to tell us that today. The workers were treated. PFD and KFD kept the lift open until OSHA arrived to investigate. Then they cleared the scene.
The lift was a Genie Z-135/70. About a year ago, June 2013, in Buckinghamshire, UK, there was another accident on this type of lift that ended in death. The owner of those boom, Kimberly Access grounded the fleet and after investigation they devised a new safety procedure before putting the fleet back to work. UK’s Health and Safety and Kimberly Access conducted a full investigation to come to this conclusion.
Story 1: After I left my one company they had to raise some large dishes on a tower in upstate NY. Well the plan was to raise the dish and there were still crates of hardware all over the site. The dish was not directly under the tower. To save time they thought they would use the winch to move it and just guide it in. Well, when they raised the dish, it kicked, and pushed one guy towards the hardware crate where his leg, just above the ankle, got pinned between the crate and the dish, guess what happened, his leg snapped. It went from straight to a 90 degrees in seconds and was pinned until the rest of the people could get over there to free him. It happened so fast that some people were in shock. It pays to plan and have a clean site. He was laid up for a very long time. Lesson learned: clean site, plan the lift, tag the load, prepare the people, make sure the winch guy is on the same page as the crew.
Story 2: We were changing out a TV stack from a 90′ analog stack to a 65′ digital. When the new stack came up 1 of the crew members forgot to stay at the tower top to help land it and instead went up to the rooster head of the gin pole. When the guy tried landing it alone he got the first spud perfect but crossed holes on the second. We came down with all the weight resting on the spud. When we tried to take the weight back up, the stack jumped 4′ up, then came crashing back down into the tower top. We pinned it, but bent our gin pole pretty good. Could have been a bad day if it snapped. Lesson learned: plan where each person should be at the time of the lift, stick to the plan unless there is a good reason not to.
Lessons learned? You tell me! Other Lessons Learned postshereandhereandhere.
Thank you all for the Near miss stories and keep them coming!
Talk to me! Email me atwade4wireless@gmail.comor message me on Facebook or leave the information below. Or call and leave a message at my Google voice mail at 510-516-4283.
Do you love the Hubble Foundation because they need you now more than ever!
By the way, if you read this far, I am planning to put out a new program training the tower workers on the paperwork and processes needed in this industry.
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