It’s the end of one year and the beginning of another. What a great time to renew your safety vows! What do I mean by this? Read on.
This is the time of year when we make resolutions. Well, why not just renew your promise to safety! Why not renew your commitment to 100% tie off? Why not take the time and talk to the ones you care about and tell them how this year you will not miss one day of being safe because you don’t want to miss out on one day with your loved ones. I know that things can still happen, but let’s make sure that it’s not due to stupidity! Let’s make sure that if anything happens that all of you did all that you could to make sure everyone gets home safe and alive.
Now is the time! Vow to be safe! Vow to update the hazard assessments. Vow to inspect the safety gear regularly, daily if possible. Vow to look out for your climbing brothers and sisters out there. Vow to make sure everyone involved in deployment is watched over. If you are a climber, then you have a responsibility not only to yourself to be safe, but to protect those around you. Take the time to swear that you will do all that you can every minute of the day.
Don’t just make this vow to your boss and your workmates. Make this vow to your family! To your mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, and children. Make this vow to the ones who really need you.
Remember that this is up to you. Lip service is one thing, commitment is another. Real commitment. Can you do that? I know you can, the real question is will you commit to it? Then, if you commit, will you live it. One thing that will help is to preach safety. Preach it to your workmates and to everyone around you. Then, you need to practice what you preach because if you don’t you will look like a hypocrite. So if someone points something out that you know you are doing wrong to save time, don’t make excuses, correct it.
This would be a good time to plan out the rescue training for you and your workmates. It’s a good time to plan to do all that you can to be safe and be prepared!
Do you understand what I am saying, live the creed. If not for your sake or your workmates sake, then think of your family.
If you won’t do this, then maybe it’s time you change professions. Maybe it’s time you left the climbing industry.
OK, this is the time of year that you may be slow. If you are then it’s the perfect time to do some planning. What could you do this time of year? Well, I have a list. This is something you should do every couple of months but many companies get slow this time of year so why not now?
First thing you should do is get your vehicles in order. Make sure you have the maintenance and inspection schedules understood. Chances are you know what month they are do but it’s a good thing to look at and know when you will take them in. That way it is not so last-minute.
You should inventory your truck. If you have a day then take everything out. Take inventory of all of your supplies. Anything you use daily, like tie wraps, vapor seal, nuts & bolts, connectors, caulk, anything that you use, stock up. Now is the time. It beats running to Lowes or Home Depot while on site. However, remember that some caulk will freeze and may not be good after it’s frozen.
Inspect all of your safety gear. This is the perfect time to get out your safety gear and look it over. Inspect it. Take inventory, what is missing and what do you need? If you were working in the snow or rain, take it somewhere it can dry out. Remember that the cold and wet are very hard on the gear. Some people do this but if you are traveling all the time it is easy to leave it in the truck. Don’t get lazy, inspect and replace if needed. If you are missing gear, then get it ordered!
Don’t forget to look over your rope, inspect it, dry it out, replace it if you need to. Make the old life lines tag lines. Inspect your steel cables, hardware lanyard, and carabiners. Look them over, make sure they are acceptable for the job you will give them.
Inventory your tools. Tools have a habit of walking away and we may forget about them by the time we make the 4 to 8 hour drive home. Well, now is the time to look over all of your tools. Make sure you have everything and if you don’t then replace it.
Inspect your vehicle, look at the tires and look at when the oil needs changed. If there is a problem you know about that could leave you sitting somewhere, now is the time to take care of it.
Catch up on all of your paperwork, now is the time. If you are a contractor you may need to prepare for tax time. Clean it all up. This is not fun but it is necessary. Make sure you have all of the customer’s paperwork in and ready to send out. This could be tedious and you should have done most of it while on site. Just take the time to clean it all up.
Do you know your deployment schedule for the next month? Then make a plan for the roll-out. Whether you work from a playbook or a maintenance schedule you should start planning who will go where and plan out the duration of each trip. Don’t wait until the last-minute and be prepared to change it last-minute. We know it’s hard to set a firm schedule but it really helps to set a tentative one and remain flexible.
Do you know the on call schedule? This is a good time to update it. Give people plenty of time to make changes if it won’t work for them. That should be planned out months in advance.
One more thing I like to do this time of year is look back and see what worked and what didn’t. This is good to do several times a year but this time of year you may have time to think about what to do better next year. If you are an owner or a lead, take the time to review some paperwork, like the hazard assessments and the close out packages. Not all of them but just randomly pick some. Are they being filled out so they are site specific or does it look like the people are making them all the same just to finish them quickly? It pays to take the time to see if the crew is actually thinking about the work when they do it or if they just complete the paperwork because they have to. There is a big difference.
Do you make the most of downtime? Let me know what you do!
Have a safe year everyone!
Be smart, be safe, pay attentions and follow the plan, then adapt, improvise, and overcome to be successful.
Remember to help the Hubble Foundation because they help the families of the climbers.
Get on iTunes for Wade4wireless then subscribe and write a review now! Just click on any ICON below!
Merry Christmas and happy holidays. I pray that you are all with your families and having a wonderful holiday this year. Please appreciate this time with your families and loved ones.
Next time you are asked to climb when you don’t’ feel the weather is right or things are going wrong or if you have a gut feeling that something is wrong. Next time you know something is wrong, please put your life first.
