What do the deployment teams think of FirstNet? What do you think of FirstNet? Yes, FirstNet. For all of us who were looking forward to building FirstNet, guess what, it is only going to help you if you already work for a carrier, a large carrier, probably AT&T. Yes, the carriers are rule the industry.
The way it looks is AT&T are the front-runners, not because of anything specific, just because they are interested in the offer and they are apparently the perfect fit. Maybe Rivada can get in there, but it will be an uphill battle for them. The only competition I could see is if T-Mobile or Verizon show interest, which they didn’t yet. If they do come out as bidders, great, but the way it looks at this moment in time is that AT&T has a lock on it.
If you are a contractor for AT&T, things look pretty good for you. I believe that the engineers and installers have a great opportunity to get in on the AT&T growth spurt, in 2017. I don’t see much happening before 2017 because this process of approvals, contracts, and agreements will go slow. When they do ramp up, go baby go! Then in 2018 or 2019 we should see the densification of the FirstNet network for better coverage. It’s a long wait, but worth it.
So this will not be a normal public safety offer, really it won’t look like public safety at all. In fact, I am curious how Motorola will survive moving forward, but that is another story. For this story we need to look at this as just another carrier expansion. This is one that the carriers will continue with business as usual, that is, until something doesn’t work or goes wrong then the finger-pointing will begin. I hope they forego the finger-pointing and decide to just push ahead. It will be a new system built on an existing system that will have glitches. Then the advancements will begin, like push to talk, PTT, and over the top, OTT, services for all of you to start adding to the system.
FirstNet will add a lot of work but the way I see it, it will be as an expansion to the AT&T system. The one thing that AT&T will need to do is build the markets they may not have, like rural Alaska and Hawaii where there may be little or no coverage. They may also need to improve coverage where FirstNet needs to cover real estate. How will they do this? Partners, they will trade spectrum, specifically the Band 14 of FirstNet, to a smaller local carrier just like they do now. Then they will setup roaming between systems.
Roaming is relatively simple for carriers now. They just bill in whatever terms the contract states, by minute or by call, whatever. They do it all the time between all the carriers. This is how a basic MVNO agreement works. A company, like Virgin Mobile here in the US, has a billing system tied into a large carrier and then create an agreement billing by the minute, a bulk of minutes, or be billed by subscriber. These are ways that the MVNO can work and probably what Rivada will have to do to be competitive.
I was hoping that FirstNet would spark the industry, but I was wrong. It will merely help the dominance of the carriers over all the wireless systems in the USA.
I bring this up because public safety was the last stand for small business, the last stand for a regional business to do work outside of the carrier world. Broadcast appears to be changing and winding down. Broadcast was a place where smaller businesses were still prevalent. Well, those days are coming to a close, aren’t they? The 600MHz auction is shutting that door. Now, if you don’t do carrier work or tower modifications, then you had better be getting into pole placement for small cell expansion.
What a let-down, the FirstNet team took a long time to hand it over to a carrier. I guess it should not surprise me because they do LTE so well, but I thought it would be an opportunity for a new player to come in. With all of their money and backing, I have to root for Rivada just to see what they will do different. I know that the $6B budget that they have looks inviting, but the only realistic way they can get there is to partner with a carrier. It makes perfect sense for the FirstNet team.
So what can you do? Sit back and wait for the deployment, next year, hopefully early in 2017 we will see real work rolling out. I am looking forward to it!
What are you thinking? Let me know and I’ll sign you up for my newsletters.
Remember that OSHA is working hard to keep your job safe!
I wanted to give you an update on the NATE Unmanned Aerial Systems Committee. I was lucky enough to attend a meeting at NATE Unite with this group and it was open to all who wanted to go and got up at 6:30AM in New Orleans to attend. That’s right, it was at 6:30AM, in New Orleans in a conference room. I am an early riser so it was not big deal for me, but some people had a hard time making it. You know who you are!
I would like to thank Todd Schlekeway for arranging this and for all the committee members for being so open with the information as well as listening to the input of the crowd. He did a great job of pulling this together.
A good crowd showed up, especially for 6:30AM, I believe there were more than 30 people there
First, some history. The committeewas formed back in October of 2015 and consisted of:
Greg Emerick (Sentera; Licensed Pilot)
Jim Goldwater (Bob Lawrence & Associates)
John Paul Jones (Tower & Turbine Technologies, LLC; Licensed Pilot)
Phil Larsen (HAZON Solutions; UAV Pilot and Student Pilot)
Jimmy Miller (MillerCo, Inc.; Licensed Pilot)
Todd Schlekeway (NATE)
So this early morning meeting was to inform the public the progress of the committee. The meeting opened up lighthearted enough with introductions and someone said they just wanted to know what a drone was, you know who you are!
This is something they are addressing with the FAA. The FAA is currently overwhelmed by all of the applications and registrations and complaints around drones. They are everywhere and not everyone likes them. The key thing is to make sure that the tower industry uses drones responsibly and legally. Professionalism will be a big part of drone usage.
While I was told that the FAA is on board, the want to move ahead, but they don’t have the manpower to do anything at this time.
Todd called up a document that is being created by the committee to outline what NATE believes the policy should be for the tower industry.
They talked about how they are going to focus their message around training and education. Everyone already knows the value of drones, the reduced number of climbs, the real-time video, the pictures, the GPS information that can be grabbed. We all know the obvious benefits. What more people don’t’ know, outside of the committee members, are the rules! That’s right, there are so many rules that the drone pilots need to follow when using a drone for business. Education is the key to making drone usage safe and professional.
I have some ideas that might help, I will put them in my newsletter because they might not align with what most people are thinking. So if you want to see them, sign up below.
I want to congratulate NATE for doing a great job with the progression of drones in this industry. I believe that the carriers, tower owners, and tower crews will all benefit from the usage of drones in wireless work. I am hoping that we can make this happen on a wide scale. I think that once the FCC points out to the FAA how valuable drones will be in the tower industry for site inspections and OSHA points out the value in safety audits then the FAA will push the tower industry to the front of the pack for the drone decision-making.
Be smart, be safe, and pay attention! Keep the faith!
You may not know but I will be speaking at IWCE. IWCE asked me back to do 3 sessions. Find out how to register here. (If you want to walk to floor or get a discount, enter the code SPK) Are you a fan of what IWCE? I am because the people in the wireless industry can learn so much. I know that I put a lot of time, effort, and money into going to these events. I put together the presentation, prepare the talk, and hope I can answer all of the questions thrown at me. I really like doing it because I get to meet so many people.
These sessions are put together to not only teach you about wireless technologies and processes, but also to give you a diverse view of the technologies available. When working in wireless you learn there is more than CDMA and LTE, like what the carriers use. (That may include GSM, but I digress.) Public safety relies on real-time communication that trunking systems can provide. They rely on TETRA and P25 to communicate. I think it’s important to realize that Wi-Fi and broadband access is also a common technology that many of us take for granted. These are all examples of wireless technologies that are used daily. If you ask the first responders what they use, they just know that they have a reliable communications system, they may not know if its TETRA or P25, but they know that they rely on their radios for backup and constant communication Whether that radio is their radio on their belt or the cell phone that they use daily, either one is a necessity in today’s world. Eventually they will merge into one, which is what I see.
World’s smallest LTE Network/micro broadband networks for mission-critical coverage: Mohan Tammisetti, CTO & Founder, and Gary Monetti, Associate, Virtualnetcom
Leverage Wi-Fi to Maximize LTE Coverage and Capacity: Wim Brouwer, Nokia
Convergent Management Systems as Enabler of Efficiency for Critical Operations in hybrid networks: Sami Honkaniemi, Managing Director of Mentura Group.
