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More Feedback from You Wireless Workers!

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I really appreciate all of the feedback. One of the posts that I got a lot of feedback on was “Tower Injuries: Is this the Price of doing Business?” I found out that the wireless community in general is fired up about the need for change in this industry! Not only the perception that it’s dangerous but the fact that we should be doing better. There is a not only a need for change, but the industry will get a black eye because it’s going to become a type of “US” and “THEM” mentality in wireless. What I mean by that is there will be the large customers, like the carriers, who will be the “THEM” looking to keep deployments as cheap as possible and the “US” which is the climber who puts his/her life at risk trying to get the tower completed in less time regardless of the risk.

Hey, don’t forget to sign up for my monthly newsletter over there on the top right. > > >

Also, I have a Wade4Wireless products page where I have more information on my new SOW training package and I released an audiobook for my Tower Climbing: An Introduction eBook. I have a free eBook for the SOW Overview if you’re interested.

What we need to do is change the perception that the tower side of the industry is too dangerous to work and get it back to a highly respected profession where accidents may happen but are not common. The past 2 years are poor examples of safety. You know what I am talking about, not only the deaths but the injuries and near misses. Injury and death should not be the price of doing business in any industry. We are working harder to make this change, but it will take a team effort from all sides and especially from you! Each of you can help by spreading the word and becoming living examples of what to do the right way!

So, here is the feedback. I will have the comment and then my response. Just to be clear, all of these are responses from “Tower Injuries: Is this the Price of doing Business?” I remove the names to prevent any harassment, but if you include a company name I will print it.

Comment: Hi Wade, The comment was meant towards Sprint, Verizon and AT&T. The major companies that contract out the work so they don’t have to pay Union scale wages to their employees. But I agree as the one it was said to about everything you wrote.

Response: Thank you.

Comment: This fatalistic approach has no place in a safety culture. No level of accidents, much less deaths, should be acceptable.

Response: I agree whole heartedly!

Comment: Great article. I experience a lot of “deadlines” or “it has to be done” situations. There are better ways to send guys out in the morning without turning it into a race. I am 15+yrs into telecommunications industry. I take a laid back and still be safe point view with my crew and it works. Also the quality of work is excellent.

Response: It is great to see that someone can relax and pay attention to the deployment itself rather than the dead lines that often overcome many of us.

Comment: If you have never worked as an installer on one of these towers, you cannot understand how difficult it is to perform the tasks required to do a job. The owners, designers and producers of these towers are simply designing towers to support the antennas and lines, without any thought as to how they will be erected and maintained. (Other than step-bolts which are a major contributor to the fatalities.) In comparison, look at the U.S. Forest Service towers. Has there ever been an accident where a forest service worker fell from a tower? If there was, I never heard about it and these towers have been around much longer than communication towers. The service was astute enough to provide a safe workplace for their employees.

Response: I don’t know about the Forest Service tower injuries, I couldn’t find any, but I agree completely that the tower should be made as safe as possible. When climbing there are so many physical obstacles in the way and there are not always descent tie off points. Some people don’t understand what I mean by that but you may need to wrap the lanyard around something to get a tie off point because it may be the only thing to connect the lanyard too. It could be an oversized cross beam or a large leg. Especially since we all know that the climbing pegs are not an acceptable tie off point. I find that companies that are tower owners only seemed concerned with the tie off points if they have their people climbing all the towers. This is when it becomes a concern. 100% tie off is a lot easier when there are well planned and accessible tie off points that are clean without sharp edges.

Comment: Hi Wade. There are aspects of life this side of the pond where we have a surfeit of legislation and it suffocates us, but when it comes to H&S in mobile comms. I am glad we have tight legislation, prescriptive regulations and significant penalties for companies and individuals that do not comply.  I work for a large tower co (JV between two carriers) and compliance with our Construction, Design and Management Regs is absolute and audited, and it underpins an uncompromising approach to working safe and staying safe.
It is frightening in any civilized country that injuries and fatalities might even flippantly be said to be the price of doing business, or perhaps to be viewed as in some way inevitable in delivery of rollout and upgrade projects to time and/or to budget.  It’s time we replaced the triangle of contention between time, cost and quality handmade it a pyramid with H&S no longer a silent factor.
Finally well done on having a blog and a LinkedIn page that call this out.
Regards

Response: Thank you for the comments and it shows us how not all regulation is bad. Unfortunately here in the states big companies generally set regulation until there are too many accidents.

Tower top cell

Comment: Every accident is preventable.  That is not a safety slogan but an actual fact.  The problem is that safety costs more than a lot of employers and/or their employees want to pay.  In this business (tower work) you don’t get off easy when you make a mistake.  Serious injury and death are the regrettable results when mistakes happen in an elevated position.
Take a closer look at the photo above.  Do you see all of those cable connections on the bottom of the antennas and radio heads that are inaccessible unless someone suspends themselves from the tower/platform mount?  How much would it cost to relocate those connections to positions above the bottom of the platform to afford a safer and efficient work position?  Why continue to put good people in harm’s way to do their work?
Safety starts on the drawing board of every product and every project.  If not, the risk to workers greatly increases and the opportunities for serious accidents go up accordingly.  It is time to re-engineer our approach to safety in the wireless industry!

Response: I could not agree more! However, it is not thought of end to end. I tried to bring this up before but it seems that there is no alignment from the beginning so it is mostly put on the climber. When I say from the beginning, we should start when new towers are constructed. They can’t be prepared for everything as technologies change, (who knew we would hang all the radio heads on the tower?), but the tie off points could be prepared better. When the equipment is hung on the tower it should be thought out so when work is done it can be easily maintained, but it is not. I worked on transmitters years ago where they were trying to get the unit to fit in a small space. It fit in a small space up until you had to work on it. Then you had to pull it out from the tight spot, hoping not to affect the connected coax and you had to practically pull it apart to work on the most common failures. Not to mention all the tools you needed, it had nut, screws that need a flat, Philip, Torx and more just to work on it. They improved that side by making everything modular at first, now they replace an entire unit when it has problems. But the climber has more and more work on the tower, in the air, at height. They have to learn fiber skills, coax skills, climbing skills, safety skills, and more. Yet, when something happens people always say, well they should have done this or that, not accounting for all the issues they have to contend with. When something bad happens, most people look at the end, not the beginning to end. How many times has OSHA said, “Well the RRH should have been mounted elsewhere” or “why didn’t the tower owner provide proper climbing tie off points”?

If you have an opinion, tell me about it!

I thought you guys may want to get more training, here is a good antenna tutorial.

Antenna tutorial http://www.comsoc.org/form/tutorial-registration-antenna-basics#.VGiNsOXkjUM.linkedin

 Want to support a tower climber’s family or a climber in need? Here’s how. Support Hubble, they need it now  more than ever!!

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Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Here in the USA it is Thanksgiving. We give thanks for all that we have and what we have accomplished. It started a long time ago when the pilgrims came to this region to settle. Now we should be doing it to look at all that is good in our lives. It is not easy because so many times we have so many problems that we look at the bad, not the good. Included myself, when times were tough and I had a ton of problems it is easy to complain. I mean I felt as if there were no good in the world. I remember friends would say, “You have your health” because that’s really all I had. Believe me, that was enough, I now know how lucky I am and that things get better. It is hard to look at the good when you feel like you are surrounded by problems. I want you to make a conscious effort to look at the positive.

