Tag Archives: DOL

Uncategorized

OSHA & FCC Best Tower Climbing Practices

Leave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

COP Banners for Wade4wireless

 

That’s right, the FCC and OSHA DOL have teamed up to use their superpowers for the good of the tower climber. These are two of the most influential divisions of government on American business, the world really, that worked hard to provide a safety guideline for an industry where people die every year. They knew there were issues that need to be addressed and they acted.

Explore all Wade’s books on his Amazon author page, click here!

Did they do it alone? NO! They asked the tower industry, held workshops, and released the RFI  for the tower climbers to fill out, anonymously if needed. You all had a say. If you didn’t participate, then you may not have been in the industry, or you didn’t make the time to participate in this momentous event. That’s right, OSHA reached out to the field workers for help. Hey, if you did nothing, then you probably don’t expect anything.

Tower Safety and Instruction has online training and eBooksTower Safety for all your safety training! at http://teltech-college.com/ where you can get drone, tower, safety, 5G, and deployment material on your laptop! TSI, making the best better.

I am proud to say that I not only participated, but I went to the workshop at the FCC office in DC. I took a day of my time, drove several hours, completed the survey, I did all that I could to help. What did you do? All the people at the conference were very supportive of the initiative. There were many vendors, company owners, carriers, and groups like NATE and the Hubble Foundation and the Tower Family Foundation. The workshop information can be found here. This happened back in 2014, so it took a lot of time to make it happen. Yes, I was blogging then, and I had been trying to help more climbers back then.

Testing CDMA and LTE smartphones or UE devices? Get a great deal on a used and affordable ME7834L test setup here!

One more thing, I think we should all thank the participants of OSHA and FCC who worked diligently to create this and try to raise awareness of the tangled web of climber’s safety.

I don’t climb anymore. I do more engineering, sales, and planning work. I consult, and I write books, and I teach. I coach. So, I am not currently active in the climbing industry other than I bid work, I am still active and keep in touch with the climbing industry. I knew I had to move on, but I still have a passion for this industry. While it’s not as active as it once was, it’s still a critical part of the communications industry. I only did it for 10 years or so, but I really did enjoy it. I learned a lot of what to do and what not to do. I also learned that it was a completely different lifestyle. A job and a lifestyle that takes some adjustment, one where your life could end any day you go up in the air. I worked with some of the best people I ever met and some of the worst people I ever met. It is an amazing industry.

There is one thing that we all agree on is that it’s not as profitable as it used to be.  The carrier specifically made it a commodity. This means that the experienced climbers are leaving the industry by retirement or just looking for new opportunities. It didn’t seem to matter much because there are plenty of new, inexperienced recruits willing to put their lives on the line so that you can use Tinder on your smartphone, isn’t great how far technology has come?

The Wireless Deployment Handbook  Paperback

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

Therefore, the FCC and OSHA knew they must get involved, they wanted to save lives, and the best way to do that is by prevention. If they fine a company, it’s too late, the person is usually dead. The aim of this is to make the job as safe as it can be so that we prevent death. I hear about the lawsuits and how people get screwed and get hurt, and some people will never recover. I have also seen people try to scam the charities and industry. Like I said, some of the best and some of the worst people. I think it’s sad that people try to cheat charities, but it happens.

How do you plan goals? Now you can plan 5 Weeks at a time! The 5-week Planning Journal, (click here), available now in paperback from Amazon!

OK, back to the subject at hand, the guidelines. They can be found below:

You can download the best practices document.

First, I want to thank the people at the FCC and OSHA that made this happen. Commissioner Wheeler helped to get the ball rolling, but Commissioner Pai has done a great job of keeping the ball rolling, twitter @AjitPaiFCC if you want to tweet him and tell him what a great job he’s done. Many people participated in the workshop and worked all the way to the end. I know that I was contacted personally by Jessica Douma of OSHA and Michael Janson of the FCC. They really worked hard to see this project all the way to the end. It was no quick or easy process. It takes a team, as I listed below.

Let’s all thank the following:

  • Claire Wack, Attorney Advisor, CIPD, WTB, FCC
  • Jessica Douma, Regulatory Analyst, OSHA
  • Michael Janson, Associate Chief, CIPD, WTB, FCC
  • Erin Patterson, Regulatory Analyst, OSHA
  • Joseph Jenkins, Team Leader, Marketing and Outreach, Office of Apprenticeship, ETA
  • Matthew Warner, Attorney Advisor, CIPD, WTB, FCC

When you read the document, you will see it’s broken down into the following parts.

  • Introduction and Background
    • This is obvious, right?
  • General Topics
    • Here they copy general programs that the FCC and OSHA have for the tower climbing industry.
    • An overview of Safety and health programs and contracting practices.
    • An overview of verification of subcontractors.
  • Tower Climbers and Ground Crew Employees
    • This is on the front line!
    • This goes into how each group or participant in the tower work is responsible for defining and following safe practices. From the climber to the crew, covering contractors and crew member at the site or preparing to go to the site. General safety recommendations.
  • Carriers and Tower Owners
    • This section covers how the tower owners should not only vet the contractors but have reporting procedures in place to report incidents. Have the processes and protocols in place. Manage complaints properly, log them and attend to them.
    • They also cover audits, training, and record keeping. Carriers and tower owners are being asked to participate these practices. This spreads it across the industry. Communication is the key.
    • Carriers are asked to provide realistic timelines for deployments. Think about the resources and set up a timeline that makes sense for that project. (Someone’s life depends on it!)
    • Tower owners are asked to inspect their tower, provide anchor points where needed, and update leases to mandate safe installation procedures that do not impede anchor points. They need to meet standard TIA-222-G, have a way to report unsafe conditions easily, allow drones to do more work, and ask for photos of their tower from the contractors working there. Keep a record of what you get!
  • Turfing Vendors
    • First, my opinion – These guys need to be mentioned here because they throw the most climbers all over the place. AT&T has done a great job using turf vendors then laying all the blame on them. They were the scapegoat that AT&T was being investigated for all the deaths that occurred years Wireless Estimator has a good record of climbing deaths by year here.
    • This covers training, job specific training, vetting contractors, and outlines ow they should work with contractors.
    • They cover communication, reporting, incident investigation. Yes, the turf vendor has a serious responsibility to investigate any incidents or unsafe practices. You need to identify SMEs, (Subject Matter Experts), that can help you do this. When I say SME, I mean someone who really knows what they are doing and they have been doing it for years, not the senior guy on a new crew. We here to save lives people!
    • Communicate openly, provide ways to communicate up and down the chain! Have procedures and processes in place so it’s clear how everyone should work, be trained, and report problems and incidents.
    • Work site safety practice, this should be defined clearly.
  • Tower Construction and Maintenance Contractors
    • Here is the front line, again, only the big dogs, or should I say the big tower dawgs? They started with the front line, and they’re ending with the front line.
    • Auditing and incident investigations are outlined. While most of you may have this in place, it’s always a good idea to update and see what has changed.
    • Outline your work site and safety practices, tailgate meetings, cover safety but don’t become so redundant that it’s blown off. Keep it original and interesting. That takes research and work. Review the JHA, keep it onsite, and update it as needed.
    • Record keeping and communication. Do I need to say more? Records of employee training and certifications so that they are available to all parties involved.
    • Training – again, train all worksite employees, not just the climbers. Right?
  • For additional information, here are some sites that may help:

There you go. The FCC and DOL did the best they could to outline this. Tower worker safety seems to be improving in the industry. It pays to be educated and updated.