Nam Paik, TSi Power Corporation (Power management, touch on different options battery backup, fuel cell, diesel generator, solar, wind)
I would like to thank the teams at IWCE that make this possible. It is a huge undertaking. They really do a good job. Thank you for adding me to this impressive line up!
One thing that I wanted to see is the progress of drones in the wireless industry, Guess what, NATE is pushing the drone education. I put it like that because the FAA can’t keep up! They don’t know how to handle this new industry. In my opinion they are not addressing the tower industry’s needs fast enough. I am hoping that the FCC will help them understand the role drones will play in tower safety and inspections enough to work with the FAA move ahead with the education of the drone industry.
There was a drone session where Todd Thorin of Sioux Falls Tower talked about what he has done with drones so far was great to see. However, one thing to think about is what the FAA will allow so we need to take heed before just flying drones. However, Todd did more testing for drones that we should document. He tested drones near dishes, broadcast antennas, cell antennas, almost every frequency of antenna. He has valuable feedback that we really should share with the industry so that we know how drones will react. This is a learning process for all of us, so let’s learn from his experiences. For those of you who don’t know, Todd put out a bunch of videos on YouTube, here are some samples:
In the session Todd had some great videos from his flights to show how we can use this in the industry. All these structural engineers and tower owners who won’t climb are able to use this dates to review the actual heights, mounts, positions, and all the problems on the tower. By the way, if you’re a contractor that took shortcuts on the tower and then lied to the owner, (you know who you are), don’t expect to work for that company when they see what you have done, thanks to drones! Drones will expose the problems that truly exist on the tower because now owners can look at the tower from a new perspective. How cool is that? If you remember at the FCC DOL Tower Safety Workshop Richard Cullum of Crown Castle Tower mentions how they used contractors and they had to take the word of the contractors as to what they did, so this seems like a solution to prove if they really did things right or if they just lied to get paid! Crown Castle should do this today!
Todd was able to resolve tower issues. He told a story of where a contractor and the tower owner had a dispute over how a mount was installed near a lamp. They argued and eventually the tower owner called Todd to take pictures. Well, this made the owner aware of so many more issues. For instance there were several problems on the tower with equipment not mounted where it should have been along with problems with some of the mounting on the tower. I don’t remember all the drone pictures showed the owner all of the real problems with the tower, all the mistakes on the tower that were building up. This was a situation where the owner lost faith in the contractor so they brought in a third-party that could check on the tower at a very reasonable price and present unbiased pictures and videos to present to both sides. This really helped the tower owner see what was really going on up there where he relied on contractors to tell him or take pictures 3 or 4 feet from the tower. It was an eye opener. I really hope this is something that we can use for pre-climb inspections as well as close out packages at some point. I also think this would be a great tool for safety inspections and to be used when training climbers. There are new tools coming out for the training perspective where the climber wears a body camera or a camera on his climbing helmet, but I will talk about that in the future.
Dave Culler also talked about what Hazon Solutions has done. They showed video of work they have done for utilities. They showed video of utility tower and line inspections that they have done. It really is impressive. They were called out to inspect the equipment after a storm because the drone team could deploy quickly and get access to areas that would have been a challenge for any crew. So this way they immediately know where to send the workers to do repairs on problems that may not be noticed from the ground. One example was the cotter pins that were starting to work their way out of bolt that would have caused a high power line to drop, and the utility company dispatched teams immediately to do this repair. By the way, they don’t use just a HD camera, but a 4K camera to catch all the details.
Hazon also brought up the use of LIDAR on the drones to make 3D images of the towers. I think this is a great idea but there are now more and more options coming out for 3D modeling of towers and utility lines. LIDAR is a system that can make 3D models of whatever you are catching. It is very accurate in its model, help you identify the accurate AGL and to the detail where you can catch missing washers.
Remember that drones have so many rules to follow. If you plan to use drones, then plan to be educated to do things properly and to make sure that don’t fly over people that have no idea what the drone is for. The utility companies have a system down where they put out flyers to explain when they will be doing something with drones. They let the people know ahead of time and educate them why its being done.
I want to congratulate the people who got some accolades at the NATE Unite conference.
Jim Tracey of Legacy is not the new NATE Chairman.
Jim Miller of EasTex Tower is still Vice Chairman.
Kari Carlson of Tower Systems was reelected as NATE Secretary/Treasurer.
Video: https://youtu.be/lf5PofeKmzY Todd talks about the diversity of work that small cells and DAS have brought to the industry.
Video: https://youtu.be/UT-IJGNLzUI this is a full recording, (1 hour and 23 minutes), of the NWSA panel. For those of you living under a rock, the NWSA is the National Safety Wireless Alliance, which has a group of volunteers from the tower industry working to set standards for testing and certification in the tower industry that will include tower climbing skills, rigging, and tower work certifications that will be the standard across the industry. You will need to pass this certification to work in this industry someday. Credentials matter!
NATE is getting work done at this conference with the NWSA meetings. I know that they are doing more than that but I want to point out that the NWSA certifications are really going to change the industry. If you haven’t already spent time learning what it is about, now is the time! Again, to do work in this industry you will need to get certified through the NWSA program. For all of you that run crews, no more guessing if the person has the experience! Soon you can look at their NWSA certification verify it is real in a database. TIRAP is aligned with the NWSA certification, so the apprentice program will align with the industry standards for training. This is real change in this industry that will make a solid improvement across the tower industry. Resources will be tight at first, but when the certifications ramp up and the training improves, we will have a trained and solid workforce across the industry where this will be a career, not just a job.
I walked the floor, and if you want to see who was on the floor, look at the list, found here, to see who was there. There is a quick list here. I have to tell you, Ensahad a really cool booth where they had climbers on their tower all day, pretty cool! GMAhad a nice booth and it was big and busy, good job guys! I tried to talk to as many people as I could, no easy task.
I would like to thank all of you that came up to me and said hi. There were too many to name them all. Most of you I have talked to on Facebook, LinkedIn, or email. I want you all to stay in touch. Feel free to reach out and let me know what you thought of the conference. I gave most of you my card, but all of you that read this or listen to the podcast know that I can be reached atwade4wireless@gmail.com. Yes, I may be slow to get back to you, but you know I will if you send me something to talk about.
I know that I have been covering drones a lot this year, and I spent quite a bit of time with Matt of Unmanned Experts and a commercial pilot and a certified flight instructor, 970-231-5807, www.unmannedexperts.com, but you could see drones everywhere at the show. Matt was at the Tower Safety and Instruction booth,www.towersafety.com, where he is training drone pilots for them.
I spent some time at the Hazon booth, www.hazonsolutions.comwhere they had their new drone with a carbon fiber body on display, pretty cool. It was really light and sturdy. One of the main problems with drones is that they are delicate and break very easily. Not something you can ship, especially when the professionals spend over $100K on a drone. It ain’t cheap folks! They currently do some testing on towers but they have done so much work for the utility companies already.
To report an emergency, fatality, or imminent life threatening situation please contact our toll-free number immediately: 1-800-321-OSHA (6742)
I also got to spend some time with Lee Priest of Etak, www.etaksolutions.com, who showed me how they do 3D modeling of the tower by taking photos with the GPS metadata in them all around the tower to build a beautiful model that looks like the real tower but you can get the AGL of almost anything on the tower.
Best stickers of the show go to Rope and Rescue, www.ropeandrescue.com, where my friend Jacob Wallace gave me some stickers that he designed and made. Good job Jacob. To be honest he sent me some before and I want to thank him for sharing. Thanks Jacob!