So let’s all be thankful that there have been no fatalities for the past 60 days! At least to my knowledge, feel free to reach out and let me know if I am wrong. I feel pretty fortunate that we are doing much better. I don’t know of any serious accidents in the tower industry for over 30 days. I am so glad that things have been good. This is not the time to get lazy! This is the time to step up awareness. Why? So everyone stays alert. Remember that when we get lazy we get complacent and we overlook hazards. We should make it a challenge to finish the year without any incidents. If the wireless and tower industry can do that then it will be a better 2014.

It was a rough start to 2014, with 11 fatalities in the tower industry. So many if not all should have been avoided. What about all of the injuries we had this year where the people lived but their lives will be changed forever from an accident? We are so grateful that they are alive but they need to keep the faith to work their way back to health. Finally, there have been many publicized near misses where the crew could not help their own crew mates. So may near misses that should have been avoided. So we are at a place where we can work to make this industry better.

Let me tell you what I am grateful for this year in the industry. OSHA creates the communications tower website to keep the tower and wireless field industry updated on the work. The FCC and DOL came together to create TIRAP. NATE created the Tower Family Foundation. Hubble Foundation is doing more than ever for tower climber families. You see, there are good things happening in the industry that we should all be thankful for. We should be thankful for the above groups all coming together to help the tower industry. Wireless workers can celebrate these wins for 2014!

I am also thankful for NATE creating a common standard for the tower industry to follow. Climber’s harnesses are better than ever and constantly improving. Climbers learning more about their trade by keeping up to sate with hardware, safety gear, and techniques. Awareness of training, all kinds of training including safety and rescue and rigging.

We all have ideas how to make this better but so far we cannot unite. I am grateful that so many of you have reached out to me with your stories. So many have you have told me what is really going on out there. I can’t always write about it because so many stories may be incriminating or may need more proof to publicize. I don’t want to just make a company or a person look bad unless I have serious evidence to back it up.

As an industry I am not sure how we will ever unite for anything except that we want to end the death and accidents in this industry. The dividing factor is how to do that. We all have ideas, but it’s time we think outside the box. I do believe that we can all unite for common values, or at least most of us. The values and vision we could all agree on is that each of us practice the best safety practices along with good work ethic and proper training. These together will be the key factor to continued industry growth and success. You see that is where it will all start, good values and vision.

Let me ask you, what is your vision to make the industry better?

 

 

If you’re interested I wanted to share this on my Amazon! A great gift and helps out Gette working on Hubble. I interviewed Gette, who likes to talk so make sure to listen to part 1 and part 2.

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Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Rope versus Steel Cable for Hoists

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So I was talking to a retired climber who still works in wireless, (someone still passionate about the industry) and he was telling me stories about all the ropes that broke throughout the years. You know what he didn’t mention, any steel cables that broke. He did mention how it has been determined that ropes broke due to wear, poor tagging, and knots. Remember that a knot will weaken the rope. My point here is to make sure you know what the job is and that you’re prepared.

No argument that rope is way cheaper, but think about the purpose before you do the job. We know that each one has a slightly different purpose, rope and steel cable. What are you pulling? What is the combined weight of what you’re pulling up? How high? Is it a serious load that will strain the rope? What shape is your rope in? Do you need a steel rope/cable for the load?

To be honest, when you are using the small Capstan hoist you would only use rope, but aren’t you envious when you see the big drum hoists being used by other crews? Do you have hoist envy? Be honest!

So when pulling up the load remember that the weight is only part of the equation. If the load weight is heavy you need to account for the rope and maybe the drag, Remember that the block will not only have to hold the weight of what you are lifting but also the weight being pulled by the hoist. So it would be lifting 300lbs and the hoist would be pulling 300lbs, so double the weight and add the hardware and rope. I am just saying that when the rating of the rope or cable is close to the load, make sure you think of everything. But, I digress.

OK, OK, I know, there is an application for both nylon and steel ropes. So let’s focus on the winch use. When using a hoist, a full winch, not a small capstan that most crews use on the back of their truck hitches. Let’s talk a drum hoist that is used to haul up heavy loads. Will a rope work for this? Maybe, but think about what you will be pulling up. Make a plan ahead of time. I know that the broadcast guys and larger tower builders already know what to do and have the setup with the steel cables already. They know what they need to do the work. If you are just beginning to get into the heavy loads with the big boy hoists, then make sure you know what you are getting into. You may know rigging, but don’t overlook the tools you will need to do the work properly.

I have seen ropes break usually due to getting snagged or hung up so it’s something to consider when rigging. Make sure you have a plan for the tag line, if you have steel cable you could have serious problems if you get hung up on a guy or another antenna on the way up.

I am told that some people often use ropes for heavy loads. If you have the money for a serious hoist, you should have the money to get a seriously strong and long steel cable, whatever length you need. Rope is very strong, don’t get me wrong, make sure you know your load rating. Steel rope is strong and you need to know its rating. Anytime you work with any load, hoist or no hoist you need to know the rating of your working rope or cable. It is your job as defined by OSHA. You also need to know everything about the winch. It matters when you are going to determine how much to take up at a time or how you plan to use it.

What if the load is a human load? What if the load is a crew mate? What if the load is a buddy that says, “Take me up with the load!”? Would you trust a rope then? This is something you should seriously think about when hauling people up and down using a winch, with a rope. Ropes wear much faster, ropes knot up, ropes get weak from many different things. Pay attention to the rope! Pay close attention to your tools being used at the site before, during, and after the job. Someone’s life may depend on it.

I know that rope is the most common tool used in the industry. I can’t think of many installations where you didn’t use rope. Even when you had a hoist with steel cable chances are you used the rope for the safety line and for the tag line. You can’t be in this business without rope.

When using the rope for the load line, you may have issues when lifting heavy loads not because of the load rating, but because of the way you knotted the rope or maybe the rope gets a knot in it somewhere up high on the tower. If the rope gets knotted up, get the knot out before handling a load. It takes time. What would you do if you saw a knot in the load rope? Would you and your crew mates just say, “don’t worry about it”? Is that the smart and safe thing to do, of course not! You may think that it’s no big deal, but now you know better. You know the load and how knots weaken the rope. So being lazy in not an option. That is what gets people killed! Yet so many of you will ignore a knot is a load rope because of the schedule. Steel cables rarely get a knot in them, because steel has different properties and if it gets bound, it may break before it would knot up. I never saw anything like that happen, but it’s possible.You should know by now that a knot weakens a rope by 50% or more. Don’t believe me? I have information below that shows you the rope weakness. Then look at these, http://www.bethandevans.com/pdf/8_strength.pdf and http://www.netknots.com/rope_knots/ and http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Knots/Properties_of_knots and https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/tying-knots-in-rope-s-tension-weakened-strength.344191/. I mean you should know that from your safety training.

The pros of using rope, it’s cheaper and easy to use. The cons are it knots easy, weakens easy, and wears out quickly!

The pros of steel cable is that it’s very strong, easy to spot damage (if you’re looking), and lasts a very long time because it wears slowly. The cons are its very expensive and heavy and harder to work with.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention. Plan for what you will be doing!

Rope Information

To learn more about rope testing there is a great Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/RopeTestLab/ that shows information on rope stress as well as testing gear.