If you’re interested in what industry leaders are saying, Wireless Estimator does a great job of putting together the voices of the industry at http://wirelessestimator.com/articles/2017/industry-applauds-osha-fccs-long-awaited-communication-tower-best-practices-guide/.

NATE also had good things to say at https://natehome.com/safety-education/osha-fcc-communication-tower-best-practices/ where they also have praise.

Jeff Williams posted a detailed letter at https://blog.npstc.org/2017/06/02/fcc-osha-offer-tower-safety-guidelines/ which summed it up very well.

5g-deployment-plan-front-cover-3k-pixelsWhat does 5G deployment mean? Find out, “The 5G Deployment Plan“, in PDF, eBook, and Paperback!

 

 

 

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

See Ya!

SOW Training Cover

Do you know what to put in your SOW, the details needed to get paid for milestones or job completion? 

The foundations below do beautiful work, helping families in their time of need. Climbers often get seriously injured or die on the job. The foundations below support those families in their time of greatest need! 

official logo

Hubble Foundation helps the families of climbers in a time of need and beyond with financial support and counseling!

tower-family-foundation-e1447069656192

Tower Family Foundation supports the families of tower climbers at the time of crisis when a climber falls with financial assistance and more.

www.techfecta.com

 

Uncategorized

FCC DOL Tower Safety Workshop Panel 3 Breakdown

Leave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

COP Banners for Wade4wireless-01

Get Tower Tracker Pro for COPs Today

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!Deploy with the Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS to show you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute, planning and action without the mistakes.

Here we are for the third and final panel which covered TIRAP and Telecommunications Workforce Development, let’s get to it.

OSHA has released the initial version of the “Communication Tower Best Practices” document coauthored by OSHA and the FCC. Click here to download the PDF. For those of you that don’t know OSHA has a website for the Communication Tower industry here.

This panel covered the RFI that OSHA put out last year to the tower climbing community, the people on the front lines, for Information on Tower Climber Safety, OSHA-2014-0018, and click here to learn more about it.

I will be at the NATE Unite conference February 23rd and 24th, will you be there? Let’s talk if you are! So who is going? The exhibit floor, map found here, where I will be the 24th to meet and greet as many people as I can! The schedule, found here. See you at NATE Unite! Remember that the TFF will auction off a professional drone package, details here. 

Thank you FCC and DoL/OSHA for putting this together, for taking the time to show you care about making this a better industry.

Video of the workshop found by clicking here.