I want to point something out that’s really cool, Comstar, http://www.comstarusa.org/, has a great training program that is geared to get you off on the right foot in this industry. I spent some time with Rick Ledford who has an amazing program. They have a 6 week accredited program that they vets can use the GI bill, it’s really quite impressive. What’s that, you want to work with fiber? Well they have a great program for fiber technician work. By the way, if you think you just spend time there and get your certificate, think again. You will need to pass a test to get the certification. Skaters fail, workers win!
However, what really caught my attention was the body cameras he is developing for the tower industry. I will tell you more after I interview Rick for this blog, but that is a teaser. I see it as innovative, it goes way beyond what GoPro can do!
OK, I gave you enough for today. I plan to tell you a lot more.
Hello again as I return from NATE Unite, which was awesome! I really have to thank the NATE team for all that they have done for this year’s conference. I really had a great time.
First off, I want to thank the NATE team for putting this all together in an efficient way that we could attend sessions and walk the floor. Great job team! You really outdid yourself this year. I believe everyone there was thankful for all the hard work and the results that they saw there. Great job team NATE!
Second, I want to thank all of you that I saw there and came up to say hi. I wish I had time to talk to all of you. I really appreciate the feedback and conversations I had with all of you. It really means a lot to me that you would take the time to talk. I am also happy that no one came up and hit me! I appreciate being surrounded by friends. In this industry we consider each other brothers and sisters. When you go to this event you see how the companies are more than just a place to work, or just a team, they become families. When someone leaves a company, they are not forgotten but remembered, hopefully in a good way, just like when a family member leaves the nest. When you do tower work, you learn to respect your fellow workers because you understand what they do and what they risk.
The sessions all were full, the attendance was amazing. I wish I would have made them all. In fact, there was a meeting at the Hilton for drones at 6:30AM and there was a large group of people who attended at 6:30AM off site and it was a great meeting that went on for over an hour! Everyone was very active in the meeting. When a team is in New Orleans and gets to a meeting at 6:30AM to talk drones in the tower industry, it tells me that we have a very dedicated team of workhorses! This team will put the limits of technology and safety for this industry. That’s right, the wireless & tower industry where the steel meets the airwaves!
The sessions that I attended were great and I really think all the speakers did a good job. I know that the lunch and dinner speakers were also interesting to watch.
I got there in time to see the dedication to Ernie Jones that was moving by dedicating a scholarship in his name to the school near his home. His wife was honored and seemed to be very moved by the heartfelt and emotional dedication of the scholarship in his name.
I walked the floor and it was great to see the people that I have communicated with on Facebook, LinkedIn, and email. I got so many cards from all of you. I still didn’t get to talk to everyone, sadly, but if you were there and we didn’t hook up, or even if we did, let me know by emailing me at wade4wireless@gmail.com. I want to know what you thought of the show.
Did you see Sean Payton’s keynote speech? It was great to have him there. Unfortunately I had to take a call during his talk so let me know what you thought of him.
This panel covered the RFI that OSHA put out last year to the tower climbing community, the people on the front lines, for Information on Tower Climber Safety, OSHA-2014-0018, and click here to learn more about it.
I will be at the NATE Unite conference February 23rd and 24th, will you be there? Let’s talk if you are! So who is going? The exhibit floor, map found here, where I will be the 24th to meet and greet as many people as I can! The schedule, found here. See you at NATE Unite! Remember that the TFF will auction off a professional drone package, details here.
Thank you FCC and DoL/OSHA for putting this together, for taking the time to show you care about making this a better industry.
David Sams, SBA Communications, Vice Chair for TIRAP board
Laurie Gebhardt, Verizon Wireless
Jonathan Adelstein, PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association, President and CEO of PCIA
Opening Remarks
Dave Anthony gave praise to NATE and many other organizations for all of their support to the tower technician workforce. He explained how complex the business really is and how much sacrifice the tower workers give each day. He also brought up how common training certification will make a difference in the industry. It is important that we continue to educate and train the tower workforce moving ahead. This documentation and standardization will lead to uniform safety across the industry.
Chase told us that he sees TIRAP a bit differently because he is the climber on the front line. He also mentions how many changes he has seen in this industry and went through the history of his training. And how much better it is now compared to when he started. How MUTI training took training from a one day class to a week-long training program. MUTI training makes the climbers safer and professional.
David told a story how when he started with SBA he was on his 10th day on the job and he got a call that one of his foreman fell and died. He then said how SBA had no safety program. He went to management and explained that they need to follow the regulations from OSHA and they needed to make changes. Two years later they lost one of their climbers from a fall in Florida. Today they have a serious and dedicated safety program. He sat down with Scott Kisting about how to make changes in the industry.
Then Laurie opened with how the demands put on the network demands a vast number of people with a wide variety of skills to roll out the network. It is important to Verizon that they know that people are properly trained. TIRAP is just such a program where the workers training is standardized and nationally recognized. Verizon has established programs to verify the vendor’s safety programs and certifications. They have hired a third-party to verify the contractor’s certifications. They don’t want anyone to get hurt or lose a life building their network. They feel that standardization across the industry will really help.
Jonathon talked about his time with the FCC and thanked everyone for focusing on safety on the 20th anniversary of the telecom act. He pointed out how telecom has exploded in growth. He then said how growth means that the programs to train the works needs to be set and standardized for the workforce. Then he said how the workforce needs to provide an opportunity for the workers. They are bringing in academic institutions and veterans to build careers in this industry. To develop a career.
First question asked by Matthew Warner. Has TIRAP advanced its 3 main goals, safety, quality, and job advancement for workers?
Dave responded with how pleased he was to develop the training standards for each of the climbers to do their job at each level, and how TIRAP is supported by volunteers. By pursuing this course it will make the industry better with safety and standards.
David agreed with Dave and also said how it’s self-funded and full of volunteers. He feels what they have accomplished in the past year is remarkable with the job titles and curriculum they have set up it a great start. They are working to get more codes for more job titles. Although slower than they would like it to be it is making progress. They are looking for volunteers to help.
Laurie felt good about the push forward but she thinks that they could improve by getting more HR departments involved in this program. There is plenty of work to be done and they would love to have more people help.
Jonathon said that they formed an apprenticeship program that stretches across the industry and that is a first. There is a long way to go but it’s a start-up, a small group that is really working on big ideas. They really want to make it grow quickly. It’s difficult to help all the companies with the help they need because of the small TIRAP group. He would like to hand it to the companies so they can see how much it will help them improve.
Joseph said about how TIRAP took a lot of time creating ONET codes so that the jobs can be recognized by the DOL, why is this so important?
David said that SBA has job titles and job description to provide uniformity to their workforce across the nation. This apprenticeship program is providing a career path instead of just a job. This states that the tower industry in wireless will provide a career path for them to earn money and build it into more. The ONET code is the catalyst behind all of that.
Then Joseph followed up with, “what is the major advantages of providing ONET codes regarding safety quality, job advancement, and universal understanding of qualifications for this industry.
David came back pointing out that the training curriculum is based on the ONET code in the job title. Each person has their qualifications based on that curriculum so they should all be trained the same. He said that the agreement between TIRAP and NWSA agreeing on the training so that the industry is completely aligned no matter how you get trained, with for NWSA or through TIRAP, the standards are the same and uniform.
Then Matthew asked Chase if he could explain if he would want to see TIRAP trained people working for him and with him. Especially if he went to another company.
Chase said that as a TIRAP member you start as an apprentice and then you work your way up. If he were to go to another company then he would have the certification, the training, the card, and the new company would know exactly what he is trained for. If you don’t have this certification then you really don’t know what the new guy was trained for. With TIRAP you have the structure in the training so you know that they know how to be safe and do their job.
So Matthew asked if the training changed. with MUTI in the last 4 years?