If you go to http://davidschmidtwriting.com/busted.htm you will see it has a good list of how different knots weaken the rope. David Schmidt has in his blog the following. (He has a great reference!) He is writes for SAIL Magazine Information below is taken from David’s article. This is a good reference. I know most of you use Kevlar or nylon kernmantle ropes so this is mostly for a reference.

1/2-inch double-braid nylon is a dynamic rope (it elongates under load) and is commonly used as docking line or for towing a dinghy. Its rated Broke at is 10,800 lbs.

Bowline: Broke at: 5,983lbs, strength lost: 44.6%

Clove hitch with two half hitches: Broke at: 7,021 lbs, strength lost: 35%

Round turn and two half hitches: Broke at: 5,148 lbs, knot rolled open in all three tests before the rope snapped, knot slipped: 52.33%

Figure 8: Broke at: 6,227 lbs, strength lost: 42.33%

Double fisherman’s knot: Broke at: 5,820 lbs, strength lost: 46.1%

Double-braid splice: Broke at: 8,384 lbs, strength lost: 22.37%

Sta-Set (double-braid polyester) is a static rope that is commonly used for sheets and halyards and as general-purpose cord; 1/2-inch Sta-Set’s rated Broke at is 10,200 lbs.

Bowline: Broke at: 5,617 lbs, strength lost: 44.9%

Clove hitch with two half hitches: Broke at: 6,471 lbs, strength lost: 36.6%

Round turn and two half hitches: Broke at: 6,492 lbs, knot rolled open in all three tests before the rope snapped, knot slipped: 36.37%

Figure 8: Broke at: 5,352 lbs, strength lost: 47.5%

Double fisherman’s knot: Broke at: 5,250 lbs, strength lost: 48.5%

Double-braid splice: Broke at: 8,934 lbs, strength lost: 12.4%

Endura braid (rope with a 100-percent Spectra core and a polyester cover) is a static rope used for sheets and halyards; 1/2-inch Endura Braid’s rated Broke at is 19,300 lbs.

Bowline: Broke at: 7,855 lbs, strength lost: 59.33%

Clove hitch with two half hitches: Broke at: 7,448 lbs, strength lost: 61.44%

Round turn and two half hitches: Broke at: 6,166 lbs, knot rolled open in all three tests before the rope snapped, knot slipped: 68%

Figure 8: Broke at: 7,713 lbs, strength lost: 60%

Double fisherman’s knot: Broke at: 6,268 lbs, strength lost: 67.5%

Core-to-core splice: Broke at: 20,594 lbs, strength lost: 0%

Steel Rope/Cable Information

Steel rope is hard to rate in one table because there are so many different types. Just like rope there are strands that are wrapped around each other and they bound in some way. Normally there is galvanized steel and stainless steel, both very strong.

A good overview is at http://www.wcwr.com/catalog/webcat.pdf to learn more on steel rope and cable. It goes over the types of cable that are out there and what the advantages are.

I got this table from http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wire-rope-strength-d_1518.html where they list the standard rating of wire rope, 6 strand by 19 wire.

Rope Diameter Minimum Breaking Strength Safe Load
(in) (mm) (lbf) (kN) (lbf) (kN)
1/4 6.4 5480 24,4 1100 4.89
5/16 8 8520 37,9 1700 7.56
3/8 9.5 12200 54,3 2440 10.9
7/16 11.5 16540 73,6 3310 14.7
1/2 13 21400 95,2 4280 19.0
9/16 14.5 27000 120 5400 24.0
5/8 16 33400 149 6680 29.7
3/4 19 47600 212 9520 42.3
7/8 22 64400 286 12900 57.4
1 26 83600 372 16700 74.3

Another great steel rope reference is at https://www.wiscolift.com/pages/Wire-Rope-and-Cable.html that shows the rating of cables and the styles which I have listed below.

Types of cable wraps

Another resource is http://www.rigging.net/wire.html where they had this table.

MacWhyte Chart

Any comments? Tell me.

For more:

http://www.wirelessestimator.com/industryinfoselect.cfm?categid=319

https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/Directive_pdf/CPL_2-1_36.pdf page 5

http://www.sbasite.com/media/Tower%20Safety%20Handbook.pdf

http://www.wcwr.com/catalog/webcat.pdf

http://www.hubbellpowersystems.com/literature/lineman/BR09023E.pdf

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wire-rope-strength-d_1518.html

https://www.hydradynellc.com/t-p_tower_erection_hoists.aspx

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SOW Tutorial and more Feedback

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I am taking this moment to let you all know that I put together a Scope of Work tutorial so everyone out there can understand the SOW. Yes, a shameless plug for something I made to help you out. I have a page setup to help you out, go to http://wadesarver.com/scope-work-training/ to learn more. Price is $24.99US but for reading this I have a discount code w4w_sow that will save you about $10 off of that price. I put this together for the wireless field workers that need to understand the SOW or may have to write one. It is a video tutorial. I have a free PDF white paper to help. Feel free to download it and see if it can help you out. If you want to order now click on the icons below.

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I understand from many of you that you are working as contractors and need to write or update a SOW. My intention is to make sure that you understand the work in the SOW and that you understand how to protect yourself from doing work that is not covered in the SOW. I tried to make it clear how this is going to be your key to getting paid for the work you do and how you can create a change order for the work that is not in the SOW. Remember that all the extra work you do will cost your company money so you will need to weigh out whether the customer is going to appreciate it and reward you with more work or if they are taking advantage of you. That is your call but if the SOW is properly written you can make it your decision how to process.

And now, more Feedback!