I put this together to remember the ones we lost this year. I don’t want the families to relive bad memories, if they do I apologize. I only want you all to remember and say a prayer for these families on this day. I am doing this to honor their memories as the hard workers they were and that they will not be forgotten. I am doing this to make a point that things need to get better. I know many climbers don’t want change because they may be getting a steady paycheck right now. Just remember that in just a few seconds that could all change.
I would like you all to appreciate your time with your families this holiday.
Special thanks to Facebook friend, Nick Fiedler for sharing this on Facebook and giving me this idea.
Please verify the information and let me know if anything is wrong.
I would like to wish all of you the Happiest of Holidays! A very Merry Christmas! May you all be home and blessed over the Christmas holiday with loved ones!
So, this may seem like a strange subject. I mean most of you are thinking that the AWS-3 auctions will lead to more work, but how and when? Well, that is why I am here. I want to break it down for you so you have an idea what the auction is and how it will affect the industry. Let me start by saying this is my opinion and I am putting this out for informational purposes only. I read a lot about this and thought you may want to know how to plan for future work.
I hear all the time about people that aren’t getting paid, do you know what would help? Understanding that the SOW can be the document to get you paid! I have a free PDF that gives an overview of the SOW,free eBook,aSOW Overview. If you think it helps, then go ahead and make the investment for the SOW training package. Remember how important it is to get paid, define your work, and understand the change order process.
Let’s start with what is going on. The FCC release more air, that is bandwidth to raise money for the treasury and for FirstNet. Remember that FirstNet intends to spend $7 Billion, with a B, for their deployment. Now, this is a tremendous amount of money, but it probably won’t be enough to do what they want to do but I will get into that later. Let’s go over some acronyms. AWS = Advanced Wireless Services, pretty simple, right. EA = Economic Areas. CMA = Cellular Market Areas. Now, let’s break down the frequency allocation.
Block
Frequency
Bandwidth MHz
Area type
# of licenses
A1
1695 to 1700MHz
5
EA
176
B1
1700-1710MHz
10
EA
176
G
1755-1760/ 2155-2160
10 (2 channels X 5MHz)
CMA
734
H
176-1765/ 2160-2165
10 (2 channels X 5MHz)
EA
176
I
1765-1770/ 2165-2170
10 (2 channels X 5MHz)
EA
176
J
1770-1780/ 2170-2180
10 (2 channels X 10MHz)
EA
176
The FCC was hoping to raise $10 Billion but the bidding is over $40 Billion so far. This is good for the USA and paying some debt down as well as funding FirstNet without tax payer money. However, who is paying The carriers, they need to dish out this kind of money before sticking one antenna in the air. The government will get that money up front and then more money in the form of taxes on your cell phone bill, and they are higher than ever. (Once again, the government found a way to double dip, but that is another subject. But I am getting off point, sorry.) There are 70 companies bidding on this. This is the first auction since 2008. There is an incentive auction scheduled after this one.
Hey, sign up for my newsletter!
So, this is the knowledge you need to understand what it is, but how does it affect wireless deployment. Well, that is obvious, because the carriers will want to build ASAP. This will happen but not until the OEMs, like Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, and maybe others get the product together, the testing takes place, and then devices have to be made. So that would probably be 6 months to a year after the build. Then the fun begins, site acquisition and then deployment. So when this deployment happens it will likely be LTE Advanced. I am not sure if they will wait for 5G. So then the deployments happen with all of the Remote Radio Heads (RRH) being put on the towers. This is a lot of loading. I would imagine that 2G networks will be decommissioned soon. So that will definitely happen o make room for this. Then the 3G networks will start to be decommissioned, but that will take a long time, maybe 5 or more years. To put this into perspective, the carriers are mostly finishing up their current build. Sprint is still building out their Sprint Spark initiative but Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile should finish up in 2015. Then in 2016 I would expect things will start to heat up again. Remember that the carriers need to make the money back to show return on their investment. They also need the bandwidth because data is being used at an amazing rate. All customers ask for is more, more, and more. So how will they make their money back? Customers will need to pay for it and the deployment. It won’t be free to build but they must have a business plan to in place for payback. Just remember that the first place they will look to lower costs once again will be the climbers, fair warning.
Oh, by the way, FirstNet will also be ready to deploy early 2016, I hope, to get their network constructed. They have a huge task ahead of them because they committed to covering the continental US and all territories. That is a huge area. They also will be looking for partners. Will the carriers help out, who knows. What about Google? I think that would be the perfect partner because they could become a wireless carrier in a short time. Just my opinion! When FirstNet does build, it will be a lot of work all across the nation with the LTE build and the backhaul. The backhaul will be a combination of wireless and fiber, maybe both for redundancy.
So there it is, in about 18 months there will be deployment, beefing up towers, testing, optimizations, and more. Just in time to hear about the introduction of 5G. Then the upgrades will begin. Chances are the OEMs will be ready with mostly software updates but the antennas may have to be changed. Then 3G will be decommissioned.
So there should be plenty of work. Will the industry be ready to comply? Will the climbers have standard safety compliance? Will the schedules be reasonable? Will the tower crews get paid? We will have to wait and see.
Also, in audio and eBook formats get your copy ofTower Climbing: An Introductionso you can listen while you’re driving or too busy to read!
What are you thinking?
Listen, this is the time to support theHubble Foundationbecause they are looking after climbers and their families that can’t take care of themselves. When a climber gets hurt, they want to help. When a climber is stranded and needs help to get home, they are there. When a climber gets stuck somewhere because they won’t get paid, they are there. Would you want someone to help you out if that happened?