Chase said when he started training was 1 day with going up one tower and making sure you know how to tie off. Now they have class study and tower training that lasts a week to go over training and a competent training class. They also have continued education with teams that come out and do audits of the climbers knowledge
Then Matthew asked a question from the audience, “A new climbers first time on the tower should not be on the job,, are tower owners willing to allow access to the towers for training?”
Chase said that they do have a training tower as well as classroom so it will not be a=on the job but there is on the job training.
Then David jumped in and said that its SBA policy not to allow any training on their towers due to the risk and liability and that they do not have the faith in how most folks dot he training, and that they have their own program. That is SBA policy.
Joseph then asked how Chase would improve training to ensure that he and his team is safe, what could companies to make them all safe?
Chase responded stating that no job is more important than the tower climber’s life so if they feel at risk they should now they don’t have to climb. That should filter down to the climber so that they can stop the job at any time. They save an acronym called SAUCE, Stop, Assess, Understand, Communicate, Execute, this is what they do when there is an issue at the site.
Matthew has followed up with stating that they have good practices, how do we make that a best practice for the industry.
David said that everything they do they are trying to make a common practice. He also said how the workers spend a week in training first before they are deployed. They are taught what they need to know which is very similar to the TIRAP curriculum.
Jonathon said that TIRAP is really about sharing best practices, looking at how they can do things right. This is being spread across the industry with TIRAP. They are working to developed more training. They are also promoting TIA standards and getting the word out in the industry. Now TIRAP is working on videos on YouTube to be released to train the workers to do the job right.
Joseph ask Chase, have you noticed that following TIRAP procedures that you are improving your practice in the job have you been able to notice when someone is doing something wrong that you can improve the practices?
Chase said that he spends more time with his crew then with his family, so they are family and it makes them look out for each other. He is picking up and showing the new workers how to improve their work. He also learns from others and to learn from them
Matthew asked about how you know when the contractor is telling the truth about their training?
Laurie said that they evaluate the contractors on several factors, safety, length of time in the industry, and track record with OSHA. There really is no set of criteria to evaluate how good they really are. So they like that if they could have a uniform way to see what their workers can do with uniform certifications. This will help align contractors with the certifications. How does a carrier know who does the actual training versus someone who just copied credentials. So with TIRAP setting a uniform training and certification program to let them know what they can and cannot do.
Then Matthew asked what would be the ultimate solution for that, but ONET codes won’t really help the carriers, but what would help Verizon verify who is qualified?
Laurie would like to see a way that they could look at a database it would really help. There isn’t anything at this time but the sooner they have it the better.
Then David brought up that this is a real problem in this industry. He said the way to stop these companies it to catch them in the industry, but doing site audits.
Then Dave said that NWSA will help align their training credentials with a database lookup. This training has 37 different jobs that they will code which means one size does not fit all, but each one will be specialized. So they are being very specific about the training and certifications which is specific to the scope of work.
Joseph asked what is TIRAPs method for validation of training and how will this be different from internal training programs?
Dave came back and said that the federal government will have a role in this. Credentials will back up what they say and the government will back up prosecuting anyone with false credentials.
Joseph asked if the TIRAP board could do more to create standardized training modules and does the all-volunteer TIRAP board have the resources to complete this?
Dave said they need more time and money. They are taxing OSHA to support them which needs more time and money to support this program. Dave asked them to step and be all in. They need the support of the government to help them achieve the goal, the commitment to support them.
Then Jonathon brought up that this is a startup phase but they expect that when the larger companies start to pitch in then they can quickly adopt the apprenticeship programs then things will start to roll ahead faster.
Then David said that the program for the smaller companies that can’t hire a training staff, it will really help. What a great way to train veterans to be trained and use the GI Bill to get trained.
Matthew then asked what TIRAP could do to help veterans.
Dave (on the board for Warriors for Wireless) brought up that veterans are looking to build a career because they are always looking to advance. The wireless industry didn’t have that before but now they are building career paths for the people to get a job that they can succeed in and grown. A career that they will enjoy. A career that they will support their family with.
Jonathon said that this is the perfect industry for veterans because they are team oriented, safety oriented, and many are leaders. Maybe they want to move into different jobs and that is open to them now. The GI Bill could be used to train the veteran workforce and help them move ahead. The men and woman of the military are perfect to build a culture of safety.
Matthew wondered if Verizon would pay a higher rate to hire TIRAP trained contractors.
Laurie said that the job does not always go to the lowest bidder but to someone who is the most qualified and has the training in place. She said that Verizon understands that when a contractor says they need a man lift that they would allow that.
Matthew then asked could third-party auditing contractors, would that help.
David said it is very hard to stop this, no matter what you do it may not stop. They ask for the training certificates for the people on site and they did over 500 audits last year. The problem is that you have several companies that play this game and do not train people properly. He doesn’t think that audits could help.
Laurie said that audits would be a good place to start but it will not be enough. It’s a step in the right direction.
Matthew asked, Most companies are money driven and TIRAP would be driven by company owners, so if new companies pop up during the busy time, how would you know who is trained and who isn’t?
Dave said that the workers will not get the certificate until that worker is qualified and passes the certification program in TIRAP and NWSA. The on-the-job training for TIRAP is more thorough and requires more validation. The apprenticeship part of that will help as well but it takes time to get all of this in place. The workforce will be trained for their specific job, then there should also be a no tolerance policy for the cheaters. There isn’t one thing to be done but all of it has to be done right. It take time and adjustments to do it right. Do we love money or do we love the people that work for us? Dave asked his guys to stand up and we all applauded because he made the point that he loves his guys and he doesn’t want to see any of them get hurt. He thinks that all contractors should decide what they love more, their people or money. He hires the right guy for the job. He states that each company and worker will stand the test of time and that the industry is moving in that direction. We want to build something that is enduring.
Then Joseph asked how TIRAP works for the climbers for someone who has been in the industry for years.
David said that they can test out at each level.
Closing remarks
Dave said that we got a long way and let’s work it together. Each group has to do what they need to do be successful.
Chase said that safety starts with the company so if the company isn’t safe then the climber will take shortcuts. Don’t let complacency creep in because if you get complacent on the tower then you have accidents. Stay 100/100.
David thanked the FCC and OSHA and thinks that the industry needs more workshops like this. He said that he does not want to investigate any more fatalities, he has looked into 17.
Laurie said that safety is paramount and it needs to be the culture at all levels from the climber to the contractors to the engineers to the carriers. Everyone needs to accept that they have a role in safety. For the culture change we need to stop focusing on the money and focus on each other so we all are safe for the next time.
Jonathon said that we are in a special industry, wireless broadband that improves not only our lifestyle but for public safety. This will make changes by creating jobs and providing safety. We need to align the safety with the growth and the demands for mobile data. We need to do it right.
Then Kathy Pierce, a volunteer with the Hubble Foundation, gave a moving speech about her loss. Her son died 2 years ago and she was so emotional when she spoke of her son, Chad Weller who died working on a water tank about 2 years ago on March 19th in 2014. She was very emotional and it was so sad, it is very hard for her to talk about this. Kathy talked about how you need to climb with a clear mind. Safety isn’t someone else’s responsibility, it is yours. Everyone involved needs to be held accountable. It is not just one person’s fault. She brought up how her son made a difference in that company and she found it very sad that it took her son to die for that company to realize that they need to improve safety. Why does it take anyone’s family member to decide that they need to be strict on safety? She said that her son made a huge impact on their lives when he was here and now he is making a big impact on others now that he is gone. Kathy asked us all too truly commit ourselves to make a change to make the industry safer for all involved.Then Michael gave the closing thank you to all that attended and to his team.
I would like to thank the DOL and OSHA and the FCC for doing all that they do to help this industry become safe and professional.