OK, now let’s get to the feedback. Let me start by saying that I really appreciate the time you have taken to post notes in the feedback forms, thank you! I don’t post names because I don’t want anyone to get in trouble or be ridiculed by the tower community. If you put your company name in, I will post it unless I find it offensive in some way.
OK, let’s get started.
From my post “Climbing alone” we have:
Comment: Awesome ……like minds are good to hear
Response: Thank you!
Comment OSHA 1910.151(b) in the absence of an infirmary, clinic, or hospital in near proximity to the workplace which is used for the treatment of all injured employees, a person or persons shall be adequately trained to render first aid. Adequate first aid supplies shall be readily available. Seemingly this indicates the necessity of a minimum of two persons.
Also, OSHA 1910.38 Emergency action plans. The requirements for a rescue plan under OSHA 1910.38 require a written rescue plan is on site completed and signed by all participating personnel.
To my knowledge, I have never reviewed a plan of rescue that
could be construed with a single climber carrying out the complete written activities to be performed during execution of a rescue.
One last thought, I do not believe there is a legal allowance affording the presence of only a single employee on site at any given time. This/these are my interpretation of the readings of the above stated reg.’s. Be familiar with the rules and when and where they may apply. Help with your crew members to become familiar, and at the same time become able to Trust yourself to know. That’s all I have,
Response: Thank you sir!
Comment: Wade – I wrote a blog post about this myself back in May:
http://safetyoneinc.com/climbing-alone/
I hear about this frequently. Not too long ago one of our clients told me about how he fired someone for climbing alone after repeated warnings. Nice to see someone stand behind his words with actions.
Be Safe!
Response: Thank you for taking the time to let everyone know the dangers of climbing alone. Even if you think you can, it is better to have someone there. I know the mentality that it won’t happen to you. We all think that until something so stupid happens, then we know it could happen to anybody. Things happen, good and bad, not always in our control or we get careless. Not fair, but it does. We aren’t always smart, safe, and we don’t always pay attention. We say we do, but we get stupid when we are in a hurry or tired. I know I do!
Comment: Well I do understand where this is coming from. I remember when our policy was buddy system we were to NEVER climb alone. Then as the company got busier it was well its okay just call me before, at location, and back on the ground. Then it went to no mention the fact I was aligning a 6′ or 10′ antenna by myself at 500’….. As time went on the company got so adapted to us climbing alone that if I said someone should be with me , it turned into well I guess we didn’t have what it took to step up. I made my way from greenhorn to lead man to supervisor, to job coordinator. After 15 years I decided to leave. There comes a point when a man becomes a man (at times a stupid one) but we all do what we have to do to take care and provide for the time being. Once he or she realizes the company that sends them out alone is only worried about their Upper Management Bonus check that comes in when the job was done with less payroll. PROFIT is all it comes down to. So if you’re reading this and you understand what I mean. Stop living (risking) your own life for your company that doesn’t care about your worth as an employee. I’m no longer there and left the industry entirely. Now I only kick myself for not doing these 14 years and 11 months ago. When your employer values and respects you……. You as an employee will have a new-found fire and self-worth to exceed farther than you would if you were left alone with no help if needed. Be safe guys and WHOOP! WHOOP! Climb safe and take your time to double-check your anchor. And remember its okay to be 100% tied off it’s a good habit & gets you home safe. Take care.
Response: Thank you for the honesty! I know exactly what you mean. We usually start out with the best intentions, but then something changes, the workload, the schedule, the bonuses, the money, or we just get lazy. We may deny all of these, but I have been there and I have the advantage of 20/20 hindsight, and I know that I fell into these categories. Denial is something we can do until something terrible happens, then all we have is our excuses.
Comment: At the end of the day it all comes down to safety training. But people still make mistakes… most of which I’d say is caused by fatigue caused by poor management, busy work schedules, pressure to finish sites quickly, etc. Wireless work is very complex and it takes very knowledgeable people to make it work.
Response: So true!
OK, I have more feedback and I guess I have to do a follow-up. I will put more out in the next post unless some big news happens. I will try to get it to you soon!
Let me know what you think, don’t be shy!

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Are Work Schedules Killing the Wireless Field Worker? YES!

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Hey, I read an article from Jon Gelman (found here) about workers schedules. If you have the time I seriously recommend reading the article. It explains how so often schedules are completely out of control of the workers. When I read this headline I thought, finally, someone cares about the wireless field worker! However, this bill targets retail, food service, and cleaning industries, people who get to work close to home. (Once again the wireless field worker is ignored!) These industries apparently have rough schedules. This is a bill being proposed here in the states by Iowa Democrat Senator Tom Harkin that is going to change that. I don’t know this senator at all, or anything he has done, but I would like to see a bill like this one, found here, for the wireless field worker. Why? Because it focuses on how the workers lives that are greatly affected by their work schedules. This is because businesses often put the job first and families second. You see this when companies put the profits first by laying people off and working the people they have three times as hard to save the company, profits first. This bill is supposed to help people with their families and with continuing education. So let’s talk about why they are doing this, first off it has come to the attention of the government that the workers families can be devastated by these grueling schedules. People just can’t maintain a healthy family life nor can they continue to educate themselves. This will provide the workers with a schedule 2 weeks in advance and provide them with extra pay if they are sent home early without pay. Sound familiar?

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OK, here is where I vent, my opinions below.

Hey Senator Tom Harkin, ever work in wireless? I wonder, does anyone on Capitol Hill understand the wireless worker’s schedule? Schedules in wireless deployments are grueling and painful. When will this be magnified? Workers deserve fair schedules, right? Is it too much to ask to place some sanity in deployments? Did any politician ever work in wireless deployment? I don’t mean as an executive or as a CEO, but doing the field work? The only thing that is fair is……well, for the field worker not much. I mean you have all those perks like low pay, tough schedules, dangerous work, and hoping to get paid. With all of that on your side, why worry? Many wireless deployment companies work their people hard – physically and emotionally – by sending workers all over the country only to let them go the minute the work seems to be drying up. You get to see your family every other weekend and when you get laid off. I really don’t see that as fair. That is why so many of these guys are on the edge, irritable, and ready to explode. Don’t get me wrong, some people like the lifestyle, I would say about 10% in my guesstimate. Many people love climbing, it becomes a passion with many people. I don’t mean just for the thrill but for the combination of the work and product.So much passion can be ruined by these schedules and poor companies. However, if you work for a standup company, good business people, then you will really fall in love with the job and the business.

Schedules, family life, and pressure were the themes at the TIRAP conference, information found here and here. I think it’s amazing how long it is taking to get word to the US government beyond the DOL and FCC! How do we get the word to politicians? They seem to listen to carriers about the woes of the spectrum auctions.

The worker will need to find a way to get the word to the people who make the laws if they want to find a cure for this. Many wireless field workers deal with insane schedules, crazy jobs, remote locations, health hazards, corrupt employers, and mental health abuse. All this and then they find out that their per Diem has been cut or their paycheck is late or that when they return they are laid off. WOW! What a career move. Don’t forget that if there is an accident and the job is not complete they may not get paid! If they do have an accident, then they will be surrounded by lawyers who may want to blame them. All this and they have injuries that they will live with for the rest of their lives. Like they wanted to live this way for the rest of their live!

It is the old adage, if a climber gets laid off, does the customer care? Apparently not, but when the carrier lays off people it makes major news. Think about it. Did you read about Sprint lately? The funny thing is when they have a lay off people the stock value usually goes up, rewarding the stock holders for letting people go. I get it – the company is saving money by letting people go. There could be many reasons – the market changes, the management team planned poorly or could not grow the company or changing direction so now it’s time to make drastic changes. Everyone appreciates the downsizing, except the people who got laid off collecting unemployment. It really sucks for them. They need to find work in an industry that is tough to work in. They hit the streets to compete with their former co-workers for a new job.

I recently talked to someone who left the industry for different work, this was awhile ago but I remember he said in his email to me that “My worst day in this job is better than my best day as a climber.” He understood how hard the industry is to work in when the very people you are helping do everything they can to devalue your livelihood. He may be reading this so he knows who he is. If he reads this I am sure he will comment.

So, it’s great that the retail, food service, and cleaning industries have an advocate in government working for them. Who is the wireless worker’s advocate? Please, fill me in. I look to the FCC and the DOL, (OSHA), as our friends  and allies looking out for us in Washington. Maybe we need a senator or a congressman who wants the madness to end. Who is it? Please tell me! Who will help the wireless field worker?

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention.

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Guess what?!! I have finished a training video for the SOW. I will write a post on it but if you’re interested, I have information and discounts below.

The price for the Scope of Work training is $24.99 but I have discounts for those of you who read this.

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Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Loyalty versus Lowest Bidder in Wireless

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I was reading a book where they mentioned how purchasing is done differently among companies and people. We all want a good price for what we get, right? Well, is the lowest price always the best? Sometimes it’s good enough. What about when getting high-end work done? Is it lowest bidder good enough for a wireless deployment? That is how most of the business is done. Except maybe among broadcast where they usually only put out the bid to people or companies they really trust. They know who is good and who is not, at least they used to. They usually build loyalty into the offer.