Get on iTunes for Wade4wireless then subscribe and write a review now! Just click on any ICON below!
Thank GOD for the Hubble Foundation! Click on the picture below to donate!
Update! The man was working with a 3 man crew, he was about 105 feet up, he was from Sumter, SC. His name was Allen Lee Cotton, 44 years old. Neither of the other workmates saw the fall, one was above Allen working and the other was in the truck on the laptop. The accident happened just before noon on December 18th. The men were all employed by Central USA Wireless. No details on what happened just yet.
OSHA has been notified! OSHA will investigate with State law enforcement.
Another climber fatality has happened! This time in Greene County, TN. Late this morning there was another fatality. I just found out from Liz Day! The man fell 100 feet according to Robert Sayne, local EMS director, on West Vann Road.
Happy holidays everyone! Make sure you go to my Wade4Wireless products page where I have products to help tower climbers and deployment teams. Want to learn more about the SOW? I would like to give you the free eBook,aSOW Overview. If that helps you out then I have a tutorial outlining how to write and read a SOW in the SOW training package, The SOW defines how you get paid! It may outline how change orders are done. Remember, it’s your bottom line that matters! This is a business.
Also, in audio and eBook formats get your copy of Tower Climbing: An Introduction so you can listen while you’re driving or too busy to read!
So many people complain about not getting paid in this industry. One main point of contention is the change order. So how do you get paid for change orders? Well here are some ideas. By the way, I have some dialog in my podcast about the last post, Is It Time to Unionize Tower Climbers? that I didn’t write about here, just in case you’re interested. I had some things to say about the feedback I got.
Planning is key. You need to be sure you understand what your job is going to be. By this I mean the scope of the work. When you submit a bid, read the RFP or discuss the work with the customer. Read the SOW and modify it to match your assumptions and exclusions. You will need to match the desired outcome of the customer with the services you plan to do. Then you may move forward. Remember, you are in this to get paid for the work that you do! If you get paid for 20 hours of work but your crew works 40 hours, chances are good that you’re not making money, or at least making the margin you deserve.
Happy holidays everyone! Make sure you go to my Wade4Wireless products page where I have products to help tower climbers and deployment teams. Want to learn more about the SOW? I would like to give you the free eBook,aSOW Overview. If that helps you out then I have a tutorial outlining how to write and read a SOW in the SOW training package, The SOW defines how you get paid! It may outline how change orders are done. Remember, it’s your bottom line that matters! This is a business.
Also, in audio and eBook formats get your copy of Tower Climbing: An Introduction so you can listen while you’re driving or too busy to read!
Hey, sign up for my newsletter!
For the change order, the first thing you need to do is make sure the work being requested is outside of your scope of work (SOW). I just happen to have a tutorial on how to write and understand aSOW available here. Anyway, what you need to do is understand what work is defined in the SOW, and then you need to decide how far outside the boundary of that work you will go. For instance, if the customer asks you to do an additional 4 hour task, you may do it because they are a good customer and you want to help out, right. Brownie points go a long way in future work. That is if they don’t just put it out to the lowest bidder. If you work with customers that always put the work out to the lowest bidder, then there is no reason to do any work outside of the SOW. Then it will all be a change order.
If you can, put the change order process in the SOW. If not make sure you understand the customer’s change order process. You need to follow protocol so you get paid. If the change is something that is a one-off or very different from what you are used to, make sure that you know what the desired result should be so the customer can sign off on it and you get paid. If it is something that you do all the time then it should be straight forward, like if you need to install or move a dish and complete a link. Simple stuff, right?
I have had customers that really push the limit and ask for so much work that is out of scope. So what happens? If you do it then they expect it on all the jobs. That may be good if they throw you a lot of work. However, suddenly a 20 hour job may be 30 hours and you will lose margin and time on site. All things to be considered if you commit to do the work.
On the other hand, I have seen contractors that have a business plan of going in cheap and then requesting as many change orders as they can to make up the money they lost by being the lowest bidder. Many customers get sick of this, so there is a balance of what you could ask for and what you will get. It is better to prepare the customer up front rather than nailing them along the way with change orders they didn’t expect.
So, define the work and define, to your team, what you will do outside of the scope. That is priority one!
Then, define the change order. If the customer gives you a verbal, ask them for an email or PO so you have some proof that they authorized the work. If they want a paper document, then make sure you know that. You should have authorization. Who may authorize the work for the customer and the contractor. Just because you are on site doesn’t mean that you have the power of authorization. If it is something that they want done while you are at the site, define the work, determine or estimate the pay. Chances are if you need to do it while at the site you know what to do. Just make sure that someone gets more than a verbal authorization. An email is usually enough but a PO is even better. Many customers do not appear on the site for the job except to complete the punch list and inspections. They may pay time and materials, (T&M) this is quick and easy but in today’s world most people want a not to exceed number.
If the customer has a change order process, make sure you and the field personnel understand what that is. Make sure the customer has someone who can authorize the change order! All job site leads should know what the change order process is. If you have a process, make sure they understand what to do for that customer! Each customer may have a different process. It would be a good idea to understand that prior to starting the work.