  • ModeratorsIMG_3393
    • Joseph Jenkins, Team Leader, Marketing and Outreach, Office of Apprenticeship, ETA
    • Matthew Warner, Attorney Advisor, CIPD, WTB, FCC
  • Panelists:
    • Dave Anthony, Shenandoah Tower, outstanding guy and on the board of TIRAPIMG_3396 (1)
    • Chase Hammock, TIRAP Apprentice, MUTI/Sabre Industries
    • David Sams, SBA Communications, Vice Chair for TIRAP board
    • Laurie Gebhardt, Verizon Wireless
    • Jonathan Adelstein, PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association, President and CEO of PCIA
  1. Opening Remarks
    1. Dave Anthony gave praise to NATE and many other organizations for all of their support to the tower technician workforce. He explained how complex the business really is and how much sacrifice the tower workers give each day. He also brought up how common training certification will make a difference in the industry. It is important that we continue to educate and train the tower workforce moving ahead. This documentation and standardization will lead to uniform safety across the industry.
    2. Chase told us that he sees TIRAP a bit differently because he is the climber on the front line. He also mentions how many changes he has seen in this industry and went through the history of his training. And how much better it is now compared to when he started. How MUTI training took training from a one day class to a week-long training program. MUTI training makes the climbers safer and professional.
    3. David told a story how when he started with SBA he was on his 10th day on the job and he got a call that one of his foreman fell and died. He then said how SBA had no safety program. He went to management and explained that they need to follow the regulations from OSHA and they needed to make changes. Two years later they lost one of their climbers from a fall in Florida. Today they have a serious and dedicated safety program. He sat down with Scott Kisting about how to make changes in the industry.
    4. Then Laurie opened with how the demands put on the network demands a vast number of people with a wide variety of skills to roll out the network. It is important to Verizon that they know that people are properly trained. TIRAP is just such a program where the workers training is standardized and nationally recognized. Verizon has established programs to verify the vendor’s safety programs and certifications. They have hired a third-party to verify the contractor’s certifications. They don’t want anyone to get hurt or lose a life building their network. They feel that standardization across the industry will really help.
    5. Jonathon talked about his time with the FCC and thanked everyone for focusing on safety on the 20th anniversary of the telecom act. He pointed out how telecom has exploded in growth. He then said how growth means that the programs to train the works needs to be set and standardized for the workforce. Then he said how the workforce needs to provide an opportunity for the workers. They are bringing in academic institutions and veterans to build careers in this industry. To develop a career.
  2. First question asked by Matthew Warner. Has TIRAP advanced its 3 main goals, safety, quality, and job advancement for workers?
    1. Dave responded with how pleased he was to develop the training standards for each of the climbers to do their job at each level, and how TIRAP is supported by volunteers. By pursuing this course it will make the industry better with safety and standards.
    2. David agreed with Dave and also said how it’s self-funded and full of volunteers. He feels what they have accomplished in the past year is remarkable with the job titles and curriculum they have set up it a great start. They are working to get more codes for more job titles. Although slower than they would like it to be it is making progress. They are looking for volunteers to help.
    3. Laurie felt good about the push forward but she thinks that they could improve by getting more HR departments involved in this program. There is plenty of work to be done and they would love to have more people help.
    4. Jonathon said that they formed an apprenticeship program that stretches across the industry and that is a first. There is a long way to go but it’s a start-up, a small group that is really working on big ideas. They really want to make it grow quickly. It’s difficult to help all the companies with the help they need because of the small TIRAP group. He would like to hand it to the companies so they can see how much it will help them improve.
  3. Joseph said about how TIRAP took a lot of time creating ONET codes so that the jobs can be recognized by the DOL, why is this so important?
    1. David said that SBA has job titles and job description to provide uniformity to their workforce across the nation. This apprenticeship program is providing a career path instead of just a job. This states that the tower industry in wireless will provide a career path for them to earn money and build it into more.  The ONET code is the catalyst behind all of that.
    2. Then Joseph followed up with, “what is the major advantages of providing ONET codes regarding safety quality, job advancement, and universal understanding of qualifications for this industry.
    3. David came back pointing out that the training curriculum is based on the ONET code in the job title. Each person has their qualifications based on that curriculum so they should all be trained the same. He said that the agreement between TIRAP and NWSA agreeing on the training so that the industry is completely aligned no matter how you get trained, with for NWSA or through TIRAP, the standards are the same and uniform.
  4. Then Matthew asked Chase if he could explain if he would want to see TIRAP trained people working for him and with him. Especially if he went to another company.
    1. Chase said that as a TIRAP member you start as an apprentice and then you work your way up. If he were to go to another company then he would have the certification, the training, the card, and the new company would know exactly what he is trained for. If you don’t have this certification then you really don’t know what the new guy was trained for. With TIRAP you have the structure in the training so you know that they know how to be safe and do their job.
  5. So Matthew asked if the training changed. with MUTI in the last 4 years?
    1. Chase said when he started training was 1 day with going up one tower and making sure you know how to tie off. Now they have class study and tower training that lasts a week to go over training and a competent training class. They also have continued education with teams that come out and do audits of the climbers knowledge
  6. Then Matthew asked a question from the audience, “A new climbers first time on the tower should not be on the job,, are tower owners willing to allow access to the towers for training?”
    1. Chase said that they do have a training tower as well as classroom so it will not be a=on the job but there is on the job training.
    2. Then David jumped in and said that its SBA policy not to allow any training on their towers due to the risk and liability and that they do not have the faith in how most folks dot he training, and that they have their own program. That is SBA policy.
  7. Joseph then asked how Chase would improve training to ensure that he and his team is safe, what could companies to make them all safe?
    1. Chase responded stating that no job is more important than the tower climber’s life so if they feel at risk they should now they don’t have to climb. That should filter down to the climber so that they can stop the job at any time. They save an acronym called SAUCE, Stop, Assess, Understand, Communicate, Execute, this is what they do when there is an issue at the site.
  8.  Matthew has followed up with stating that they have good practices, how do we make that a best practice for the industry.
    1. David said that everything they do they are trying to make a common practice. He also said how the workers spend a week in training first before they are deployed. They are taught what they need to know which is very similar to the TIRAP curriculum.
    2. Jonathon said that TIRAP is really about sharing best practices, looking at how they can do things right. This is being spread across the industry with TIRAP. They are working to developed more training. They are also promoting TIA standards and getting the word out in the industry. Now TIRAP is working on videos on YouTube to be released to train the workers to do the job right.
  9. Joseph ask Chase, have you noticed that following TIRAP procedures that you are improving your practice in the job have you been able to notice when someone is doing something wrong that you can improve the practices?
    1. Chase said that he spends more time with his crew then with his family, so they are family and it makes them look out for each other. He is picking up and showing the new workers how to improve their work. He also learns from others and to learn from them
  10. Matthew asked about how you know when the contractor is telling the truth about their training?
    1. Laurie said that they evaluate the contractors on several factors, safety, length of time in the industry, and track record with OSHA. There really is no set of criteria to evaluate how good they really are. So they like that if they could have a uniform way to see what their workers can do with uniform certifications. This will help align contractors with the certifications. How does a carrier know who does the actual training versus someone who just copied credentials. So with TIRAP setting a uniform training and certification program to let them know what they can and cannot do.
    2. Then Matthew asked what would be the ultimate solution for that, but ONET codes won’t really help the carriers, but what would help Verizon verify who is qualified?
    3. Laurie would like to see a way that they could look at a database it would really help. There isn’t anything at this time but the sooner they have it the better.
    4. Then David brought up that this is a real problem in this industry. He said the way to stop these companies it to catch them in the industry, but doing site audits.
    5. Then Dave said that NWSA will help align their training credentials with a database lookup. This training has 37 different jobs that they will code which means one size does not fit all, but each one will be specialized. So they are being very specific about the training and certifications which is specific to the scope of work.
  11. Joseph asked what is TIRAPs method for validation of training and how will this be different from internal training programs?
    1. Dave came back and said that the federal government will have a role in this. Credentials will back up what they say and the government will back up prosecuting anyone with false credentials.
  12. Joseph asked if the TIRAP board could do more to create standardized training modules and does the all-volunteer TIRAP board have the resources to complete this?
    1. Dave said they need more time and money. They are taxing OSHA to support them which needs more time and money to support this program. Dave asked them to step and be all in. They need the support of the government to help them achieve the goal, the commitment to support them.
    2. Then Jonathon brought up that this is a startup phase but they expect that when the larger companies start to pitch in then they can quickly adopt the apprenticeship programs then things will start to roll ahead faster.
    3. Then David said that the program for the smaller companies that can’t hire a training staff, it will really help. What a great way to train veterans to be trained and use the GI Bill to get trained.
  13. Matthew then asked what TIRAP could do to help veterans.
    1. Dave (on the board for Warriors for Wireless) brought up that veterans are looking to build a career because they are always looking to advance. The wireless industry didn’t have that before but now they are building career paths for the people to get a job that they can succeed in and grown. A career that they will enjoy. A career that they will support their family with.
    2. Jonathon said that this is the perfect industry for veterans because they are team oriented, safety oriented, and many are leaders. Maybe they want to move into different jobs and that is open to them now. The GI Bill could be used to train the veteran workforce and help them move ahead. The men and woman of the military are perfect to build a culture of safety.
  14. Matthew wondered if Verizon would pay a higher rate to hire TIRAP trained contractors.
    1. Laurie said that the job does not always go to the lowest bidder but to someone who is the most qualified and has the training in place. She said that Verizon understands that when a contractor says they need a man lift that they would allow that.
  15. Matthew then asked could third-party auditing contractors, would that help.
    1. David said it is very hard to stop this, no matter what you do it may not stop. They ask for the training certificates for the people on site and they did over 500 audits last year. The problem is that you have several companies that play this game and do not train people properly. He doesn’t think that audits could help.
    2. Laurie said that audits would be a good place to start but it will not be enough. It’s a step in the right direction.
  16. Matthew asked, Most companies are money driven and TIRAP would be driven by company owners, so if new companies pop up during the busy time, how would you know who is trained and who isn’t?
    1. Dave said that the workers will not get the certificate until that worker is qualified and passes the certification program in TIRAP and NWSA. The on-the-job training for TIRAP is more thorough and requires more validation. The apprenticeship part of that will help as well but it takes time to get all of this in place. The workforce will be trained for their specific job, then there should also be a no tolerance policy for the cheaters. There isn’t one thing to be done but all of it has to be done right. It take time and adjustments to do it right. Do we love money or do we love the people that work for us? Dave asked his guys to stand up and we all applauded because he made the point that he loves his guys and he doesn’t want to see any of them get hurt. He thinks that all contractors should decide what they love more, their people or money. He hires the right guy for the job. He states that each company and worker will stand the test of time and that the industry is moving in that direction. We want to build something that is enduring.
  17. Then Joseph asked how TIRAP works for the climbers for someone who has been in the industry for years.
    1. David said that they can test out at each level.
  18. Closing remarks
    • Dave said that we got a long way and let’s work it together. Each group has to do what they need to do be successful.
    • Chase said that safety starts with the company so if the company isn’t safe then the climber will take shortcuts. Don’t let complacency creep in because if you get complacent on the tower then you have accidents. Stay 100/100.
    • David thanked the FCC and OSHA and thinks that the industry needs more workshops like this. He said that he does not want to investigate any more fatalities, he has looked into 17.
    • Laurie said that safety is paramount and it needs to be the culture at all levels from the climber to the contractors to the engineers to the carriers. Everyone needs to accept that they have a role in safety. For the culture change we need to stop focusing on the money and focus on each other so we all are safe for the next time.
    • Jonathon said that we are in a special industry, wireless broadband that improves not only our lifestyle but for public safety. This will make changes by creating jobs and providing safety. We need to align the safety with the growth and the demands for mobile data. We need to do it right.