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Today’s world revolves around investors, who really have very little loyalty beyond the bottom line. I see it often where a contractor may have a horrible reputation but continues to get work because they are very cheap. It takes awhile before they are found out to be cutting corners or not paying people.

Many companies have lists of contractors that they know are not good, or don’t meet their standards. They also keep lists of acceptable vendors that were pre-qualified. The idea is that they have at least showed their qualifications on paper before getting the work. Then they need to win some jobs and get the work. If they do good work then they can be rated or graded on the work they have done. This is a normal system.

However, what happens when a company gets caught doing shoddy work? It seems some people change company names and they are back in the game. How can we stop this? We will have to do the due diligence by researching the bad seeds. This is why there are some people who are blacklisted in the industry. We just need to make sure that the blacklisting is justified. This is where loyalty and reputation come into play.

So loyalty between a sub and a company is earned, not given. Once you meet the minimum requirements you must do the work and do it well. If a company puts a contractor on the short list, it should be for good reason, either that company does great work or a particular crew really impressed the customer. That often is the case, where there is the “A” team that can really impress. We can’t all be on the A team but if you work harder to care for the customer’s needs then you will make a positive impression. Customers need to have someone they trust to do good work and be honest with them. Is that you?

Now, what about that crew that stinks? You know who I mean, the ones that run out of hardware so they use tie wraps to finish securing the mount because it’s Friday and they don’t want to do a return trip. Maybe you didn’t see the crew that did it but you saw the work. How does that not make it into the close out package? Do you report that to the tower owner? That is one more thing we need.

It’s hard to bring you’re “A” game when the customer might not pay you or if you are working for a customer that may be on thin ice. Sometimes the contractor does not pay its subs. This causes so many problems in the industry. If the customer hires someone they trust then they know the payment terms. If the sub is working for someone new or someone who is a piss poor manager, then payment will be late or not happen at all. The end customer suffers, the sub suffers, and people spend the rest of the time pointing fingers. That is going to destroy trust. If the PM purposely screws a crew by not paying the workers for getting the job 80% done then bringing in a cheaper crew to finish it just to pay the last crew a lot less money. That is just shameful. This is another issue with trust among workers in the industry. Loyalty and trust is a 2 way street not only to be earned by the hard-working crews but by the customer who is supposed to pay them and treat them fair!

Again, trust is earned and it’s a 2 way street. Remember that there are project managers that take pride in cheating hard-working crews because they think they are saving money but it really hurts the industry. When will this stop? Let’s hope today, but let’s face it, there will always be snakes in the industry, or any industry for all that matters. We need to get names of these people so we know who to trust. Names should be on a loyalty list of naughty and nice people to work with.

This industry is small, what comes around goes around like Karma on here we need to play well with everyone. Just because you compete against someone doesn’t mean they are the enemy. You may have to work together on a future job or you may team up one day. So treat your fellow workers with respect and learn from them and teach them something. We all need to learn to work together. Loyalty in the industry among coworkers is just as important as loyalty between customer and contractor.

Loyalty needs to be earned and it is hard to gain back once it’s lost. So many times there are people associated with bad companies. All you can do is work hard to regain trust and respect. It is not easy but it can be done. We all need to learn from our mistakes. The lowest bidder and the layers of subs really can cause problems in any industry. So let’s be fair when we bid and let’s understand the scope of work so we can all be fair to the workers as to not get in over our heads!

So let me ask you something, if you needed brain surgery or a heart transplant, would you put it out to the lowest bidder? Maybe it would be nice to have someone with a good reputation, a name that you can trust, someone who you got to know and someone you can trust. It should be the same in the wireless deployment industry. After all, if they could do the work themselves they would, but they don’t because it is a specialty.

The wireless deployments are not going to end anytime soon. It is time to build loyalty among the players in this industry. Let’s build a wireless industry based on trust. We need good leadership to do that. It is something that will be earned over time. Let’s each start with ourselves, let’s do the best we can for our own sake to make this the best industry to work in. In the wireless deployment industry we are looking at NATE, CTIA, FCC, OSHA, DOL, and each other for leadership. We now have TIRAP. They are the groups working to make sure that there are examples of safety and workmanship. It is up to each person out there working to align with the leadership and become a leader in their company. To become the poster child for quality and safety for fellow workers to follow should be the goal. Just because I say align doesn’t mean we should follow blindly, we all need to point out faults when we see them. Here is your chance to set the example of being the best worker you can be in safety and quality. With enough people working hard to be the example them more people will want to align and follow only to become the future leaders.

I was talking to Richard Bell, the owner of Bell Tower, and he is setting the example of how to act in this industry. He is 73 years old and a neat guy to chat with. He has safety on his mind even now, he knows so much about the industry and he shares all of his information with everyone. Go to his web page and you will see his safety policy. He shares it with everyone, there are no secrets there. This guy is setting a great example! http://www.belltowercorp.com/safety_first.htm

Tell me what do you think?

My SOW training will be out next week. My big release will be soon! Make sure you tune in!

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention.

www.HubbleFoundation.org

Soon I will release my training for the SOW and more, to build your library of basic knowledge so you can advance in your job and the industry! My books will help teach someone the basics of tower work.

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Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Is Small Cell Deployment Cost Prohibitive?

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Hey small cell fans! I was recently looking over what has been holding carriers back for outdoor small cell deployment. I will lay it out for you. But first, a quick overview.

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I know that many people I have talked to are looking to get into small cell deployment. Many of you have already started some indoor installations. This is great! Inside building installations are a good place to start because of the small cell experience. The great thing about buildings is that you are mostly running CAT5 to the small cell. You may need to get creative and pay attention to the cable runs. Remember that core drilling is very expensive.

  • First, let me describe the small cell options.
  1. Stand alone small cells that would be an all in one unit, it may or may not have the antenna attached to it but the controller and radio would all be in one box. If the antenna is remote then it may have the RF jumper connecting the small cell to the antenna.
  2. Then there are some that have a controller somewhere, like the broadband unit on a macro cell, and then connects to the radio via CAT5 or fiber. The remote radio head will be a smaller unit and will need power, wither from an outlet, from the controller, or from a router via CAT5. The controller probably controls several remote radio heads, and may control them a direct connection or through the network.

For indoor, stadiums, arena, or another controlled smaller venue you could use either one, because it is usually in a controlled environment. For street coverage in a city chances are real good that you would want the standalone unit because of real estate on a pole or in a cabinet that you’re mounting to. For these options DAS is really going to benefit from the small cell options. They still like to have some more power, I mean higher that 1 watt, but they are going to be able to control much more of the power distribution using these units.

  • So what has been holding back deployments?
  1. Is it the price of a small cell? No, the cost of the small cells is very reasonable, cheap in fact, compared to a macro or even a microwave link.
  2. Is it the antenna, cable, hardware, parts, and pieces? No, much more cost-effective because it is so much smaller.
  3. Is it the rent? Probably not, because leasing on a pole is much more reasonable.
  4. Power? Maybe, smaller circuits but if you need to install power, even the minimum 100A or 200A service, whatever the local zoning permits, it will cost money.
  5. Is it the prep work? Like site acquisition and site surveys? It could be. This may entail a lot of prep work. It may need structural drawings on a pole, power planning, backhaul planning, site survey, and more. I will explain below.
  6. It is not the cost of the install, although the carriers seem to attack the installers because it is something they feel they can control and beat down. It may still take a bucket truck to do the deployments, but in the grand scheme of things, compared to a macro it is very reasonable if it is planned out properly. Planning is the key for efficiency and saving money.
  7. Design, integration, and optimization? It is not the design or the integration or even the optimization, but they will hammer that down to because anything that is a service is something they can beat down. Design and integration can mostly be done remotely and optimization is something that is happening anyway.