The thing is I have met some of the absolute best people I have ever know in this industry, but I have also met some of the worst people I have known in this industry. I would like to see everyone in this industry become the best they can be and see the level of professionalism rise to the top of all industries. I pray I get to see that day. Let’s all work together for a safer and happier future in wireless. Let’s work together to make this happen. I spend a lot of spare time writing about this and not everyone likes it, but for all of you that appreciate it, thank you!
Remember that the FCC and OSHA are here to help. They are our friends in the endeavor to overhaul the industry. Sooner, the professionals will run the industry and the other will fall behind and out of this industry. It’s more than a dream, we have all the people that were at this panel working to make sure that it happens. I see great things for the future. I see the value added to each task added to this industry with a pride that wasn’t always there. I am honored to take that step with each of you that want to see a successful and safe wireless deployment into 5 G and beyond.
Remember that the FCC and OSHA are your friends! They are working hard to help you become better at your job and safe!
I am asking the carriers to provide numbers for workers to call to report payment issues and contractor issues. I didn’t hear from any of them yet, If you know it let me know at wade4wireless@gmail.com, but for now, call OSHA!
OSHA cares, don’t be afraid to call the number below and explain to them what is wrong at the site when you feel the work site is not safe! CALL OSHA to report unsafe work conditions!
To report an emergency, fatality, or imminent life threatening situation please contact our toll-free number immediately:
1-800-321-OSHA (6742)
OSHA is asking for public comment on Safety and Management, click here..
Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! So it’s up to you!What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?
This panel covered the RFI that OSHA put out last year to the tower climbing community, the people on the front lines, for Information on Tower Climber Safety, OSHA-2014-0018, and click here to learn more about it.
I will be at the NATE Unite conference February 23rd and 24th, will you be there? Let’s talk if you are! So who is going? The exhibit floor, map found here, where I will be the 24th to meet and greet as many people as I can! The schedule, found here. See you at NATE Unite! Remember that the TFF will auction off a professional drone package, details here.
Thank you FCC and DoL/OSHA for putting this together, for taking the time to show you care about making this a better industry.
Richard Cullum, PM at Crown Castle, TIRAP board member, former climber
Nick Vespa, Southeastern Towers,
Dr. Bridgette Hester, Hubble Foundation
Michael and Erin opened the session by asking Nick to explain a picture, an overloaded tower with about 8 dishes all at one level making it impossible to climb around, that he had put up on the monitors.
Nick explained how many towers are overloaded and not conducive for a tower climber to manage the climb. Then Nick showed how you may rely on a safety climb only to see it spliced farther up the tower. Then he showed a crooked tower, literally, and how it’s not used but still standing and left there by the owner.
Erin asked how the panelist felt about the RFI response. She did day they were pleased with the response regardless.
Craig said that the RFI was successful because the FCC and DOL allowed the climbers to respond freely. Craig pointed out how that Regulations.gov was not the best way to respond and Wireless Estimator was fortunate that they could serve as a portal for the climbers to use them and submit it into Regulations.gov openly.
Nick thought that social media really helped to get the word out. Making the link to comment readily available to the climbers to know about the RFI and reminding them to do it. They also were able to submit anonymously was something that really helped. The ease of participation made it a success.
Dr Hester thought that the responses were well thought out and pointed out how the schedules and pressures were brought to light in the RFI. She was happy that company owners were pointing out many of the same problems as the climbers were talking about. She thought that RF would be more of an issue since it is a health risk over the long-term. There are many studies that prove this and a hazard that needs more attention.
Then Michael asked the board to comment on some RFI feedback they got, first one, “The biggest problem is the rush carriers put on the GCs. We have a couple of weeks where we might not have any work. Then all of a sudden. We get four sites in and the companies expect these sites to be completed within a matter of days. We have to push our guys to the limits sometimes working two weeks straight 10-12 hours a day.”
Nick said that it is a great comment that sums up one of the main problems in the industry. You have timelines that in the contracts it states that you shouldn’t be fatigued and yet you need to get it done or they can’t go home or the don’t get paid. Even if they ask for another week they may not get future work.
Richard then pointed out that because of all the delays up front, mainly permitting, causes the tower workers to do more work in less time. If the tower structural fails then there are even more delays to make it safe. The decision process often creates more problems. Sometimes a new tower is not an option due to the local zoning ordinances, so you spend more money to make the existing tower better.
Michael had the next comment, “Most safety issues are directly a result of pressure from the wireless carriers to get the projects done in a very short time frame. Even though the field crews go through all the OSHA training like ComTrain, and other safety training, they feel they need to take short cuts to get the job done by the due dates specified by carriers. This means that they do not always adhere to the safety regulations purposely or are too exhausted and overlook steps to insure their safety and others safe working conditions on job sites.”
Dr Hester told us that she hears this from the field quite often. They say it comes from the carriers from the top down. But many climbers feel forced to do this by the sub that hired them to do it. They are often told to get it done no matter what. They still free climb and take short cuts so that they can get done and get paid. She brought up that it might not be complacency but acceptance that you need to get it done. She mentions that to change the safety culture is a good idea but how do you do it quickly, if you can.
Craig responded by not totally agreeing with Dr Hester that the pressures are causing fatalities but instead fatalities in 2014 were more about not knowing how to do the job or following the standards out there. These guys didn’t’ know where to get the information. He brought up the West Virginia incident where 2 climbers dies and a fireman died. He mentioned that maybe the solution should be better training, inspections, and enforce it.
Michael brought up that we all have a responsibility to make this industry safer, how we all are a part of the solution.
Michael then brought up the next slide, Erin read it, “The placement and positioning of equipment on the tower, however, probably has the greatest impact on climber’s ability to safely navigate the natural hazards of our work. Obstructions of tower integrated safety components is certainly one of the more common examples of this. Mounts themselves are often heavily crowded with equipment and cabling configuration that can require climbers to take greater risks simply to access the equipment they need to work on.” “T-Boom style mounts, for example, often greatly increase the difficulty of accessing the equipment by requiring the climber to execute the balancing act along one, often round, steel member to reach the equipment – then to hang six feet below the mount in order to access cabling and connections. Finding a means of creating greater ease of access to the equipment once on the tower would mitigate some of the risk inherent in working these structures, further allowing the workers to focus their attentions on less controllable hazardous elements.” Erin then asked for comments.
Richard responded with the options to improve the safety of the employees like getting a man lift or another options.
Nick brought up that some towers do have a sign pointing this out. He mentioned that it’s not enough.
Richard said that it’s up to the contractor to figure it out. He said that if it’s a construction project that the contractor is fully responsible, not the tower owner.
Michael then transitioned into the next note from the RFI. “The issue is the use of a copier to make everyone a certification. Every employee that I hired would submit a certification that was copied from someone else’s certification and their name added. I had 8 companies tell me that they had one person to the class and everyone is certified in their company with the use of a copier.”
Craig believes that the NWSA will resolve the certification problems that we see today.
Nick thought that NWSA was also a great thing. He verified that it is a common problem in the industry.
Michael then brought up another comment which Erin read. “I was sent to test a [company’s] site with 2 climbers and when he got there he was working with 2 climbers. When we got to the site, one of the two climbers had two weeks of experience but had only climbed one time and the other climber had been hired the day before. Climber B, (the one hired the day before) decided he didn’t want to do this job any more and quit on site and climber A with 2 weeks experience belted up, and started climbing but had trouble with his safety climb about 60’ up the tower. Climber B exhausted himself trying to figure out how to get his safety climb sleeve past the bracket and I had to go up and rescue Climber A from 60’. In order to finish the job, I had to let the company rep use the site master to test while I climbed the tower to 160’, changed the TMA and completed the tower side of the sweep process. This was a regular occurrence.”