When the work is completed, how will it be inspected? You will need to determine how to get paid. If you are installing something then they may not pay until the unit is tested and operational. If you are turning up a point to point link, then it is easy, the link is up and tested, then you send a bill. If it is a cell site, you have to wait until they integrate and test it. That may be in a week or in 3 months depending on the roll out. It may be beefing up the tower so they may need to see a complete closeout package. So then you should determine how long you need to wait for your money. Remember that the original Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) may apply. Make sure that when you write the SOW, you include a change order process or if the customer has a change order process get a good look at it and determine how the payment will be made. Making sure how to mark the job complete is how you will get paid, so then you will need to determine what marks the job as completed.
So make sure that you understand the change order process for your company and from the customer. Payment is what keeps you in business! You should get paid for the work you do and you should get paid for the additional work you do. Time is money, change orders take time, and you should get paid for them.
Be smart! Be safe! Pay attention! Make a plan, follow the plan, improve the plan and you should do fine.
Let me know, did this help? What do you think I should talk about next?
Please, please, please help the Hubble foundation. Don’t you want to support an injured tower climber’s family? Here’s how, click on the Hubble picture below and look for the donations button and give today!
Thank GOD for the Hubble Foundation! Click on the picture below to donate!
Get on iTunes for Wade4wireless then subscribe and write a review now! Just click on any ICON below!
Interested in products I have created for the tower climbers and wireless deployment, click on the pictures below to find out more!
So one thing that is often mentioned on in the Facebook groups is the question, “Should Tower Climbers Unionize?” I am not sure what you think but it would be a good way for the tower climber to be protected. I will get into the question below.
Would an existing union accept the tower climbers in force? The confusion that happens with the current unions is “which one would accept the climbers?” It used to be the Ironworkers when climbers built towers, but the climber does more that steel work in today’s world. Maybe the Communications Workers of America seems like a fit but they are looking at lighter duty jobs with less risk. I thought the IBEW would be a good fit since I know climbers that are already part of that union but it really is for wiring professionals, electrical and communications. I am not sure they would have the climbers join them in full force. I am reaching out to the IBEW for more information.
Happy holidays everyone! Merry Christmas to all! Go to Wade4Wireless products page where I have product links and an audiobook for the eBook. If it helps, download the free eBookfor aSOW Overviewfor more information.The Scope of Work training for $24.99, SOW training package, I made for you to understand how the SOW will affect getting paid and change orders and your bottom line as well as the customer and safety requirements. The SOW is your key to getting paid and to defining change orders! Because you asked for an audio book I put the Tower Climbing: An Introduction in audio so you can listen while you’re driving or too busy to read! Hey, sign up for my newsletter over there on the right. > > >
Should climbers unionize? To be honest there are tower climbers in different unions. I know several in the IBEW. The people I know that are in the unions were coming from another profession, electricians or communications or Ironworkersor someone like that. I am not aware of any union that a tower climber can go into without another trade attached to it even though climbers need to know several trades to do their job. I thought that to unionize is something that many people talk about, but not many people know what to do next.
Here is a list I came up with based on what I read. These are pros and cons, but it is up to you to decide which is which. I am only going to state what I think will happen. Feel free to leave me your opinions!
Pro – The tower climbing apprenticeship programs would be implemented. There would be a structure to how the Greenhorn is brought in and trained.
Pro or Con – The tower climber pay would be structured and set. This is something that you may or may not want. Tower climbing has been commoditized in the past years where many companies just hired young people to do all the heavy lifting. This has really hurt the industry because safety and talent suffered. It takes training to do the tasks they are required to do. The original thought was to have the green guys work around one experienced guy. Well, that is not working out so well because if the experienced guy has a problem, who will help them?
Pro – There would be structured training outside of climbing training. What I mean by that is that an organized union has more training available and makes it required to stay current. Also, when a company or crew would search the union for people, they would look at the climbers resume and certifications. So the union would make sure that your certifications would go with the climber and not stay with the company.
Pro –Mandatory repeated training! Big time positive thing here because many climbers get trained one and don’t practice. Practice makes us better at what we do, from sports to testing to work. When you have the opportunity to save a life, being prepared is being ready, and that involves practice, practice, and more practice.
Pro – Certifications would matter! What I mean by that is that the union would have the resume of every climber in it and if someone came to the local union hall looking for a climber that has specific fiber skills and can weld, that is what they would get. Skills would be out there for all to see and companies would hire for specific skills. That is how I see the IBEW do it today.
Pro – Certifications would stay up to date. The local union hall would make sure of that.
Con – Strikes would happen. Not everyone would agree, but if the union called a strike on a carrier, you would need to strike to show solidarity. Everyone sees this as good until they have to stay off work for more than a few weeks, think about it.
Pro or Con – Prices would go up for the customer because pricing would be consistent for an area. Prices would increase in many areas. There would still be competition from non-union shops. Remember that some area are already union only, Philadelphia, NYC, Boston, and more.
Pro – If you were in the union, you would be recognized as well-trained and as a professional. I think that most people would view a union electrician as a professional by default. I am not putting down other non-union electricians, but they would need to have a good reputation from their customers whereas a union electrician is expected to be a true professional.
Pro – The union would have pull in the government. That means the tower climber would have serious representation in the federal and possibly the state governments. This would balance out the way it is now. Who represents the tower climbers now? NATE, yes. The FCC and DOL, yes. They are doing all they can but in the end the lawmakers respond growing their campaigns. There are heavy taxes on cell phones, and there are lobbyists for most carriers, and the tower climbers aren’t represented in any of those groups.
