Tag Archives: NATE

The NATE Drone Initiative

March 9, 2016 Wade Leave a comment

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I wanted to give you an update on the NATE Unmanned Aerial Systems Committee. I was lucky enough to attend a meeting at NATE Unite with this group and it was open to all who wanted to go and got up at 6:30AM in New Orleans to attend. That’s right, it was at 6:30AM, in New Orleans in a conference room. I am an early riser so it was not big deal for me, but some people had a hard time making it. You know who you are!

I would like to thank Todd Schlekeway for arranging this and for all the committee members for being so open with the information as well as listening to the input of the crowd. He did a great job of pulling this together.

A good crowd showed up, especially for 6:30AM, I believe there were more than 30 people there

First, some history. The committee was formed back in October of 2015 and consisted of:

Greg Emerick (Sentera; Licensed Pilot)
Jim Goldwater (Bob Lawrence & Associates)
John Paul Jones (Tower & Turbine Technologies, LLC; Licensed Pilot)
Phil Larsen (HAZON Solutions; UAV Pilot and Student Pilot)
Jimmy Miller (MillerCo, Inc.; Licensed Pilot)
Todd Schlekeway (NATE)

So this early morning meeting was to inform the public the progress of the committee. The meeting opened up lighthearted enough with introductions and someone said they just wanted to know what a drone was, you know who you are!

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This is something they are addressing with the FAA. The FAA is currently overwhelmed by all of the applications and registrations and complaints around drones. They are everywhere and not everyone likes them. The key thing is to make sure that the tower industry uses drones responsibly and legally. Professionalism will be a big part of drone usage.

While I was told that the FAA is on board, the want to move ahead, but they don’t have the manpower to do anything at this time.

Todd called up a document that is being created by the committee to outline what NATE believes the policy should be for the tower industry.

There was a demo of Tower Tracker Pro at NATE! Did you see it?

They talked about how they are going to focus their message around training and education. Everyone already knows the value of drones, the reduced number of climbs, the real-time video, the pictures, the GPS information that can be grabbed. We all know the obvious benefits. What more people don’t’ know, outside of the committee members, are the rules! That’s right, there are so many rules that the drone pilots need to follow when using a drone for business. Education is the key to making drone usage safe and professional.

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I want to congratulate NATE for doing a great job with the progression of drones in this industry. I believe that the carriers, tower owners, and tower crews will all benefit from the usage of drones in wireless work. I am hoping that we can make this happen on a wide scale. I think that once the FCC points out to the FAA how valuable drones will be in the tower industry for site inspections and OSHA points out the value in safety audits then the FAA will push the tower industry to the front of the pack for the drone decision-making.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention! Keep the faith!

See ya!

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Wireless Deployment Handbook 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.

Remember that OSHA is working hard to keep your job safe!

OSHA cares!

OSHA explains, if you click here, complaint information and whistle-blower protection.

To report an emergency, fatality, or imminent life threatening situation please contact our toll-free number immediately: 1-800-321-OSHA (6742)

Reach the OSHA Complaint web site for non-emergencies by clicking here!

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Scope of Work tutorial for the contractor to keep both sides doing the right thing for payment.

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NATE Unite 2016 Drones On

March 4, 2016 Wade Leave a comment

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One thing that I wanted to see is the progress of drones in the wireless industry, Guess what, NATE is pushing the drone education. I put it like that because the FAA can’t keep up! They don’t know how to handle this new industry. In my opinion they are not addressing the tower industry’s needs fast enough. I am hoping that the FCC will help them understand the role drones will play in tower safety and inspections enough to work with the FAA move ahead with the education of the drone industry.