Then Kathy Pierce, a volunteer with the Hubble Foundation, gave a moving speech about her loss. Her son died 2 years ago and she was so emotional when she spoke of her son, Chad Weller who died working on a water tank about 2 years ago on March 19th in 2014. She was very emotional and it was so sad, it is very hard for her to talk about this. Kathy talked about how you need to climb with a clear mind. Safety isn’t someone else’s responsibility, it is yours. Everyone involved needs to be held accountable. It is not just one person’s fault. She brought up how her son made a difference in that company and she found it very sad that it took her son to die for that company to realize that they need to improve safety. Why does it take anyone’s family member to decide that they need to be strict on safety? She said that her son made a huge impact on their lives when he was here and now he is making a big impact on others now that he is gone. Kathy asked us all too truly commit ourselves to make a change to make the industry safer for all involved.Then Michael gave the closing thank you to all that attended and to his team.

IMG_3404 (1)I would like to thank the DOL and OSHA and the FCC for doing all that they do to help this industry become safe and professional.

The thing is I have met some of the absolute best people I have ever know in this industry, but I have also met some of the worst people I have known in this industry. I would like to see everyone in this industry become the best they can be and see the level of IMG_3401 (1)professionalism rise to the top of all industries. I pray I get to see that day. Let’s all work together for a safer and happier future in wireless. Let’s work together to make this happen. I spend a lot of spare time writing about this and not everyone likes it, but for all of you that appreciate it, thank you!

Remember that the FCC and OSHA are here to help. They are our friends in the endeavor to overhaul the industry. Sooner, the professionals will run the industry and the other will fall behind and out of this industry. It’s more than a dream, we IMG_3400have all the people that were at this panel working to make sure that it happens. I see great things for the future. I see the value added to each task added to this industry with a pride that wasn’t always there. I am honored to take that step with each of you that want to see a successful and safe wireless deployment into 5 G and beyond.

Remember that the FCC and OSHA are your friends! They are working hard to help you become better at your job and safe!

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!

You need to download the Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS to show you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute, planning and action without the mistakes.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention.

I am asking the carriers to provide numbers for workers to call to report payment issues and contractor issues. I didn’t hear from any of them yet, If you know it let me know at wade4wireless@gmail.com, but for now, call OSHA!

OSHA cares, don’t be afraid to call the number below and explain to them what is wrong at the site when you feel the work site is not safe! CALL OSHA to report unsafe work conditions!

To report an emergency, fatality, or imminent life threatening situation please contact our toll-free number immediately:

1-800-321-OSHA (6742)

OSHA is asking for public comment on Safety and Management,  click here..

Click here for Newsletter sign-up!

Order Tower Climber Logbook Today! Log your job, your high time, your drive time, and track your crew’s work!

Video of the workshop and information found here.

OSHA Complaint web site for non-emergencies

Complaint information and whistle-blower protection explained

How to file a safety and health complaint

OSHA contact page to report unsafe working conditions

SOW Training CoverScope of Work tutorial for the contractor.

Listen–> iTunes or Stitcher

Tower Safety for all your safety training!

Tower Safety and Instruction  

official logo

Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! So it’s up to you! What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

FCC DOL Tower Safety Workshop Panel 1 Breakdown

Leave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

COP Banners for Wade4wireless-01

Get Tower Tracker Pro for COPs Today

Hello everyone. On February 11th I went to 445 12th St SW, Washington DC, which you may know better as the FCC headquarters. What was I doing there? I was invited to participate on a panel of the Tower Safety Workshop. First off, I think that it’s great that the FCC and DOL/OSHA got together to do something like this for the tower industry. Not only for the tower industry, but for the wireless industry! The FCC shows that they care enough to host this and OSHA is making every effort to understand the problems out in the field. They are working to support all efforts to prevent death and injury at the tower site. It will take a team effort to make this happen. Who is on the team? The FCC, DOL/OSHA, wireless carriers, tower climbers, wireless contractors, and everyone working in the wireless and broadcast industry. This means you! It needs to be a team effort. I consider myself part of that team, do you?

Thank you FCC and DoL/OSHA for putting this together, for taking the time to show you care about making this a better industry.

Video of the workshop and information found by clicking here.

First off, let’s look at what the problem is. Tower climbers die. They die working on tower when they fall. There are many reasons for the accidents. They could be due to a poorly trained climber or crew, a climber got complacent or lazy, shortcuts were taken, or maybe it was just an accident. Sometime accident happen or equipment just fails. When someone falls from over 80 feet off the ground it usually ends in a fatality.

If you think it isn’t a big deal, you don’t understand how a death can affect a family. So let me ask you to visualize something. You’re at a site watching the climber go up the tower. You see them put all their gear on, you see them attach the safety gear and perform 100% tie off. Or, maybe you don’t pay attention to what they are doing at all, maybe you’re worried about your job. Then look again, and imagine that it’s a child, your child, going up the tower. Imagine that your child is making a mistake or not tied off properly. Imagine you see your child slipping off that tower from only 50 feet up and there is nothing you can do! Now how do you feel about that climber, knowing that it could be your child falling. That they will die if they make a mistake? It really puts it in a different light knowing that someone’s child, possibly your child, could die. Many people lost children because of this over the years. This is why we will prevent as many as we can. We would like to prevent all of them if possible. Nobody wants to lose another family member.

Newsletter sign-up!

There was so much covered at the workshop. So much more that I can really cover. I intend to cover most of it and point out things I agree with, disagree with, and things that were missed. I really can’t get it all in one article.

Video of the workshop and information found by clicking here.

There were 3 panels and several speeches. I don’t want to slight anyone but I would like to cover the parts that really stuck out.

I don’t want to discount the opening speeches that were made by some very important people in the industry.

  • Tom Wheeler, (FCC Chairman and if you don’t know who he is, IMG_3371wake up), opened it up with a speech on the loss we have seen in the industry and as long as we have one death, it’s too many. There were 3 recorded climbers that died this year, the only acceptable number would be ZERO!
  • Roger Sherman, (Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau,
    IMG_3374FCC), who brought us up to speed with all of the work that has been done so far. He thanked everyone for making progress. He thanked Kathy Pierce for all that she has done to show us how the loss affects families. He pointed out how in today’s world most American’s smartphones are more than a convenience, but a way to get work done and a part of our everyday lives.
  • Eric Seleznow, (Deputy Assistant Secretary, ETA, DOL), IMG_3379oversees the national apprenticeship programs. He was happy how far TIRAP has come in the past year and a half. He was very happy that the FCC and DOL could work together for this effort.
  • Matthew Colengo, (Chief of Staff, DOL), talked IMG_3382about the progress that has been made and gave a special thanks to Kathy Pierce for all that she is doing to improve work conditions and the treatment of tower climbers. He also brought up Ernie Jones and gave Ernie credit for all that he has done in the industry and how sad it was that we lost him.