Dr Hester said that she gets this call all time from the field that many climbers are so poorly trained or they are not trained at all. Many complain that they are not trained and thrown into situations that they are not trained for. She would like to see TIRAP correct problems like these.
Richard said that he also sees things like that in the field where many times they send the untrained climber up because the older climbers feel they have done their time.
Nick says that he sees it often. Many times these new guys could be the problem and as it gets worse it could cause more fatalities.
Dr Hester said that they are often just passed to another company and the problems is not resolved.
The next issue brought up was weather. 2 comments – “We work in conditions that other construction workers with “safer” jobs don’t. Everyone climbs in the rain even if its policy not to. Refuse to climb in harsh weather and you will never go anywhere in this business” “Weather is also a major contributor to safely working on towers. Contractors in the north deal with every weather condition out there during the year. There doesn’t seem to be any standard available out there as to the limits to temperatures, wind, or snow/ice accumulation on the towers. It is basically up to the field employees and their managers to decide when the employees should be climbing or not.”
Nick said that weather is an issue, but it would be hard to have a standard because of the variations in temperature across the US. Florida weather and North Dakota weather are very different.
Richard said that it should be up to the competent person who is on site to make the call.
Dr Hester said that many people try to cancel the work but it still needs to be done and the manager requires them to do it.
Craig said that weather can’t stop you from working, the environment will not be perfect. You can do it safely.
Erin then read a question from the audience, “What do you believe will be able to help with those timelines?”
Richard said that the process the permitting issue should be streamlined. The consultants add a lot of delays because they often question the safety of the tower. He pointed out that while the tower is inspected by the tower owner, they do not do safety inspections because he said that is the responsibility of the contractor, not the tower owner. The tower owner often needs to correct tower issues. He said that often the restrictions put on them by the consultants adds delays to deployment.
An audience member asked about the oversight of training, does it need to be escalated to a higher level?
Nick said that the level of training is critical and the lack of consistency is a problem in the industry. There will be a formal approach to the certifications and training will be great for the industry.
Craig talked about TIRAP and NWSA working together to provide standards in training and certifications to move forward. He said that this industry is moving quickly with the standardization of training.
Michael’s next question stated that there isn’t one contractor here today where they haven’t worked a 2 week straight 10-12 hour day. He said that this industry has few limits on work schedules. He brought up the trucking industry and how they limit the number of hours they drive.
Dr Hester said that management has full control and they have them work the long hours anyway. She said that some of it is the climber mentality, it’s a need to change the safety culture.
Michael responded asking what the safeguard could be put in or implemented to make this change. (I think that a logbook system needs to be implemented)
Then Richard said that its employer is responsible and pointed out that Dave Anthony stays close to home to work. That travel is a problem. He said he used to be gone 3 weeks and home one.
Craig then said that he understood the dilemma but he stated that a truck driver on the road could kill many other people but a tower climber will really injury only himself. He pointed out that everyone works long hours, its part of life. He said that every industry works hard and long hours, but not use how to manage that in a safe way.
Richard said when his crew worked long hours they took other breaks to do other things.
Dr Hester mentioned that there is more issues on the climbers that affect mental health that could cause bad decision-making. She feels the employers don’t take the time to do a mental check to make sure the climbers are healthy.
Then Erin asked another audience question, she asked about who pays to make the tower safer if there is an obstruction, like if you mean you need a man lift or a crane or if there is already a T arm on the tower? If one company will climb on them then the contractor will not pay for a crane to do the work. The carriers need to make the crane a mandatory requirement to use a crane.
Nick said that to go in there with a crane or a man basket then someone will have to pay for it and it will cost more money. There are other ways to do it but it may be cost prohibitive for the carrier to do hire the qualified crew to do it right.
The Craig said that it would be wonderful if the carriers could get together to come up with joint standards of any project to put rules around it to get a fair bidding process. He also said that you can rig and do it safely but it needs to be done right.
The Michael asked another question, 2013 and 2014 were busy, 2015 was not. Fatality injuries go directly with carrier expenditures meaning there are unqualified workers doing the work. Do you think better vetting and putting more qualifications in place would reduce injuries? I have never in 17 years seen a safety line item on a bid.” The second question goes like this, “The tower owner states that the contractor is responsible to know the tower is safe. How can a third-party do this when they may not be qualified to know the structure or they may not know that the safety climb is broken 200 feet up the tower. Should there be a federal mandate stating that the tower owner should inspect the tower every 5 years?”
Richard responded by stating that the TIS states it as they have to inspect their towers and structures aver 5 or 7 years. Are responsible for the problems like the safety climb is not connected 200 foot up? They also hire contractors to do the work. If a contractor does not do the safety climb properly then they should be criminally negligent. Why would a contractor do that? They do all that they can to be TIA compliant. They allow tie off point and they advocate to use tie off anchorage of step bolts. But what if someone rigs to it and stretches it out and the next time someone uses it and it break causing an accident? How can tower owners know that?
Nick thinks there needs to be a better way to vet the contractors doing the work. Maybe their lowest bid because they cut corners. Maybe there should be a third-party audit to make sure it’s done right.
Craig mentioned that the person asking was well versed but he said that the question is answered in TIA-222 and 1019A and that contractors need to read these documents and spend the money to buy them. He says that the document costs around $700 but they need to buy that document and it is where they should start. He said he was talking to Scott Kisting from TIRAP and a lot of people will contact him and ask him how to rig it. The answers are in those standards documents and also in OSHA regulations. People need to take the time an effort to read this.
Nick said the answered are there but the everyday tower dog is not going to take time to read hundreds of pages to look how to rig. The ones in the field need to know it.
Craig says that reading is required. (He is implying that all climbers or crew owners should purchase and read the required documents like TIA-222G)
The closing statements:
Craig said he likes enforcement but it is necessary. The FCC and OSHA need to keep enforcing the rules.
Richard followed up with agreement o Craig saying that action matters. He went on to thank the leadership of Crown Castle for being an advocate for safety in the industry.
Nick said he doesn’t see enforcement as being feasible because of how spread out the work and the towers are. It will be too late until they get there. It is up to the company to train each individual properly.
Dr Hester agrees that we need great training and also that if we could have a third-party track problems, now with big data we could track everything is we took the time to create the system to do it. Follow who is at every tower to work. Follow all the potential avenues available to improve this industry.
Remember that the FCC and OSHA are your friends! They are working hard to help you become better at your job and safe!
I am asking the carriers to provide numbers for workers to call to report payment issues and contractor issues. I didn’t hear from any of them yet, If you know it let me know at wade4wireless@gmail.com, but for now, call OSHA!
OSHA cares, don’t be afraid to call the number below and explain to them what is wrong at the site when you feel the work site is not safe! CALL OSHA to report unsafe work conditions!
To report an emergency, fatality, or imminent life threatening situation please contact our toll-free number immediately:
1-800-321-OSHA (6742)
OSHA is asking for public comment on Safety and Management, click here..
Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! So it’s up to you!What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?
Today I have an interview with Hardik Ajmera of XcellAir, http://xcellair.com/, who provides a solution for carriers to manage and optimize their wireless network to deliver the best Quality of Experience, (QoE), to the end use. You see, if the end-user has a poor QoE then they may not want to stay with that carrier. Mobile Network Operators, (MNO), have a hard time managing the transition from LTE to Wi-Fi. This is where XcellAir comes to the rescue.
OSHA is asking for public comment on Safety and Management,click here.
They provide solutions for the MNO to utilize both licensed and unlicensed spectrum providing the end-user with a quality experience. They provide an industry first cloud based, multi-market Wi-Fi and LTE QoE solution. How cool is that? They actually can manage the system to give the end use the best QoE possible.