Pro –If you put your name in at the union hall, they would call you when they had work if you met the job requirements.
Con – You would need to pay union dues, but that may also have your vacation pay and your retirement built-in.
Pro or Con – You would need to sign into the local union hall wherever you worked, this may require a local rep to work with you or oversee your work.
I wanted to put some feedback in here from some people who realize how bad things can get out there.
Comment: It has definitely become an us against them atmosphere, right down to our own pm’s and cm’s that’ll push-push-push, work 14×7 [14 hour days by 7 days a week] until the projects over then” we’ll call you when we need you “,or until you quit just to get some sleep. All the money in the world isn’t worth it if you destroy yourself to make it.
Response: I hear this from so many people that it is crazy, but not fair. It becomes all about the work.
Comment: I agreed with Dave Anthony on nearly every point. If he treats safety the way he said he did, I appreciate that sort of leadership. Unfortunately, the majority of employers out there today, make Dave an aberration. Someone pays for this cost of doing business. My question is; who pays the price? Ask any family member who has lost a loved one. Ask any worker, confined to an adult home, wheelchair, or any career ending injury. I have seen far too many families and extended families supported by a climber, turn with no other options to public assistance, in the event of a catastrophic injury or death. One clear fundamental difference I have from Dave, was his call for industry change, from the “top-down”. That has been attempted by NATE and wireless industry interests for decades. All of NATE’s policy agendas have been blaming the dumb cowboy who refuses to tie off. Need an example? Look at any of their posters from the “Tie or Die” initiative a few years ago. More recently, their two public service announcements earlier this year, promoting their “24/7” campaign. Listen closely to WHO they are talking about. The shifty tower contractor? Carriers and turfers? Nope! That employee who throws caution to the wind and free-climbs because he doesn’t follow the rules. They, are the focus of the industry fatality rate. You make some good points about the way the industry does business Wade. But I feel more can be done than just accepting things the way they are, and getting used to the way business is done. TIRAP, is another industry gimmick. Just another top-down approach to train more workers. Few details have emerged about this wonder of the industry. You can go to the link Wade provided and see what they are intending to do. The few graduates who complete this program are expected to enter the field with immersion in industry trainings and certifications. Yes, MORE CERTIFICATIONS! These certified experts are expected to START in this workforce as “top hands”, “CM’s”, and “PM’s”. Not well seasoned or experienced climbers. Do you see some friction, when these men hit the field and see the way work is shoved from the top-down, into the climber’s throats? How do these certs make these graduates, any more prone to industry pressure to get the work done without proper gear, planning, material, or design? Especially climbers who have many years experience, watching classroom climbers being hired, instead of them! Unions! Union apprenticeships have been a well proven way to get workers “real-time”, “hands on” work experience under a mentor who is a master tradesman. This goes to every rank and file member! Apprenticeships are a proven method to experience workers to a safe level of competence. Over a period of years, with work and classroom experience that is standardized BY THE WORKERS. I don’t see the entire industry warming up to this idea right now. But I offer a “bottom-up” approach that reaches out to every rank and file climber, instead of these elite, classroom climbers who are going to take management positions. Not climbing positions! Wade, I appreciate your critique of the industry pressure cooker that is responsible for filling holes in the ground with bodies. I would rather see climbers realizing their potential and take pride in future climbers coming in. As I said, the climbers have not seen this for themselves yet. So we will see more of Dave Anthony’s top-down safety solutions by this industry (I mean no disrespect to him). His points were mostly spot-on! In the meantime, NATE will proclaim how they are saving lives. More mothers and fathers will bury their children. Widows, widowers, and children will cling to some hope, that the call they just got about their lost loved one is just a horrible dream. That their loved one will come walking through the door any moment. Just before reality sets in and they feel the burn in their guts. As Kurt Vonnegut used to put it, “And so it goes”.
Response: Thank you! This has hit a lot of points and is hard to clarify all of them but that is why I wrote this post.
OK, OK, OK, just some food for thought. Tell me that you think!
Be smart, be safe, and pay attention. Create the plan, follow the plan, deviate from the plan to find success.
Please, please, please help the Hubble foundation. Don’t you want to support an injured tower climber’s family? Here’s how, click on the Hubble picture below and look for the donations button and give today! Thank GOD for the Hubble Foundation!
Get on iTunes for Wade4wireless then subscribe and write a review now! Just click on any ICON below!
Interested in products I have created for the tower climbers and wireless deployment, click on the pictures below to find out more!
I wanted to let everyone know that I will be at theIWCE conference in March, 2015. I will be on the“Tower Safety and Regulatory Compliance”panel on March 17th, 2015, starting at 1PM local time. It is in Las Vegas at the convention center. Click on any of the BLUEwords for more. There will be an impressive group who I am honored to share the stage with. I will be up there withCory Crenshawof Crenshaw Communications, Charles Ryanof Concept To Operations, Inc,Dr. Denis Boulais of Bytecan Pty Ltd, andRobert Johnsonof Narda Safety Test Solutions. My track will be sponsored byAGL Magazine. If you can make sure you go to see what is happening with today’s wireless communications systems. I feel honored to be selected to be on the panel. So if you can think of anything I should be talking about, then let me know below.