First off let’s cover Panel 1, (my panel), that covers the changes that need to be made to the FCC/DOL Guidance for Best Practices for improving Safety. If you’re watching the video, this starts at 26 minutes in.

  • Moderators
    • Claire Wack, Attorney Advisor, CIPD, WTB, FCC
    • Jessica Douma, Regulatory Analyst, OSHA
  • Wade Sarver, (me!)
  • Jason Becker, National Radio Operations Branch, BLM
  • John Parham, Jacobs Engineering Group
  • Don Doty, National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE)
  • Kevin Schmidt, National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA)
  • Angela Jones, Union Wireless, who is a structural engineer, project engineer, and certified climber.

Questions:

  1. Jessica asked how should company’s go about creating an environment where climbers can report unsafe conditions or a dangerous situation without fear of reprisal from their direct boss or up the company chain?
    • I brought up that companies need to have an open culture. The climber should not only be able to report it to his boss but if they have an issue then take it farther up to someone else in the company. Angela mentioned how their company being smaller, allows the climbers to be able to do that. John pointed out that NATE’s magazine has article in Tower Times by Tom Bunk about how the culture should be open and geared around safety. Jason talked about how they have reports daily for the climbers to review ahead of time.
  2. Jessica asked about contractual controls since there could be so many contractors between the carrier and the climber.
    • Kevin brought up that the carriers will implement training requirements. Don said that this is already common place for the most part and that we need better supervision and oversight. That is when I brought up that we need a way to audit the safety at the sites and that the climbers on site need to have a number to call to report incidents of climbers without credentials. Reporting to the boss won’t cut it, there needs to be a better way to report problems. Then Don mentioned they a credentialing system is being implemented to require all climbers on site to have the proper credentials and a way to verify them. He said that it will become mandatory at some point and required by the carriers.
  3. Claire asked John his thoughts about the contracts
    • John brought up that the contractors language will help but he also mentioned that it’s up to the tower crew companies to have the proper culture, that even policing may not be enough. He said that you can’t subcontract safety, and he it has to be in the culture of the company. He pointed out that OSHA has a hotline that people can call to report incidents directly to OSHA, the 800 # for them to call.
  4. Claire then asked Kevin about how contracts are packaged for bidding and how that would affect the climbers at the bottom of the bidding chain.
    • Kevin mentioned that the tower work is subbed out in bulk quantities to larger subs which then goes out to smaller subs who in turn may sub it out to even smaller subs before it gets to the climber. He then pointed out that at the top of the food chain no one really knows who is out at the site, specifically the carrier. Now that the new certification program coming it will raise the standards. John brought up that complacency is a real problem and that we need to keep the climbers alert on their job because one oversight or mistake could be the end. He said that the climbers need to have good discipline. He stated that all the workers need to be on the same page as far as a common safety message. I mentioned that it is a good idea but how do you instill this into all the tower companies spread across the country. Then Jason pointed out that the work has to be done in the beginning of the contract and to report the close calls and problems on site to record all issues that the climber ran into on site, reporting is very important. Then Angela pointed out that the tower needs to have proper anchor points, that many are not designed the way they should be for safety. John agreed and pointed out that often training is done with a perfect scenario but in the field there are more situations that they don’t encounter in training.
  5. Jessica asked Angela what more we should do on the tower to improve safety.
    • Angela brought up that towers need to have dedicated tie off points and that they need to eliminate dangerous mounting situations like the T arms on monopoles often called the widow maker. Then she brought up that TIA-222F and 222G has many of the requirements. TIA-222G actually has a chapter on proper rigging. How experienced climbers know how to handle some of the situations. John added that the site supervisor should be qualified to supervise and climb, to have the experience to lead the climbers to do things the right way.
  6. Claire then asked a question from the audience. Does the accredited ANSI program void their current ComTrain certification?
    • The answer was written on the card, which said it’s a supplemental certification so it will not void the certification.
  7. Jessica followed up with the structural discussion about what can we do for the existing towers, can retrofitting be done to make them safer and address dangerous towers out there.
    • Angela told us that you could improve the towers out there, not all but many could be improved and made better. She said if given the choice they would prefer to build a new tower.
  8. Jessica then asked Jason what occupational medical surveillance is required say for physical fitness and fit to climb and should it be addressed.
    • Jason answered with the medical check that they need to pass prior to getting hired, and they are looked at annually. Now, out in the field there’s a safety meeting checklist for the tailgate meeting where they not only ask for credentials but ask about medicine and general health. Don said that physical fitness matter and that they should make known any issues that could affect their climbing, mentally or physical or chemical. Don mentioned how STAR was a good program to address these issue and he brought up the safety culture plays a part in this.
  9. Jessica asked me about how the traveling and long days affected the climbers.
    • I brought up that it’s up to the crew leader to make the call about work. I brought up that many crews put in 14 hour days when they are busy, they work extra hard to get home. Therefore the planning needs to be worked out ahead of time to include travel time so that the climbers get the rest they need and that the foreman or crew lead needs to make the call and it would be a better call when the planning is done better. Awareness will make training a requirement and make the contractor look at the drive time as well as the work time.
  10. Claire followed up with a question to John about how to structure bids so that everything is taken into account and that the crews that you hire are in a good financial position to complete the work.
    • John said safety is up to the crew but can be helped with proper planning. When planning out a deployment it takes a lot of work. Now his company works with partners who they select ahead of time. Then, along with that contractors, they plan the work out ahead of time, 60 days, 6 months, and 12 months in advance. Then they can look at the time allocated for each job. They also try to balance the work so that the cash flow to the climber is steady and keeps the workers working. I commended him for doing that and pointed out how much work it was to do that up front and how that was not done in the past. John then said how the upfront work saves time on the backend. Jason brought up the model that the Navy has to lay out the preplanning looking at all of the resources, the time, and the tasks. Then I brought up that the partners program is a good idea because if you work with a partner you know them, what they can and can’t do as well as more about that company than a blind bid. John then said that they work very closely with their partner and have them work in their offices.
  11. Claire then asked Kevin how do you start the partnership programs and how do you know that they have qualified climbers and technicians
    • Kevin said right now there is only the paperwork but when NWSA comes out then you can look up the NWSA number to make sure they are all certified properly. Then Jason mentioned that for the inspections that need to be done at the towers and that there has to be oversight on the climber’s performance, they need to be trained to think about how they tied off and lay out the risks. Don mentioned how the tower is installed once and will be climbed hundreds of times and they anchor points need to be planned out. Angela then talked about OSHA tiers for safety to see that the towers are engineered for safety.
  12. Jessica then asked about how newer companies that need to train a skilled workforce, how would they plan out the work and keep the trained workforce?
    • Don mentioned how broadcast went through the downturn with the transition from analog to digital and how the work dried up. He then said that he was able to transition broadcast workers into wireless workers and how they have to transition the workers if they can. I then said if there is not work, what will you do? If there is no work then you can’t pay the people. So would they come back to this industry after what they have been through? I don’t think so. John agreed and pointed out that work does slow down and pick up. He mentioned that maybe the government could help with zoning and permitting to allow work to move ahead at a better pace.
  13. Then we wrapped up, Claire asked us each for our best practice ideas.
    • Angela said that make sure that the tower is engineered properly top to bottom for safety by having the proper anchor points at the right locations.
    • Don said that NATE is working with ANSI on A10.48 to release the criteria for safe practices with the construction and maintenance for towers.
    • Kevin said that the contractors should train properly and make sure everyone on site is certified and then each climber should tie off 100% and stop the work if there is a risk to anyone on the crew.
    • John says planning is the main thing is planning.
    • Jason said they should always climb as partners, work together, climbers are interchangeable and they all are prepared for any problems that might arise. They also provide safe practices.
    • I said that there has to be a way to report unsafe towers to someone other than the tower owner. I also said that the climbers need to get paid for their work, it is the #1 complaint that I get.