This package allows the MNO to manage and optimize the wireless system so that the unlicensed spectrum is utilized to the best of its capacity. By improving the unlicensed spectrum usage the capacity for the carriers will greatly increase scalability.
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If you want to learn more, the resources page is awesome, http://xcellair.com/resources/, and I would recommend you go there and download the information they have and watch the video. You will learn more about what they do and see a business case so that you can see how this leads to monetary gain. There is a wealth of information here, technical and business information.
I interviewed Hardik, the Director of Product Management, about not only XcellAir, but what they do and what they have to offer the Wi-Fi teams. It was interesting.
It didn’t stop there, I also brought up the constant battle between Wi-Fi and LTE-U that has been brewing in the industry from some time now. Hardik sees the problems that could arise from LTE-U running where there was once only Wi-Fi. He also knows that LTE-U is coming and they his company has to prepare for the release of LTE-U. They are already preparing for it in their packages.
We discussed small cells and how they would work with Wi-Fi and the unlicensed spectrum. XcellAir needs to be prepared for these changes and they are working to improve their package so that the end use has the best possible QoE they possible can. Remember, if the customer isn’t happy on your network, they will find a carrier that works better and make the use experience a pleasure, not a headache.
With XcellAir providing support for LTE-U it doesn’t mean they will go away from Wi-Fi, they know that Wi-Fi is here to stay and that every device today and in the future will have Wi-Fi in it. Wi-Fi is here to stay, it will just have a new neighbor called LTE-U.
Keep in mind that Wi-Fi is needed by the carriers to offload the heavy data use that devices demand. End users are going to be more and more demanding as the wireless ecosystem grows.
Learn more, listen to the podcast. There is so much value there and you will learn more about QoE, Wi-Fi, and LTE-U. I just can’t cover it all in this blog post. Hardik educates us all on all of this. He is a wealth of knowledge and a good guy.
Remember that the QoE matters to the network operator because customer complaints mean 2 things, 1) losing customers and 2) headaches for the engineers! To have a package that will manage that for you is priceless!
Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! With no support from the carriers or NATE, so it’s up to you!What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?
Hello everyone. On February 11th I went to 445 12th St SW, Washington DC, which you may know better as the FCC headquarters. What was I doing there? I was invited to participate on a panel of the Tower Safety Workshop. First off, I think that it’s great that the FCC and DOL/OSHA got together to do something like this for the tower industry. Not only for the tower industry, but for the wireless industry! The FCC shows that they care enough to host this and OSHA is making every effort to understand the problems out in the field. They are working to support all efforts to prevent death and injury at the tower site. It will take a team effort to make this happen. Who is on the team? The FCC, DOL/OSHA, wireless carriers, tower climbers, wireless contractors, and everyone working in the wireless and broadcast industry. This means you! It needs to be a team effort. I consider myself part of that team, do you?
Thank you FCC and DoL/OSHA for putting this together, for taking the time to show you care about making this a better industry.
First off, let’s look at what the problem is. Tower climbers die. They die working on tower when they fall. There are many reasons for the accidents. They could be due to a poorly trained climber or crew, a climber got complacent or lazy, shortcuts were taken, or maybe it was just an accident. Sometime accident happen or equipment just fails. When someone falls from over 80 feet off the ground it usually ends in a fatality.
If you think it isn’t a big deal, you don’t understand how a death can affect a family. So let me ask you to visualize something. You’re at a site watching the climber go up the tower. You see them put all their gear on, you see them attach the safety gear and perform 100% tie off. Or, maybe you don’t pay attention to what they are doing at all, maybe you’re worried about your job. Then look again, and imagine that it’s a child, your child, going up the tower. Imagine that your child is making a mistake or not tied off properly. Imagine you see your child slipping off that tower from only 50 feet up and there is nothing you can do! Now how do you feel about that climber, knowing that it could be your child falling. That they will die if they make a mistake? It really puts it in a different light knowing that someone’s child, possibly your child, could die. Many people lost children because of this over the years. This is why we will prevent as many as we can. We would like to prevent all of them if possible. Nobody wants to lose another family member.
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There was so much covered at the workshop. So much more that I can really cover. I intend to cover most of it and point out things I agree with, disagree with, and things that were missed. I really can’t get it all in one article.
There were 3 panels and several speeches. I don’t want to slight anyone but I would like to cover the parts that really stuck out.
I don’t want to discount the opening speeches that were made by some very important people in the industry.
Tom Wheeler, (FCC Chairman and if you don’t know who he is, wake up), opened it up with a speech on the loss we have seen in the industry and as long as we have one death, it’s too many. There were 3 recorded climbers that died this year, the only acceptable number would be ZERO!
Roger Sherman, (Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, FCC), who brought us up to speed with all of the work that has been done so far. He thanked everyone for making progress. He thanked Kathy Pierce for all that she has done to show us how the loss affects families. He pointed out how in today’s world most American’s smartphones are more than a convenience, but a way to get work done and a part of our everyday lives.
Eric Seleznow, (Deputy Assistant Secretary, ETA, DOL), oversees the national apprenticeship programs. He was happy how far TIRAP has come in the past year and a half. He was very happy that the FCC and DOL could work together for this effort.
Matthew Colengo, (Chief of Staff, DOL), talked about the progress that has been made and gave a special thanks to Kathy Pierce for all that she is doing to improve work conditions and the treatment of tower climbers. He also brought up Ernie Jones and gave Ernie credit for all that he has done in the industry and how sad it was that we lost him.
First off let’s cover Panel 1, (my panel), that covers the changes that need to be made to the FCC/DOL Guidance for Best Practices for improving Safety. If you’re watching the video, this starts at 26 minutes in.
Moderators
Claire Wack, Attorney Advisor, CIPD, WTB, FCC
Jessica Douma, Regulatory Analyst, OSHA
Wade Sarver, (me!)
Jason Becker, National Radio Operations Branch, BLM
John Parham, Jacobs Engineering Group
Don Doty, National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE)
Kevin Schmidt, National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA)
Angela Jones, Union Wireless, who is a structural engineer, project engineer, and certified climber.
Questions:
Jessica asked how should company’s go about creating an environment where climbers can report unsafe conditions or a dangerous situation without fear of reprisal from their direct boss or up the company chain?
I brought up that companies need to have an open culture. The climber should not only be able to report it to his boss but if they have an issue then take it farther up to someone else in the company. Angela mentioned how their company being smaller, allows the climbers to be able to do that. John pointed out that NATE’s magazine has article in Tower Times by Tom Bunk about how the culture should be open and geared around safety. Jason talked about how they have reports daily for the climbers to review ahead of time.
Jessica asked about contractual controls since there could be so many contractors between the carrier and the climber.
Kevin brought up that the carriers will implement training requirements. Don said that this is already common place for the most part and that we need better supervision and oversight. That is when I brought up that we need a way to audit the safety at the sites and that the climbers on site need to have a number to call to report incidents of climbers without credentials. Reporting to the boss won’t cut it, there needs to be a better way to report problems. Then Don mentioned they a credentialing system is being implemented to require all climbers on site to have the proper credentials and a way to verify them. He said that it will become mandatory at some point and required by the carriers.
Claire asked John his thoughts about the contracts
John brought up that the contractors language will help but he also mentioned that it’s up to the tower crew companies to have the proper culture, that even policing may not be enough. He said that you can’t subcontract safety, and he it has to be in the culture of the company. He pointed out that OSHA has a hotline that people can call to report incidents directly to OSHA, the 800 # for them to call.
Claire then asked Kevin about how contracts are packaged for bidding and how that would affect the climbers at the bottom of the bidding chain.