So what is it? It appears to be the backhaul. They seem to think that they need >100Mbps fiber at every small cell. Does this make sense? It might! They may need more bandwidth at some sites than others but these stand alone sites probably don’t need anything near what they have at an arena. But the carrier would know better than I would because they have Per Call Measurement Data, (PCMD) that they get and put into a tool to determine where they need coverage based on weak signal and loading. I have to tell you, they don’t really seem worried about weak signal unless it affects a major customer. So the 3G small cells never really took off, did they? The 4G LTE small cells are all about bandwidth and data, so that may be a game changer. Carriers are worried that VoLTE may not be great if they don’t have decent bandwidth. They are also looking at the constraints in the bandwidth they are allocated by the FCC, so they will need to create smaller cells to help target larger data customers. This is something they are already trying to figure out.

Do they really need 100Mbps at a small cell? Who is going to use this thing? Is it something that businesses will rely on for watching video or will you be downloading your movies from these things? Maybe someday, but to get things rolling they should look at all of the options. To put in fiber at every site is quite a bit of money, but once it’s in they never have to go back to configure it again.

So who would need high bandwidth? Any venue like a sports venue – where fans would want to look at video, listen to audio, and share anything going on at the game. No matter what the game is the arena or stadium will have crazy heavy usage. Insane usage! Perhaps at certain businesses or in some malls. Maybe on special streets like Times Square in NYC where a massive amount of people gather every New Years Day. So it makes sense to put high bandwidth backhaul and any location like that.

What about the street coverage that is there so people don’t have a dead zone or a place there customers may need coverage for their business? I don’t think they need 100Mbps but the carriers would know better than I would. This is someplace that they could plan to scale up as needed.

So, back to my point – do they need this at fiber every small cell site? I don’t think so. I think that the hybrid solutions will be the way to go to start out. They could put fiber in a site that has fiber, saving cost on installation and site acquisition. This may be a building where they could use wireless backhaul to shoot down to poles, bus stops, other building, whatever. Wireless could be E-band licensed point to point (PTP), 5.8GHz point to multi point (PTMP), or another solution. I think that the traditional licensed bands, like 18GHz or 23GHz may not be feasible due to bandwidth and physical constraints. You will need something small and easy to deploy.

I think that the PTMP may be a quick solution but it’s in the 5.8GHz shared band. This means that anyone could interfere with you at any time causing serious degradation to your link at any time, and there is little you can do about it. It is cheap, comparatively speaking, and easy to deploy. The bandwidth you get may range from a few Mbps to >20Mbps that I am aware of. This varies but realistically I would not expect much more than this. Vendor dependant. Distance could be an issue and depends on what you are trying to achieve, but I would not recommend going too far, over a mile, just to keep your reliability as high as possible. Again, look over your design, know your OEM, and understand the plan for growth.

The E band solution in the 70 to 80 GHz bands. They have a 60GHz band solution as well. This does need to be licensed but they call it light licensing because it is quick and easy and the link distance is very short, under a mile in almost all cases. It does however, based on design and distance, allow you to pass up to 1GHz of bandwidth between links. It must be line of site (LOS) and weather is a factor. It all has a price!

I think that the hybrid solution of using both wireless and fiber may be the best way to go. When you look at putting fiber at every site it could not be cost-effective. However, if you put fiber there from day one you may never need to go back to upgrade. So the design and growth plan is so important. If you don’t see much growth in an area, then why put the money into it up front? I think there are already many business models to look at cost-effective alternatives.

Some carriers want fiber everywhere without any type of reference. What I see is a team of people who do a great job building out a Macro site trying to find synergies with the small cells. However, on backhaul requirements, you have a large area to cover, 3 to 12 sectors, and real loading with many customers at any given time. On the small cell, outside of a sports arena, you may cover 10 to 50 users, realistically, at one time. It may go up to 128 to 256 is this is a busy area. Will they all be using heavy bandwidth, probably not, but it is still loading.

What can you do as a deployment team? Make sure you understand the needs of the customer. Chances are good that they will need site surveys done prior to deployment as part of with the RF design and site Acquisition. When you do the site survey make sure you are aware of all obstacles. You can make sure you understand where the fiber is located. They should have fiber maps showing where the rings are. Maybe you would recognize that a building would be a better fit than a pole because you could set it up as a hub then connect the surrounding poles using wireless backhaul. Look for obstructions that would block wireless backhaul. Maybe you know where the macro site is and that could be the hub and connect to it directly with wireless backhaul. However, most of this may be wishful thinking and there may not be any path back to anything if the customer does installations across a huge area and not a planned organized deployment.

Remind the customer of the cost savings of planning mass deployments in one area. That is something to make clear, if they do single installations all over a wide area, then there are no savings on installation. If they plan it out very well in one area and do 10 installations in one city or metro area, then they will see installation savings.

Be open to suggest idea to help. If you get the site survey work then you are in an excellent position to offer advice. I won’t’ guarantee that they will take it, but hey, you tried to help.

Let me put the budget into perspective for you. To run fiber, even 100 feet it may cost up to $30K or more, all depending what is involved. Underground will involve trenching, permitting, maybe a planned road closure, or more. Overhead may be cheaper, but I am not a fiber guy, they would know better than I would. If you purchase radios they may be $10K and up, but once you mount it then it should work for a very long time assuming it is of good quality and the installation was done properly. You always have cable modems that would connect you to the internet and the carrier would have to build a VPN tunnel to keep it up, I think this may be the cheaper route up front but then you have the monthly OPEX.

So it will not be cheap or free no matter what they do. So it is up to you in the field to make sure you do all that you can to assist them to make the right decisions. Help them out by offering advice to how they could deploy, after all, you are on the front line and we all know that the front line is where all the good ideas come from, right? Of course! Make sure you think it through and be open to a conversation, and listen to what they are really looking for. If they determine that they need fiber at every site regardless of the cost, then so be it. Give it to them and respect their wishes. Just make sure you offer alternatives that are smart and cost-effective.

Tell me what you think!

http://www.thinksmallcell.com/

http://www.smallcellforum.org/

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/solutions/small-cells

https://www.qualcomm.com/1000x/small-cells

My SOW training will be out next week. My big release will be soon! Make sure you tune in!

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention.

www.HubbleFoundation.org

Soon I will release my training for the SOW and more, to build your library of basic knowledge so you can advance in your job and the industry! My books will help teach someone the basics of tower work.

Kindle:

W4W Cover 4sworWireless Field Worker's cover V2

PDF books so you can buy with PayPal:

W4W Cover 4sworWireless Field Worker's cover V2

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Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Tower Injuries: Is this the Price of doing Business?

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I was having a conversation the other day when someone told me about an injury. The lawyers became involved almost immediately, as they always do. The lawyer told the family that injuries are the price of doing business for wireless carriers. Can you imagine? That this is what the legal system thinks of our industry?