Order Tower Climber Logbook Today! Log your job, your high time, your drive time, and track your crew’s work!

Then we closed and Jessica said that they will revisit the best practices document to make updates based on what they learned in this session. This was the end of panel one.

I will have more on panels 2 & 3 in later articles.

Video of the workshop and information found here.

So here is the breakdown, it went well and we discussed a lot of good ideas. Now they need to be implemented. The culture needs to change. The change needs to come from the tower company’s leadership. If you are a climber, then I would ask you to change the culture of your crew as best you can. Take safety seriously, listen to each other, and work together. Don’t be afraid to point out problems and issues and call the OSHA hotline when you have to. Learn from each other about the best way to do things and have discussions not arguments. Remember that there is no perfect way to do things but if someone has a better idea then maybe listen to it. If your way is better, don’t just say it’s better, explain why and what you have done in the past. We need to make a safety culture.

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS to show you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute, planning and action without the mistakes.

Now, the reality is that most climbers won’t care. That is why I believe that the culture needs to start at the top. We really need to work as a team with a common message. I also would ask all climbers to keep a log of what they do each day. If you track what you do then you have a record of what you’ve done. I talk to so many people that think that their time sheet is all they need, but it is not your time sheet is it? It belongs to your boss and you don’t have a log of what you’ve done, who will they believe? I think it’s a good idea to protect yourself. Most of you won’t because it’s just a job, until someone gets hurt. Then all you have is regret. Remember, if you keep a log then you can come up with ways to improve each week.

The main theme we have here is that we’re helping this becomes a career, not just a job. We want the tower industry to be full of professionals. Professionalism will start with you and the way you do your job. Certifications are necessary, but your attitude is also something that could help improve the image of the tower industry. Let’s work together on this.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention.

I am asking the carriers to provide numbers for workers to call to report payment issues and contractor issues. I didn’t hear from any of them yet, If you know it let me know at wade4wireless@gmail.com, but for now, call OSHA!

OSHA cares, don’t be afraid to call the number below and explain to them what is wrong at the site when you feel the work site is not safe! CALL OSHA to report unsafe work conditions!

Panel 1 ends at 89 minutes.

To report an emergency, fatality, or imminent life threatening situation please contact our toll-free number immediately:

1-800-321-OSHA (6742)

OSHA is asking for public comment on Safety and Management,  click here.

Video of the workshop and information found here.

OSHA Complaint web site for non-emergencies

Complaint information and whistle-blower protection explained

How to file a safety and health complaint

OSHA contact page to report unsafe working conditions

SOW Training CoverScope of Work tutorial for the contractor.

Listen–> iTunes or Stitcher

Tower Safety for all your safety training!

Tower Safety and Instruction  

official logo

Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! With no support from the carriers or NATE, so it’s up to you! What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

FCC and DOL Safety Review

Leave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

There is a great effort in its second year, put together by the FCC and DOL to align safety nationwide in the tower industry. They have collaborated to create TIRAP, an apprenticeship training program similar to what unions and utilities use in other industries. The next meeting will be Feb 11, 2016 at FCC Headquarters. I plan to be there. They are going to align the communications industry with the workforce rules, meaning that the FCC knows the tower industry and the DOL has OSHA who knows safety. The 2 departments of the US government are aligned to create a model for safety in the USA. One that we should be proud of. I believe that collaboration is the key and that OSHA doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. They are trying to align their rules with the tower work that needs to be done.

The Wireless Deployment Handbook, LTE Small Cells, CRAN, and DAS edition.

It is never a good year for the tower industry when we lose even one climber, and this year we lost several, including Ernie Jones who did more for the tower industry than almost anyone.

So this was a bad year but the losses were lower, and what is the theme? Pay attention! We lost a few veterans and someone new who if the people training here would have been paying attention they would have had her on a rope grab. This was a tough year even though the losses were less than previous years. Any lost life in the industry is terrible.

So how can we help each other out? By working as partners! We give each other grief when the other screws up, so make sure that you have someone watching over you and pointing out your mistakes. Be proactive! This is why the boy scouts have the buddy system, for support and to keep each other in line. Don’t think it will happen to you? That’s what Ernie. A seasoned veteran who got distracted just for a minute because he was busy. We really should be working in pairs as partners.

We also have NATE who created the NWSA to create a standardized certification program. While there isn’t much available yet for the climber there are rigging certifications from the crane industry that are paving the way for climbing certifications. This is quite an undertaking for this group. They have been trying to get more and more out there for the climbing technician.

If an accident happens, there is support for the injured workers and their families. There is support for the families of the fallen climbers. We have the Hubble Foundation and the Tower Family Foundation who do all that they can to support the victims of these horrendous accidents. They don’t ask too many questions but they are available to support whoever it would be, the families or the injured. Once someone has a detrimental accident chances are good they will never work the same again. If they are fallen then their families will never truly recover, but they need financial aid, which both groups do, because the banks don’t really care why the families can’t pay their bills. These financial problems can snowball as families have to pay for medical bills. It’s even worse when they have to pay the funeral bill. I see the fundraisers on GoFundMe.com when families need help.

So what can you do? If you are in the industry you can do several things. First, be safe and pay attention by looking out for yourself and your workmates, don’t’ let your smartphone distract you when climbing or driving. Second, give to the charity of your choice on the websites for the TFF or Hubble. Finally, let’s support the FCC and DOL as they come together to promote safety for the wireless worker at tower sites.

And now, some notes and history, helpful and reminders.