Kevin mentioned that the tower work is subbed out in bulk quantities to larger subs which then goes out to smaller subs who in turn may sub it out to even smaller subs before it gets to the climber. He then pointed out that at the top of the food chain no one really knows who is out at the site, specifically the carrier. Now that the new certification program coming it will raise the standards. John brought up that complacency is a real problem and that we need to keep the climbers alert on their job because one oversight or mistake could be the end. He said that the climbers need to have good discipline. He stated that all the workers need to be on the same page as far as a common safety message. I mentioned that it is a good idea but how do you instill this into all the tower companies spread across the country. Then Jason pointed out that the work has to be done in the beginning of the contract and to report the close calls and problems on site to record all issues that the climber ran into on site, reporting is very important. Then Angela pointed out that the tower needs to have proper anchor points, that many are not designed the way they should be for safety. John agreed and pointed out that often training is done with a perfect scenario but in the field there are more situations that they don’t encounter in training.
Jessica asked Angela what more we should do on the tower to improve safety.
Angela brought up that towers need to have dedicated tie off points and that they need to eliminate dangerous mounting situations like the T arms on monopoles often called the widow maker. Then she brought up that TIA-222F and 222G has many of the requirements. TIA-222G actually has a chapter on proper rigging. How experienced climbers know how to handle some of the situations. John added that the site supervisor should be qualified to supervise and climb, to have the experience to lead the climbers to do things the right way.
Claire then asked a question from the audience. Does the accredited ANSI program void their current ComTrain certification?
The answer was written on the card, which said it’s a supplemental certification so it will not void the certification.
Jessica followed up with the structural discussion about what can we do for the existing towers, can retrofitting be done to make them safer and address dangerous towers out there.
Angela told us that you could improve the towers out there, not all but many could be improved and made better. She said if given the choice they would prefer to build a new tower.
Jessica then asked Jason what occupational medical surveillance is required say for physical fitness and fit to climb and should it be addressed.
Jason answered with the medical check that they need to pass prior to getting hired, and they are looked at annually. Now, out in the field there’s a safety meeting checklist for the tailgate meeting where they not only ask for credentials but ask about medicine and general health. Don said that physical fitness matter and that they should make known any issues that could affect their climbing, mentally or physical or chemical. Don mentioned how STAR was a good program to address these issue and he brought up the safety culture plays a part in this.
Jessica asked me about how the traveling and long days affected the climbers.
I brought up that it’s up to the crew leader to make the call about work. I brought up that many crews put in 14 hour days when they are busy, they work extra hard to get home. Therefore the planning needs to be worked out ahead of time to include travel time so that the climbers get the rest they need and that the foreman or crew lead needs to make the call and it would be a better call when the planning is done better. Awareness will make training a requirement and make the contractor look at the drive time as well as the work time.
Claire followed up with a question to John about how to structure bids so that everything is taken into account and that the crews that you hire are in a good financial position to complete the work.
John said safety is up to the crew but can be helped with proper planning. When planning out a deployment it takes a lot of work. Now his company works with partners who they select ahead of time. Then, along with that contractors, they plan the work out ahead of time, 60 days, 6 months, and 12 months in advance. Then they can look at the time allocated for each job. They also try to balance the work so that the cash flow to the climber is steady and keeps the workers working. I commended him for doing that and pointed out how much work it was to do that up front and how that was not done in the past. John then said how the upfront work saves time on the backend. Jason brought up the model that the Navy has to lay out the preplanning looking at all of the resources, the time, and the tasks. Then I brought up that the partners program is a good idea because if you work with a partner you know them, what they can and can’t do as well as more about that company than a blind bid. John then said that they work very closely with their partner and have them work in their offices.
Claire then asked Kevin how do you start the partnership programs and how do you know that they have qualified climbers and technicians
Kevin said right now there is only the paperwork but when NWSA comes out then you can look up the NWSA number to make sure they are all certified properly. Then Jason mentioned that for the inspections that need to be done at the towers and that there has to be oversight on the climber’s performance, they need to be trained to think about how they tied off and lay out the risks. Don mentioned how the tower is installed once and will be climbed hundreds of times and they anchor points need to be planned out. Angela then talked about OSHA tiers for safety to see that the towers are engineered for safety.
Jessica then asked about how newer companies that need to train a skilled workforce, how would they plan out the work and keep the trained workforce?
Don mentioned how broadcast went through the downturn with the transition from analog to digital and how the work dried up. He then said that he was able to transition broadcast workers into wireless workers and how they have to transition the workers if they can. I then said if there is not work, what will you do? If there is no work then you can’t pay the people. So would they come back to this industry after what they have been through? I don’t think so. John agreed and pointed out that work does slow down and pick up. He mentioned that maybe the government could help with zoning and permitting to allow work to move ahead at a better pace.
Then we wrapped up, Claire asked us each for our best practice ideas.
Angela said that make sure that the tower is engineered properly top to bottom for safety by having the proper anchor points at the right locations.
Don said that NATE is working with ANSI on A10.48 to release the criteria for safe practices with the construction and maintenance for towers.
Kevin said that the contractors should train properly and make sure everyone on site is certified and then each climber should tie off 100% and stop the work if there is a risk to anyone on the crew.
John says planning is the main thing is planning.
Jason said they should always climb as partners, work together, climbers are interchangeable and they all are prepared for any problems that might arise. They also provide safe practices.
I said that there has to be a way to report unsafe towers to someone other than the tower owner. I also said that the climbers need to get paid for their work, it is the #1 complaint that I get.
Then we closed and Jessica said that they will revisit the best practices document to make updates based on what they learned in this session. This was the end of panel one.
I will have more on panels 2 & 3 in later articles.
So here is the breakdown, it went well and we discussed a lot of good ideas. Now they need to be implemented. The culture needs to change. The change needs to come from the tower company’s leadership. If you are a climber, then I would ask you to change the culture of your crew as best you can. Take safety seriously, listen to each other, and work together. Don’t be afraid to point out problems and issues and call the OSHA hotline when you have to. Learn from each other about the best way to do things and have discussions not arguments. Remember that there is no perfect way to do things but if someone has a better idea then maybe listen to it. If your way is better, don’t just say it’s better, explain why and what you have done in the past. We need to make a safety culture.
Now, the reality is that most climbers won’t care. That is why I believe that the culture needs to start at the top. We really need to work as a team with a common message. I also would ask all climbers to keep a log of what they do each day. If you track what you do then you have a record of what you’ve done. I talk to so many people that think that their time sheet is all they need, but it is not your time sheet is it? It belongs to your boss and you don’t have a log of what you’ve done, who will they believe? I think it’s a good idea to protect yourself. Most of you won’t because it’s just a job, until someone gets hurt. Then all you have is regret. Remember, if you keep a log then you can come up with ways to improve each week.
The main theme we have here is that we’re helping this becomes a career, not just a job. We want the tower industry to be full of professionals. Professionalism will start with you and the way you do your job. Certifications are necessary, but your attitude is also something that could help improve the image of the tower industry. Let’s work together on this.
Be smart, be safe, and pay attention.
I am asking the carriers to provide numbers for workers to call to report payment issues and contractor issues. I didn’t hear from any of them yet, If you know it let me know at wade4wireless@gmail.com, but for now, call OSHA!
OSHA cares, don’t be afraid to call the number below and explain to them what is wrong at the site when you feel the work site is not safe! CALL OSHA to report unsafe work conditions!
Panel 1 ends at 89 minutes.
To report an emergency, fatality, or imminent life threatening situation please contact our toll-free number immediately:
1-800-321-OSHA (6742)
OSHA is asking for public comment on Safety and Management, click here.
Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! With no support from the carriers or NATE, so it’s up to you!What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?