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I am so angry about this but it is the opinion of the outsiders looking in. This is something that has to change. I have heard this so many times, so many things that give the industry a black eye. Injuries should not be one of them. Can we shape up? Of course, look at all of the tower companies out there that want to end any type of injury in the field. When I spoke to Liz Day, the woman who put together the Pro-Publica tower climber report, References here and here and here, she told me that everybody she talked to was so open about accidents. From the companies that had serious injuries to the companies that had fatalities. Everyone was quick to talk about how to make the industry better. They all wanted to achieve a safer and healthier injury rate. I don’t think anyone wants any of this to happen.

So why the bad reputation? You know, it is easy to point to the individual, and blame them. Isn’t that the first thing that happens in an accident? What about equipment failure? It happens. What about when something on the tower is not installed correctly? That is very common. What about lack of training? Yes, common problem.

This is completely different that the Price of Doing Business!

Haven’t we tackled of all these problems? Haven’t we done all we can to make these problems go away? And yet, 11 deaths this year as of November, I pray there are no more. Please, no more injuries this year. Imagine how many we don’t hear about. Imagine all the people who get hurt and we never know.

What can we do? The FCC and DOL are stepping in by forming TIRAP, information here and here, and we hope that forming an organized system will help. It is still voluntary.

What about the pay structure? Are people getting paid? Are contractors being treated fair? Well, that all depends who you talk to. If someone can’t complete a job because they got hurt, what happens? Does the job stop? Chances are they will bring someone else in to complete the job and the injured contract won’t get paid. Talk about a kick to the crotch. So apparently the system has problems with payments. Why is that when the carriers are spending so much money to build these systems?

It appears that the prime directive is money and schedule. After all time is money but what is a life worth? Apparently not much when it comes to deployment. After all, 11 deaths this year, and DOL, OSHA, the FCC, and all the tower companies are working towards a better industry. So where is the problem? OSHA created the Communications Towers Website so we can track such things. They created TIRAP. They had a workshop. Yet, the reputation around the industry is that injury and death is part of doing business.

I was talking to someone this morning that mentioned that several contractors have a list of companies that they list as “DO NOT USE” because they treat climbers bad, they cheat subs out of getting paid, and quite frankly they are unscrupulous people. I know every industry has this. I have seen it in construction, same scenario where when one company gets a bad reputation they simply open up under a new name. Why is this happening in the wireless industry? Because it is a booming business where people smell money. I have seen big businesses change their practices because under the leadership they look for a way to downsize to save money. It happens because their priorities shift and they choose to treat people as a faceless resource who they just want people gone. I get it, big companies may pay better, but some of them have poor leadership. Leadership matters. That is why I respect someone like Dave Anthony of Shenandoah Tower Service who was at the TIRAP workshop. He not only practices what he preaches, he lives it. He cares for his business and his employees. Not all employees care, another issue but one I don’t have time to address here. I just have to say it is hard to filter through the crap to get to the truth on all sides.

So what can we do? Work together to make it a better industry. You are always going to have personality clashes but I would like to think we can all work together to weed out the scum who craps on the worker.

Communication is a big problem! I see so many projects where you may have a crew show up to see that no one knew they were coming. Why is that? How does that happen? Too many project managers? Poor leadership on a project? All too common.

So here is what I would propose, the customer should have a feedback line or email or website that the worker, the contractor who is actually doing the work can tell the customer about the GC or turf vendor they are working with. Sometimes the company isn’t bad, it’s just one jerk that is causing problems. I have seen it in my companies where customers will request one person because they trust them and they know they can count on them. Yet the company will not eliminate the problems. Sometimes we should honor the customer’s request.

If the customers started a database of problems companies and problems people, it may help. It may cause problems for some good people, so once again you need a bull crap filter. This is no easy task!

So listen, if you’re starting out, it will take some time to work up to getting work for the big boys. So make those connections, do good work, build a good reputation and honor your workers and your customer and the team will make your company earn a great reputation in the industry. Hopefully you will get to the point where you can pick your customers, that is a great place to be.

Work hard, be safe, be smart, and pay attention.

Let me know what you think!

www.HubbleFoundation.org

Soon I will release my training for the SOW and more, to build your library of basic knowledge so you can advance in your job and the industry! My books will help teach someone the basics of tower work.

Kindle:

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Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Man killed by Falling Tape Measure at NJ jobsite!

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I wanted to let you know that when you drop something from a serious height, it can hurt someone or kill someone. I found these stories today about a construction worker that was using his tape measure up on a high-rise and lost control, dropping it from the 50th floor of a residential building on 50-70 Columbus Drive in Jersey City down on the ground where it hit a 58-year-old fellow construction worker who should have been wearing a hard-hat, but wasn’t. It was a freak accident, where a 1 pound tape measure, probably a 25’ tape, just fell over the side. The ground worker should have had a hard-hat on, but didn’t for some reason.  The guy on the 50th floor was trying to get it off of his belt when he just lost it over the side.

They figure the tape measure fell over 500 feet when it hit a piece of metal 10 feet up. The tape measure ricocheted off of the metal and hit Gary Anderson. May Gary rest in peace and I pray for his family. Gary had just taken hid hard hat off to lean into a car window to talk to someone and just pulled his head out when the tape came down at around 140 mph at that height.

Mr. Gary Anderson was delivering drywall to the site. When he got hit he immediately fell to the ground. They rushed him to the hospital where his wife and daughter were with him. He passed at 9:52AM local time.

Mr. Anderson lived in Camden County.

http://nypost.com/2014/11/03/worker-dies-after-being-hit-by-falling-tape-measure/

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20141104_Somerdale_man_killed_by_falling_tape_measure_in_Jersey_City.html?c=r

http://www.people.com/article/falling-tape-measure-kills-man

http://www.inquisitr.com/1587236/tape-measure-kills-man/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/11/04/man-dies-hit-tape-measure/18456625/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11208140/Delivery-man-killed-by-falling-tape-measure-in-New-Jersey.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20141104_Somerdale_man_killed_by_falling_tape_measure_in_Jersey_City.html?c=r

Thoughts?

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Climbing Alone and more Feedback

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So, did you ever try to climb quickly just to get things done? You’re alone and thought it wouldn’t take long so you would go up to finish something. First off, you should not climb alone, second always be 100% tied off no matter what. I wanted to bring this up because it should go without saying. I know that tower workers are quick to criticize anyone who can’t rescue a fellow climber, but if you are alone, then no one can rescue you! If you are alone, no one can call for help! If you are alone then no one can do anything. Do you remember when that fellow fell in Texas? He was found beside the tower. He was there for maintenance repair and then someone found him 30 feet from a tower near Bluetown, Texas tower, post here. The company sent him out there alone! This man was Ronaldo Eduardo Smith, according to Sheriff Omar Lucio. He was 62 years old, climbing alone, no one is sure how high he was on that 1,000 foot tower. Unfortunately I could not get more information. This happened about the same time that the West Virginia accident happened. So here we are, 9 months later and we don’t know any more that we did that day except his name and that he is gone. So sad, our prayers go out to his family.