Go to Wade4Wireless products page where I have product links. and an audiobook for the eBook. If it helps, download the free eBook for aSOW Overviewfor more information.The Scope of Work training, SOW training package, I made for you to understand how the SOW will affect your payments and bottom line as well as the customer and safety requirements. The SOW is your key to getting paid and to defining change orders! Because you asked for an audio book I put the Tower Climbing: An Introduction in audio so you can listen while you’re driving or too busy to read! Hey, don’t forget to sign up for my monthly newsletter over there on the top right. > > >
Comment: I appreciate the comment about working on the beacon on top of a mast. Like so many other precarious situations on a tower, a small rail around the mast to stand on and one around the beacon to hook off on is easily designed and manufactured—-unless it is required to support a 5,000# load as OSHA requires. On the drug issue, there are a very high percentage of tower hands that use drugs. There is an even higher percentage that drink excessively, but not on the job. If accurate statistics existed, which they don’t, they would reveal that there are very few fatalities caused by someone being high or drunk. There are more accidents attributed to stupid than intoxicants, and there are a lot of hands that are stupid even when they are sober. I watched the video of you with Kelly Hill and I totally disagree with you on the use of capstans on a tower job. To begin with, you have to use a fiber rope with a capstan, not a wire rope. The statistics will show that there are numerous fatalities caused by ropes breaking, but not wire ropes. Fiber ropes are good for a tag-line or a trolley, but certainly not for hoisting loads up and down a tower. I can cite four accidents where ropes broke that caused the death of twelve people. The accident you referred to where the five men were killed was the 2,000′ Senior Road project in Houston. The men were riding the top half of the FM mast dressed out with the panel FM antenna. I think the load got too close to the tower and hung up which caused the picking channel across the face to fail. The load fell and hit the guy wire causing the whole tower to come down. I was hired as an expert witness by the firm representing Harris is why I am so familiar with this accident. Riding the winch line is safe!!! Much safer than free climbing and every job that requires the hoisting and lowering of antennas and/or mounts should be rigged with a wire rope.
Response: I called this guy and he is amazing. He is a big fan of winches, but only if you use cable versus rope. That is where I got the idea for the blog “Rope Versus Steel Cable for Hoists”. We also talked aboutmy video with Kelly Hill of RCRand he mentioned that the thing he disagreed with was the way I mentioned the safety of the winches. I made it clear that only a larger hoist should be used for man loads and he agreed. Now, as far as the accidents go, he knew so much about many of them. I plan to talk to him more in the future.
Comment: Wade; Scheduling is most definitely a problem, and a serious one. Unless you have been there and suffered in extreme conditions, you cannot fully comprehend the difficulty in working in subfreezing temperatures in a 15 or so mph wind. When you are in the midst of work on one of these days, you cannot help but wonder why this job wasn’t scheduled two months earlier or two months later. And you are not receiving any additional compensation for your suffering, and if you so chose, you could be at home in a warm house with your family—-maybe sort of like the bodily orifice that scheduled this project. When that anger starts building up inside, it doesn’t take much of a reason for a man to suggest to his boss to “just take this job and shove it.” If you don’t have a foreman with great leadership skills to keep this project under control, which means leading, not pushing, this job is going to go bad real quick. And when it stalls, nobody ever thinks of blaming the scheduler, they always blame the contractor and the crew. I learned early in my career the difficulty of working in extreme conditions and I have always made every effort toavoid putting a crew up north in the winter. I have a famous quote that I use when scheduling jobs, it’s “If you’re gonna be stupid, you gotta be tough.” I could write for hours telling stories about winter in the north without informing anyone of anything that they didn’t already know. I don’t really think the professional people who organize and schedule the jobs even care.
Response: Been there and done that, it is a tough job! I would bet that so many people have stories where they didn’t know how much they could take in the weather until they did it.
Comment: Thanks for this article with a high level approach to analyzing costs and benefits of small cell deployment. It raises more questions for me ultimately, and that is a good thing! I appreciate your work and insight, thanks!
Response: Thank you sir!
Comment: #4 small cell = small power demand. Depending on the load, duty cycle and site location an off-grid solar electric system could be the small footprint economical power solution rather than the minimum 100A service expense.
Comment: Enjoyed the article. It is very timely for me. Having serious problems getting paid. Company/worker loyalty in an unbiased format would be a good article also if not already done.
Response: Thank you! It’s a shame that even today people are not getting paid for the work that they do. Why is it that loyalty to the people working so hard can dissipate so quickly?
Comment: Just left a company 2 months ago for lowering my per diem from $600 to $500 per week. And had us on a 40hr. Week salary working 60 – 80 + hrs. A week. And only got home every 2 or so months.
Response: This is often the case when they try to make tower climbers salary. So many times the way companies raise margin is to screw the worker. That is very common in the industry. If it happens to you I would look elsewhere like this guy did, it is only a matter of time until they start making more cuts.
Response: Good point! Solar would be awesome! If the physical footprint would remain small with the batteries I see it as a viable solution.
Comment: Wade, Reminds me of the stories we hear constantly with tower tech’s where they had to finish work started in the early morning and ended after dark. The real part of the story is they had to drive 5 hours before and after the climb! This is plain dangerous! Completion bonuses, etc, etc, are nice to get your sub’s to hustle but would you like to explain to a jury why you had people in dangerous jobs working these hours?
Response: I agree, sometimes the worker put in such long hours and no one cares because they feel the work is more important and the customer may not know what the worker is going through. The workers need representation in the company.