Tower climber risks:

http://wade4wireless.com/2014/02/20/hazardous-poop-look-out-dangerous-bird-and-bat-poop/

http://wade4wireless.com/2015/05/29/osha-rfi-response-for-hazards-and-incidents/

http://wade4wireless.com/2014/08/20/do-or-die-are-you-in-over-your-head/

http://wade4wireless.com/2014/08/06/trucks-ropes-heat-and-near-misses/

http://wade4wireless.com/2014/05/28/my-top-11-rooftop-hazards/

http://wade4wireless.com/2014/05/17/rf-awareness-are-you-aware-seriously-are-you/

http://wade4wireless.com/2014/08/13/near-miss-stories-lessons-learned/

http://wade4wireless.com/2014/09/09/feedback-3-near-miss-drugs/

Injured Tower climber Support

http://wade4wireless.com/2015/11/02/when-a-climber-falls-who-cries/

http://wade4wireless.com/2015/11/09/tff-dont-blame-dont-judge-just-help/

http://wade4wireless.com/2014/07/11/interview-part-1-with-dr-bridgette-gette-hester-founder-of-the-hubble-foundation/

My IWCE presentation on YouTube about Tower Climber Safety. If you want the PowerPoint slides, just ask. I presented this in early 2015 at IWCE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFzad7zjjdQ

That’s all for this week, be smart, be safe, and pay attention.

I hope this helps, for more get the eBook! Find out where to get the eBook here. 

By the way, the carriers need to free the small cells! Find out more by clicking here. 

Subscribe! iTunes or Stitcher

Tower Safety for all your safety training!

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!

Get your copy of the Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS to show you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute, planning and action without the mistakes

So what do you think? Get on my email list today! 

Be Smart Be Safe Arrow box

official logo

Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! With no support from the carriers or NATE, so it’s up to you! What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Let us not forget, February 1 of 2014 was NOT Super!

Leave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

This year on Feb 1st North America will be enjoying the Super Bowl, the NFL’s and America’s biggest sporting event off the year! Last year, on Feb, 1, was the day that 3 people lost their lives. 2 Tower climbers were killed along with fire rescue and 2 more climbers were injured when the tower they were upgrading collapsed while all 4 men were on it. Then, rescue arrived to save them, and they did save the injured, but not until after another tower beside the first, damaged the second tower and caused it to collapse during the rescue, where another life was lost, one of the fire fighter who was attempting to rescue one of the injured climbers. This was a very sad day. Do you remember hearing that news? I do.

I have posts here and here.

So I saw on Facebook where NIOSH put out their report about the tower climber, it is an excellent report if you have the time to read it, go to http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/pdfs/face201403.pdf and download it. I pulled some good stuff out of it that the tower industry could learn from.

If you want to read more about the investigation from OSHA, go to OSHA NEWS RELEASE for more information. To get OSHA updated information go to COMMUNICATION TOWER. I see the number of fatalities is still 11, I guess they are not counting the fall in December, post here, as a Communication Tower Fatality. OSHA: No more falling workers.

What did you learn?

OK, back to the NIOSH PDF which you can go download. You can learn from this by looking at what the fire departments did not do properly. It is easy for us to look back and learn from this terrible accident. We reviewed what the tower crews did wrong, but the NIOSH Report # F2014-03 was very enlightening. For instance, do you have a copy of all of your training records on file where everyone can get to them in case something happens? Do you have your Standard operating procedures documented and available to show anyone who asks?

When I worked at a company where we built up the tower business with crews I learned quite a bit. For one, insurance is very expensive, that seemed to be my first lesson. Second, training takes time and costs money. Third was that safety gear and training costs money. Nothing is free and nothing is cheap!

However, we had a consultant come in and tell us to record our standard operating procedures (SOP). You see, we had the employee and safety handbooks, that is not what he was talking about. He wanted us to document our typical installation processes. This is something that we took for granted. Creating it was tedious but in the long run, it was helpful. We documented simple procedure, like how to put a non penetrating rooftop mount together, very simple yet it had to be documented. We also put together mounting a dish to a tower. We had to break it out to several size dishes. We documented safety procedures and more. This is something that tower climbers often say, “Well, no tower installation is the same!” I agree, but the basics are very similar, right? I mean to install a dish, you need to climb the tower, rig the tower, put the dish and mount together, usually on the ground, then hoist them up, attach them to the tower, the ground the dish, connect the ODU, connect the cables, and align the dish. Now, that wasn’t so hard was it? We also made drawings and sometimes added pictures. Many times the process of assembly was in the instructions so if we used a common part or dish or antenna, we used that for the SOP.

By doing this we learned the value of paperwork in wireless deployment and in protecting the company. It also allowed us to identify holes and procedures we were missing. From that we built a better way to build scopes of work (SOW) and continued to build a basis for documented hours for bids. When I bid jobs this really helped me identify the process of deployment.

Just a few notes, let’s learn from this incident as we should from all incidents, whether it was a horrible fatality like this was or whether it was a near miss. Ask yourself, what did you learn?

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention. Create your plan, follow your plan, but don’t be afraid to adapt, improvise, and overcome. That’s what you do in wireless deployments.

For more listen to  iTunes or Stitcher for more commentary! Podcast Download

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

Go to theIWCE conferenceand see me! I will be on the“Tower Safety and Regulatory Compliance”panel on March 17th, 2015. Don’t you need an excuse to go to the Las Vegas convention center. I will share the stage withCory Crenshaw, Charles Ryan,Dr. Denis Boulais, and Robert Johnson. Our moderator will be J. Sharpe Smith ofAGL Magazine. Here is a list of exhibitors that will be there. I will be speaking and I may need some safety gear, email me at wade4wireless@gmail.com so we can talk! Make sure you sign up for this forum running 1:00PM to 4:30PM because let’s face it, these are issues you deal with on every job!If you want to talk after the conference, let me know.

If someone can lend me a climbing harness and helmet at IWCE, I would appreciate it! I would like to show the crowd what the climber needs to wear everyday.

IWCELogo_125x125

Special thanks to the hard-working investigators at NIOSH!

From the PDF. “This incident was investigated by Jay L. Tarley, Safety and Occupational Health Specialist, Matt Bowyer, General Engineer, and Tim Merinar, Safety Engineer and Project Officer with the Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program, Surveillance and Field Investigations Branch, Division of Safety Research, NIOSH located in Morgantown, WV. Expert technical reviews were provided by Chief Joseph V. Maruca, West Barnstable Massachusetts Fire Department and Chief Ulysses Seal, Bloomington Minnesota Fire Department. A technical review was also provided by the National Fire Protection Association, Public Fire Protection Division.”

Support the Hubble Foundation!

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Happy Thanksgiving!

Leave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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.

Godwink Cover

Don’t forget, support Hubble!

www.HubbleFoundation.org

Search on iTunes for Wade4wireless and write a review now! Listen please!

subscribe in iTunes   subscribe with Stitcher RSS feed

Guess what?!! I have finished the tutorial for the SOW.

SOW Training Cover

I also have books!

W4W Cover 4sw

Wireless Field Worker's cover V2

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Loyalty versus Lowest Bidder in Wireless

Leave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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.

Search on iTunes for Wade4wireless and write a review now! Listen please!

subscribe in iTunes   subscribe with Stitcher RSS feed

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.

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

PDF books you can pay with Credit Card:

W4W Cover 4sw  Wireless Field Worker's cover V2

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Tower Injuries: Is this the Price of doing Business?