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Listen, I climbed alone, I would call in when I started to climb, called in when I reached my height, and called in when I was heading down, and called in when I got on the ground. Did that make it right or smart, no, I was completely stupid! I want to make sure no one makes the same mistakes I did! I want to get the word out that the money is not worth the risk! I want to make sure that OSHA and TIRAP are doing all that they can to make sure that everyone who works in the tower industry is 100% safe! Many of you think that it may not be possible to get to 0% fatalities, 0% accidents, but I don’t! I just think we need to work as a team and try harder! Did you ever hear of Albert Einstein, not a climber but he had a great quote. Quoting the great Mr. Einstein, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Any idea what he means? I will tell you how I interpret this, we can’t use the same methods we were using when we created all of these problems! So we now have 100% tie off, which from what I hear only about 20% of you actually follow! Not an accurate number, just some of the feedback I am getting from people who brag about it on Facebook. Are you being as safe as you can be? Do you think about what you’re going to do before you do it? Or do you think, “That won’t happen to me!” Just like climbing alone, most people think nothing will happen to them, and chances are good that only about 10% will die. Are you one in 10? Let’s quote the great Clint Eastwood from his character “Dirty Harry” movie, video clip here, “You have got to ask yourself, do I feel lucky? Well do ya punk?” So think about it, do you feel you are too good to have an accident or too lucky?

This wasn’t a tower climber but a mountain climber that fell 40 foot off of First Flatiron in Chautauqua Park in Boulder County, Colorado. He thought he could climb alone without safety gear. This is a good example of what happens when you don’t have safety gear. I wanted to get this out because people thought it was a tower climber, links below. Thank you Dave Harrison! You are the man!

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_26843731

http://kwgn.com/2014/11/01/man-climbing-alone-without-gear-seriously-injured-in-flatirons-fall/

http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2014/11/01/climber-injured-in-fall/18345013/

http://kdvr.com/2014/11/01/man-climbing-alone-without-gear-seriously-injured-in-flatirons-fall/

Hey, just to offer you a helpful link, http://www.rfwireless-world.com/calculators/ is something that someone sent me and I thought I would share with you. It is a good reference for some RF formulas that may help you work in your job. Trust me when I say most stuff today is fixed but in case you actually get to do some RF work, it may help. Something that is really cool is their RF Exposure calculator, it is pretty neat because they not only let you enter the values, but they show you the formulas. See if there is anything you can use on there.

Tell me, what do you think about this?

More Feedback!

So here is more feedback.

Someone responded on the “Let’s all TIRAP, FCC and DOL team up” post.

Comment: I work for Premier Utility Service! I’ve been climbing for 3 years now and absolutely see the need for an apprenticeship! It is so great that the industry is finally taking the correct steps to better the future of all of us in the telecommunications industry!
Thank you for being such an advocate for all of us. Being that you attended the event I had a couple of questions for you!
Is there an estimated length for the apprenticeship? And when is the expected date for completion of the program?
Thank you

Response: Thank you sir! I appreciate the words of encouragement. There are so many ways to learn about safety and it is up to all of us to make sure that we can all stand for a safe work environment. For information go to http://www.tirap.org/ and here is what I know. The expected length of the apprenticeship doesn’t seem to be set, and I don’t know if they have a set length. I am thinking it has less to do with a time period and more has to do with skills and training. I don’t have a date for program completion at this time but I do have an email into them for more information. It is taking longer than expected to get a response. Once I do, and if I get permission, I will write something up. Just because you get answers doesn’t mean they will let me print it. I had some interviews with the FCC and they would not let me associate their name with anything in print. For more on TIRAP here and here and here. More information on guidelines here and here.

This will not be easy, since the lowest bidder gets the work. We will need to make sure that we have good and realistic pricing to start with. There will always be someone who thinks they can do it for less, but I think the carriers will have a responsibility to make sure that the climbing companies are doing everything as safe as they should be. They need to help us help ourselves. I am talking safety, but also in getting the crews paid! It is impossible to be safe when you don’t get paid! So if they have a turf vendor who won’t pay, then they should find a new manager for their contractor! We all need to do the best work we can so we can get paid in a timely manner. The acceptance process needs to be improved!

Next comment is from the “Notes on Workshop on Tower Climber Safety” post.

Comment: That workshop meeting reads as though it has a great consensus for all to build a common safety & procedures platform for us all to work from which will help all of us tower worker bees immensely. I look around my tower crew workers & worry & wonder who will be my first tower worker that may chose to ignore their safety training & get themselves or somebody else injured or killed? I am going to pass along & have parts of your article read aloud plus parts of the workshop meeting since our weekly safety meeting on the fall protection subject normally amounts to 100% of our worker having no feedback or suggestions. It’s amazing that they must perceive that everything is perfect until they arrive at their tower site & everything is not.  It is a difficult job for tower climbers & ground crew to adjust & adapt to daily changing safety challenges! My hat is off to those of you that were able to make time to attend & participate at the workshop.

Response: Thank you for the feedback and I really appreciate the support. This made me happy that I went! Knowing that you appreciate the notes on this makes me understand how important this was for the industry! You make a great point, nothing is ever perfect when you arrive, and no climber has a perfect life! Far from it! Tower climbers deal not only with work problems, like when they who up at the site something is missing or something is in the way or something is hanging where you need to put your equipment. They deal with financial problems like customers not paying or the boss being late with a paycheck or the boss not covering expenses for the tower climber. They also deal with personal problems, like marital problems from being away from home for long periods of times and missing their children growing up. They deal with work personnel, let’s face it, there are some great guys in the industry, but we have our share of jerks! Those jerks could cause a problem when on the tower putting people at risk. I just brought up some common issues that you need to be aware of if you don’t know what the climber has to deal with. It is not an easy job that is why for some it is a passion to not only climb but to do the best they can do to be safe and do a good job! While most tower climbers really care, like the both of these people who left comments, many do not care. It is just a job or a way to kill time or something they do just to impress the women! I say that because most of the female climbers I talk to seem to be more conscientious than many men and really care. It seems like there are a bunch of guys out there that need to be straightened out. My opinion!

OK, let’s end this by announcing that NATE is going to have a webinar on December 9th if interested, http://natehome.com/2014/11/04/dont-miss-the-live-nate-webinar-on-december-9-2014/ about the “Achieving Zero Injuries – Best Practices in Workplace Safety” that I will listen to. Oh, Todd Schlekeway, if you read this, please put a meeting invite in the article so I can add it to my calendar. Just being selfish here but the sooner I put it in the better chance I have of making it. This is probably more for the tower crew owners because it is presented by the law firm of Fisher and Phillips. Presentation by Edwin G. Foulke, Jr who is a partner there.

OK, finally, support Hubble, they care for you tower workers! Did you hear that? Gette and Kathy are very passionate people who give every moment of their spare time to the families of the tower workers. Why, because they have been through tragedies of the wireless industry! They have suffered the tragic loss of someone they loved. Someone who they loved dearly, someone they thought they could not live without. Someone that they would like to be remembered forever by their work in this charity! Do you want to be remembered for something good? Do you want to leave a legacy of helping people? These two women suffered more than anyone should. Did they quit on life? Maybe for a little while due to grief, but then they came fighting back to help your families tower workers. Isn’t it time you give something back? Isn’t it time to show you care? Isn’t it time you fulfilled your legacy of helping a fellow climber’s family? Just do what you think is right! These people are here to help and help they have, so I am thinking it’s time you return the favor! Click on the picture below to go to the website!

www.HubbleFoundation.org

Soon I will release my training for the SOW and more, to build your library of basic knowledge so you can advance in your job and the industry! My books will help teach someone the basics of tower work.

Kindle:

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