Comment: Very good Mr. Wade, hope we get a Congressman to help us. The situation should be better for a person who chooses to work in this field! Thank you!
Response: I think that the FCC working with DOL should help by creating TIRAP. It is still voluntary but it’s a start. This is a chance for the government to recognize the seriousness of the climbing industry hazards.
Comment: I have been in the industry for 12 years, each year it get worse for tower hands… this industry makes more money than it knows what to do with and what they need to realize is this technology isn’t going to put itself up on any tower, water tank, or roof top without the tower hands that do it… appreciate your employees and treat them better… give better pay, appropriate per diem, and most of all better hours… the majority of tower workers have families, think about that when you go home to yours everyday and you have several crews that only see theirs 8 weeks out the year…… if that…….. so when you get on your cell phone to make your next call think about the guys that sacrifice so much for you to be able to enjoy that luxury and think about what they endure to provide you that luxury
Response: Like I said before, so many companies think that to raise margin they need to cut per diem and employee salaries. It is common. I guess the CFO that is sitting in his office that gets to work from 9 to 5 and go home every night to his family makes the decision that the tower crew who leaves Monday and won’t get home Friday night should skip meals. I guess they forget that physical work as well as engineering might burn a few calories each day. I guess they determined that they can always find more grunts. Good luck with that strategy. I have learned that it pays to take care of your employees, but there are so many people who just stay at a company because it’s a job and they don’t want to leave, no matter how bad the company treats them.
Comment: We have been blessed to be able to work with customers and vendors that have created a loyalty around what we do. We for the first time have really felt the issues of low bidder and the companies that go out of business one day and start again tomorrow. We hope that our customers will determine that it is not a low bid industry and will continue to give us a chance to do work and be profitable. The 3rd party companies and now the equipment providers have created hard times for the small company trying to keep up with increased pricing pressure and hard to find quality staff. They know they can stop us from taking work by buying a competitor and lowering their prices to push us out. Small business can only grow with the help of our customers. We need them to demand companies to have experienced employees and not just how many crews you can come up with. We have to stop the companies and owners which have failed multiple times but keep doing work. We know these are the companies that have made the industry unsafe and less profitable for the hard-working small businesses. Have a safe Thanksgiving.
Response: Thank you and I hope you had a great Thanksgiving as well. This is a great thought, I would like to think this is where the industry is headed, quality over quantity. Some helpful links below.
Please, please, please help the Hubble foundation. Don’t you want to support an injured tower climber’s family? Here’s how, click on the Hubble picture below and look for the donations button and give today! Thank GOD for the Hubble Foundation!
Get on iTunes for Wade4wireless then subscribe and write a review now! Just click on any ICON below!
Interested in products I have created for the tower climbers and wireless deployment, click on the pictures below to find out more!
Another man was rescued form a cell tower, this time in Chicago. The worker was stuck on the cell tower, 150’ up, on a monopole from what I see, in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood. About 6:15PM on the evening of December 4th 2014. He was hanging below the platform and could not get back up or had the rope to go down. Two climbers were on site at 77th and State streets near Dan Ryan Expressway according to Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. They got him down around 6:50PM last night. The responders had an aerial ladder rig but I am not sure how they did the rescue. I am very thankful that everyone got to go home safe and sound. Once again, no rescue plan or preparation in place by the climbing team so thank GOD that the fire department is well-trained and quick to respond! Thank you Chicago FD!
Remember this video from January of 2013 when in Gaithersburg Isaac Dupree was rescued after being on the job for only 4 months. Very cold with numb hands he was very worried. Luckily, his coworker, Rob Bonsall geared up to rescue him. A successful rescue! It happened on Rob’s birthday, there is how it is done! Rob got him down from 180’ with no problems!
Do you know what efficiencies can be driven from deployments with proper planning? Maybe I am asking the wrong question, let me ask you this, did you ever have a PM (project manager) or foreman call you and beg you to do a job or a task that you didn’t know about at the last-minute? Oh, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Schedules and last-minute changes can kill workers physically and mentally. You know what I mean! Why is it that the customer’s emergency becomes your problem? Probably because something got missed or changed at the last-minute. It happens quite often.
We all complain about how screwed up deployments can get, especially when we are on the receiving end of a schedule change or a last-minute install. We also hope to get paid for these emergencies that are caused by someone’s poor planning. So looking at this up front, what can we do to help the situation out? We can look where we can save time and money with WDE.
OK, planning is very important and most of the time the poor planning is pinned on the contractor when in reality the PM or the customer just missed something or didn’t listen to the people who do deployments all the time. Sometimes the customer pivots to get something done that they didn’t foresee. Other times permitting frees up in one market unexpectedly.
If you pointed something out prior to the deployment, then get over it. Just remember that when you say “I told you so” that it won’t accomplish much except to anger someone. So instead of saying that, why don’t you offer a suggestion on how to improve the situation? You should already know what to do. Make it a discussion, not an argument.
So what do you do? You work with your experience and make sure that your SOW (Scope of Work) has the information in it to make sure you get paid! Make sure that you are a partner in the deployment planning. Have a talk with the PM or customer to figure out the best way to deploy without breaking the budget.
Most of the time this starts up front, with the site surveys. If the survey is done properly and the planning is realistic, then many problems should be avoided. However, what other kinks can happen, like permitting delays, changes to the design post survey, and other factors can ruin efficiency.