Leave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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?

Search on iTunes for Wade4wireless and write a review now! 

subscribe in iTunes   subscribe with Stitcher RSS feed

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:

W4W Cover 4sworWireless Field Worker's cover V2

PDF books so you can buy with PayPal:

W4W Cover 4sworWireless Field Worker's cover V2

PDF books you can pay with Credit Card:

W4W Cover 4sw  Wireless Field Worker's cover V2

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Climbing Alone and more Feedback

Leave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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.

More  information is on the podcast! Search on iTunes for Wade4wireless and write a review now! 

subscribe in iTunes   subscribe with Stitcher RSS feed

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:

W4W Cover 4sworWireless Field Worker's cover V2

PDF books so you can buy with PayPal:

W4W Cover 4sworWireless Field Worker's cover V2

PDF books you can pay with Credit Card:

W4W Cover 4sw  Wireless Field Worker's cover V2

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Part 2 on the “Workshop on Tower Climber Safety and Injury Protection”

Leave a comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Part 2 – I had to break it down to prevent this from becoming a book.

Part 1 is here.

While at the meeting they covered several topics. For those of you who missed it

Full Video replay here! Just remember that it is over 200 minutes!

More in-depth information is on the podcast! Search on iTunes for Wade4wireless and write a review now! 

subscribe in iTunes   subscribe with Stitcher RSS feed

Topics covered:

  • Lowest bidder wins, even if they have to cross 3 states to do the work. So many times a tower crew will pass the local crew to do a job. We can’t figure out why one crew can do something for less with the same equipment but traveling farther to do it. What are they not spending money on? Could it be safety gear and training? We really can’t figure that out.
  • Tower workers are often away from home for 1 to many weeks at one time during a deployment. This job wears people down, affects their family life and their attitudes. It can cause depression and anger issues. Family stress causes so many problems with people. When you are trying to support your family and they resent you for being away, it becomes a painful conundrum.
  • Deployment speeds are making a difference, crews struggle to keep up with the rate that deployments are moving. Wally brought up that every time he would be on the phone with a foreman/PM/customer they would always end with, “You will be done today, right?” This goes without saying when you look at Kathy Pierce’s story about her some Chad Weller who was ordered to climb in a harness that didn’t fit. Dangerous conditions and wrong equipment make for a disastrous result. Here you have attitudes and deadline that pressure people to make poor decisions. Gette mentioned how many people wanted to refuse to climb but when their paycheck was dangled over their head because the customer/foreman would say they would just find someone else and it would be the last job you would do, climbers feel the pressure to do it. Most times things turn out OK, what about when they don’t? It usually ends badly and then all you have is fingers pointing, OSHA investigating, and lawyers hushing everyone.
  • Workers and contractors not getting paid. Just because the lowest bidder wins doesn’t mean that the crew will get paid. This is all too common in the industry. Many people are just not paying an agreed to price. This corruption in the industry must stop. It is not only affecting the well-being of the workers, the crews, the safety of people, but causes most people to look at the tower industry with a despicable taste in their mouth.  This was one thing that Liz Day brought up, that the other biggest complaint in the industry was not getting paid. The problem with this complaint is proving it. Not many people hiring subs will want to open their books! 
  • Layers upon layers of contractors. Why is it that there can be so many layers of workers between the customer and the actual crew doing the work? This creates problems. Liz Day mentioned that when you search the OSHA database that you never see one death from American Tower, AT&T, nor and large contractor like B&V, because they hire the smaller contractors that pay the price. The larger guys may have their own climbers but mostly for maintenance, not large deployments. What is something bad happens? Then the customer can simply say, the contract says the lowest bidder should be safe. Meanwhile, today they are asking for proof of training and certification, which is a great thing. What about customer safety inspections? That would really help and I believe someone brought that up, either Wally or Craig, can’t remember which one, but they said that AT&T made enough money where they could randomly inspect the work at the site. I will tell you from experience that they inspect the final work with their punch lists. This affects payment, and there is always something that need repaired to delay payment, been there and done that. Final inspection is a key component to getting paid. So in this case the ends will justify the means. When that terrible decapitation happened this year Verizon Wireless stepped in to help with the process because no one else knew what to do. That was the right thing to do. They showed that they care and that they wanted to take action.
  • Working on the road really wears on some people. When they spend weeks on the road and it shows how their attitudes become different. Each person responds differently. Some get depressed while others get angry and some people become party animals. Why is this? Well, they didn’t bring this up but think of “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding. Some people become a product of your surroundings meaning if they have a strong leader they will maintain but if the leader is a party animal then peer pressure could play into your actions. Remember that these crews are together, all day and all night. It becomes the family and someone in the crew will be the role model for the younger and more impressionable people. There are exceptions to every rule, but the odds are against most of them.
  • This was brought up – Tower climbing is being formalized int he education system. Aiken Technical College received a $2.45 million grant from the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training competitive grant program for the expansion of the College’s nationally unique Tower Installation training program. This program is supported by the DOL and the DOE. 
  • Commitment – Leaders gave their commitment to helping this cause! Leaders high up like the Honorable Thomas Wheeler of the FCC, Honorable Thomas Perez the Secretary of Labor, Dr David Michaels of OSHA, and Jonathon Adelstein president of PCIA offered to give their full commitment to this cause in full support of Scott Kisling the TIRAP chair to make sure that this program gets wheels! The rubber meets the road and the tires started rolling!
  • You – Here is where you can be the engine to insure this program has full success. Members of NATE have the ability to make a difference and support each other. Let’s make sure we monitor the industry! Let’s make this program go forward and offer our support. We can only make a difference if we not only support the program, but each other by caring for what happens a year from not. Compassion is contagious, let’s make sure it spreads throughout the industry, from the climber to the foreman to the crew owners to the project managers to the customers! It will take more than a team effort to make this safe, it will take an industry full of compassion to insure true success, ZERO point ZERO casualties! Do you want to make a difference in this industry, here is your chance! Just say no to unnecessary risks, to dangerous work, to crazy demands. Be realistic and work as a team not only within your company but across the industry. We may be competitors in business but we have the opportunity to stand united. The tower climber can only be strong as an industry. Make a difference and stand for good work ethic, smart working, good ethics, and safe work environments! 

 

Gette’s presentation: http://wireless.fcc.gov/presentations/Concerns_Field.pdf

Wally’s presentation: http://wireless.fcc.gov/presentations/Wally_Reardon_Presentation.pdf

DOL Press Release – http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/osha/OSHA20141952.htm

FCC Overview – http://www.fcc.gov/events/workshop-tower-climber-safety-and-injury-protection

http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/osha/OSHA20141952.htm

http://www.fcc.gov/blog/safety-and-broadband-must-go-hand-hand

http://social.dol.gov/blog/safety-and-broadband-must-go-hand-in-hand/

http://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/11282-osha-fcc-workshop-focuses-on-keeping-communications-tower-workers-safe

http://www.fhnfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Chad-Weller/#!/Obituary

 

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

PDF books you can pay with Credit Card:

W4W Cover 4sw  Wireless Field Worker's cover V2