If you can, try to make the best out of planning ahead of time. When you are bidding on a job or when you are working on the SOW, make sure you are already thinking of how to improve time to market (TTM) and control costs. What efficiencies can be found? Well, I have notice that in many deployments I have done and planned that there are savings in the following.
If the site survey is done properly and documented well then the installers will have no effort in deployment. This will include not only the installation information but building the proper Bill of Materials (BOM). Documentation really helps. Pictures that can be shared with the installers and equipment vendors can really help out the planning process. Many companies put their most experienced people on the estimating and surveys because they want it done right to avoid problems later.
If the same company doing the installation does the survey, then the transition usually goes much smoother for the actual deployment and BOM building. However, if something is missing then the installers will need to be sure that they can make up the missing parts. There is no excuse when the same company does the survey and then the installation and something is missing, unless there is a change at the last-minute. Also, the deployment team should let the estimator know if they missed something. Feedback is very important.
If the PM plans out the permitting the best they can then the installers should be able to move in an orderly fashion. That is hard to do but it may get better if the permitting process improves. Permitting can be a real problem because of the complexity of the process so the PM will need to keep everyone updated on the status.
Warehousing and staging is very important, make sure that the logistics team is aware of the schedule and works with the customer and the installer to provide constant updates. The warehouse will work with the team to provide updates on what has been delivered and staged. Include the installer on those updates to make sure that they are in the loop.
If the installers and the commissioning team are “connected at the hip”. They need to be talking and working together to schedule properly. It used to be that many PMs did not like different teams talking because they were afraid they would plan around them. Let me tell you, nothing is farther from the truth. When the installers and commissioners work together they become more efficient and deployments move faster than ever.
Deployment planning needs to be shared with the team. If the PM has a priority list then they should make sure that the installer and the warehouse is on the same page. Then let them know that they can move on the top 10 as soon as the site is staged. This is a way to let the installers know that they can move as soon as the staging is completed.
Batch sites by region, this is probably the one thing that can really save costs but the hardest to do. I have mentioned it before that if you can do all the sites in one region or city, then you save so much money on travel. It doesn’t always work, mostly due to permitting and leasing and customer expectations. I have been on projects where the customer wants to see progress and they order the installer to do one site in a region because they want to show the customer/investors that they are making progress in a hot area. They argue that they want you to install for the bulk price even though the installer costs increase when going to one area to do a single install if they are not local. Chances are you will do it to keep the customer happy but this really eats into margin causing you to raise the prices next time because the customer requests irrational planning not thinking of how the cost rolls downhill.
Understand what they big picture is. Sometimes the deployment team will get caught up in the deployment of their priority sites because they don’t think about the system. Sometimes the deployment of the sites may be ahead of either the core/controllers or licensing is ready for the turn-up. So the sites may be deployed and sit for months until brought live. Then when they are brought live problems show up. I have been through many deployments like this. It causes so many problems but this is how many deployments happen. Sometimes the customer will expect you to come back to repair something months after the installation, understand what the agreement is ahead of time, read the SOW and the contract so you can plan accordingly. Customer relationships need to be thought of as well, remember that if you piss of the customer you may lose the customer.
Have the right tools for the job. Remember to plan out the deployment. If you need a bucket truck then get a bucket truck, put it in the pricing and use it! You may need a crane or a welder or more manpower. Plan accordingly.
Plan out the overnight stays ahead of the deployment. You can save money sometimes if you are going to be in an area for over a month by finding an apartment or negotiating with a local hotel for the full month. If you can plan and work on hotel costs, it saves money.
Learn what you’re installing! This is something where you will need proper training on the equipment. Whether its beefing up a tower or installing several RRHs. Sometimes you will be deploying something new, but if this is something that has been GA’ed, (General Acceptance) then it should have a MOP (Method of Process) put out by the OEM. Remember not to confuse the OEM’s MOP with the customer’s MOP. They are usually very different. The OEM will cover the OEM equipment only but the customer’s MOP should cover all of the site equipment. If you know the proper process then it will cut down on the return visits for the punch list. Return visits cost money and time and delay payments. Make sure you do as much right the first time as possible and have the MOP to back it up.
Plan to be on site when the inspection takes place. This is really hard when you have limited people. I used to have a crew or person that would be on site when the inspection took place so that all the issues could be resolved in one inspection. This would speed payment and closure. The PM should be able to schedule this but they need to be aware of how much time this will save. One of the biggest reasons time and money is lost is because the customer and the contractor go back and forth trying to closeout a site. It can go on for weeks or even months. It is very frustrating and can be prevented by some simple planning.
Site prep is very important. If this is a new deployment, for macro or small cells, power needs to be ready. Leasing needs to be completed. Permitting needs to be completed. If you go to install something and something is not ready, it is a major problem. So if you are the PM, make sure everything is complete to prevent the second visit. Verify as much as possible.
I put a few things in here that may help you out. Most of this is obvious, but it seems that there are still problems with what I have laid out, no deployment is perfect. I see all of these problems arise again and again. Problems always arise, there are always delays due to outside issues, like weather or if the customer makes a change or if the contractor will not get paid. We always see problems that can’t be counted for. It happens.
Let me know what delays you have seen derail a deployment.
Want to support an injured tower climber’s family? Here’s how. Support Hubble, they need it now more than ever!! Have I told you lately how much we need to support this cause? Thank GOD for the Hubble Foundation!
Get on iTunes for Wade4wireless then subscribe and write a review now!