There was a drone session where Todd Thorin of Sioux Falls Tower talked about what he has done with drones so far was great to see. However, one thing to think about is what the FAA will allow so we need to take heed before just flying drones. However, Todd did more testing for drones that we should document. He tested drones near dishes, broadcast antennas, cell antennas, almost every frequency of antenna. He has valuable feedback that we really should share with the industry so that we know how drones will react. This is a learning process for all of us, so let’s learn from his experiences. For those of you who don’t know, Todd put out a bunch of videos on YouTube, here are some samples:

Badlands https://youtu.be/BdFU-7eO20Q
Up in the cold sky again https://youtu.be/mQW5XZaJnXk
An Exclusive Club https://youtu.be/incEjBhWcZQ
In a Towerhands World https://youtu.be/0tpZx6Y-JKM

In the session Todd had some great videos from his flights to show how we can use this in the industry. All these structural engineers and tower owners who won’t climb are able to use this dates to review the actual heights, mounts, positions, and all the problems on the tower. By the way, if you’re a contractor that took shortcuts on the tower and then lied to the owner, (you know who you are), don’t expect to work for that company when they see what you have done, thanks to drones! Drones will expose the problems that truly exist on the tower because now owners can look at the tower from a new perspective. How cool is that? If you remember at the FCC DOL Tower Safety Workshop Richard Cullum of Crown Castle Tower mentions how they used contractors and they had to take the word of the contractors as to what they did, so this seems like a solution to prove if they really did things right or if they just lied to get paid! Crown Castle should do this today!

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Todd was able to resolve tower issues. He told a story of where a contractor and the tower owner had a dispute over how a mount was installed near a lamp. They argued and eventually the tower owner called Todd to take pictures. Well, this made the owner aware of so many more issues. For instance there were several problems on the tower with equipment not mounted where it should have been along with problems with some of the mounting on the tower. I don’t remember all the drone pictures showed the owner all of the real problems with the tower, all the mistakes on the tower that were building up. This was a situation where the owner lost faith in the contractor so they brought in a third-party that could check on the tower at a very reasonable price and present unbiased pictures and videos to present to both sides. This really helped the tower owner see what was really going on up there where he relied on contractors to tell him or take pictures 3 or 4 feet from the tower. It was an eye opener. I really hope this is something that we can use for pre-climb inspections as well as close out packages at some point. I also think this would be a great tool for safety inspections and to be used when training climbers. There are new tools coming out for the training perspective where the climber wears a body camera or a camera on his climbing helmet, but I will talk about that in the future.

Dave Culler also talked about what Hazon Solutions has done. They showed video of work they have done for utilities. They showed video of utility tower and line inspections that they have done. It really is impressive. They were called out to inspect the equipment after a storm because the drone team could deploy quickly and get access to areas that would have been a challenge for any crew. So this way they immediately know where to send the workers to do repairs on problems that may not be noticed from the ground. One example was the cotter pins that were starting to work their way out of bolt that would have caused a high power line to drop, and the utility company dispatched teams immediately to do this repair. By the way, they don’t use just a HD camera, but a 4K camera to catch all the details.

There was a demo of Tower Tracker Pro at NATE! Did you see it?

Hazon also brought up the use of LIDAR on the drones to make 3D images of the towers. I think this is a great idea but there are now more and more options coming out for 3D modeling of towers and utility lines. LIDAR is a system that can make 3D models of whatever you are catching. It is very accurate in its model, help you identify the accurate AGL and to the detail where you can catch missing washers.

Remember that drones have so many rules to follow. If you plan to use drones, then plan to be educated to do things properly and to make sure that don’t fly over people that have no idea what the drone is for. The utility companies have a system down where they put out flyers to explain when they will be doing something with drones. They let the people know ahead of time and educate them why its being done.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

See ya!

Listen–> iTunes or Stitcher

Remember that OSHA is working hard to keep your job safe!

OSHA cares!

OSHA explains,(if you click here), complaint information and whistle-blower protection.

To report an emergency, fatality, or imminent life threatening situation please contact our toll-free number immediately: 1-800-321-OSHA (6742)

Reach the OSHA Complaint web site for non-emergencies by clicking here!

Order Tower Climber Logbook Today!

Log your job, your high time, your drive time, and track your crew’s work and protect yourself!

Scope of Work tutorial for the contractor to keep both sides doing the right thing for payment.

Tower Safety and Instruction Tower Safety for all your safety training!

Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will?

Let’s help the Tower Family Foundation help climber’s families!

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

NATE Unite (And a note about STAC)

January 25, 2016 Wade Leave a comment

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The NATE Unite conference is coming up soon, so who is going? I am! That’s right, I plan to go this year so if you think you will be there and you want to talk, let me know. I will be there to walk the exhibit floor, map found here, to meet and greet anyone who is interested. The schedule, found here,, shows me that the 22^nd and 23^rd will be the days to walk the floor. It’s in New Orleans this year so that is a great place to have it. If you want to talk just fill in the form below and let me know if you will be there and I will add you to my newsletter list. See you at NATE Unite!

For those of you that don’t know, NATE is the National Association of Tower Erectors and this show is something they do once a year to show off the vendors as well as get NATE business done. It is a the tower association in the USA for tower businesses. NATE also allowed carriers to join this year.

Training is important, so they thought of a way to provide industry standards. A spin-off group, the NWSA, National Wireless Safety Association is setting common training standards in the industry that, in theory, all NATE members will comply with. To get a jump on this they formed an alliance with the NCCCO, the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators. Let’s face it, Crane operators know rigging, tower climbers know rigging, it makes sense to partner and build on what has already been created.

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What about the Canadians?

I often hear from our friends to the north. The government there seems to recognize the tower industries safety issues and addressing them with more specifications. Do they have a group like NATE? Yes, S.T.A.C. has been formed! The Structure, Tower, and Antenna Council group has been formed. It is a group that will improve the standards of the Canuck climbers. These guys definitely have to deal with some tough weather conditions but they don’t complain about like I do. I think it’s great that they have an organization that is going to unite the climbers in that country. They also have to put everything in 2 languages, French and English, so that proposes more of a challenge for the group.

STAC is for Canadian wireless communication carriers, tower owners and operators, tower and rooftop equipment service suppliers, and wireless facilities and maintenance contractors. This group aims to provide a unified voice for the climbers in Canada as well as providing all the safety education and information needed in that industry.

I look forward to seeing NATE and STAC work together in the future. If these groups can form an international union, then maybe we could see these groups pop up worldwide in every country. I am sure there are more out there that I don’t know about but just think if they formed international training education for all the climbers. That would have the potential to share the absolute best ideas worldwide that would elevate the tower industry to a new level, worldwide. Just a dream I have. We can all learn from each other in methodology and ideas.

Fundraiser at NATE Unite!

Don’t miss this! The TFF will be auctioning off a Drone and Software package at NATE to raise money for the Tower Family Foundation. It’s a DJI Phantom 3 Professional drone. The TFF will hold a silent auction to raise money for the families of tower climbers. To get details on the auction and the drone, read this. The auction will take place at NATE Unite. Remember all the money goes into the foundation where all the workers there contribute their time and do not take a salary. While prevention is the best cure for tower climber accidents, it’s nice to know that the families have the support of the TFF in their time of need. They don’t blame, don’t judge, they just help. They need to raise money to help out the families of tower climber accidents. To learn more about the TFF read this. Remember that if you have a family member who does tower work that you have a friend in the industry if things go bad.

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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?

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NWSA Needs Tower Techs for Board Seats!

June 8, 2015 Wade Leave a comment

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The NWSA, National Wireless Safety Alliance, is seeking tower technicians, tower climbers, to fill board seats for the Board of Governors. Want to know more? Let me tell you what is going on.

Here is the press release put out by NATE.

The NWSA was formed to create a national standard for training for tower climbers. They will have a national standard for tower technicians, foreman, and other positions in the industry. This is backed by NATE and several companies. The plan is to make sure every climber out there has a standard training certification before doing work. This is going to go beyond the training school to make sure all tower technicians understand the basics that are set national, very similar to Cisco training, Fireman training, and so on.

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So they are looking for people who work in the industry, they are look for tower technicians to take a seat to help set the standards. Do you think you qualify? If so then make sure that you fill out the application, found here. The deadline is June 19^th of 2015. Make sure that you apply today! Complete the application and send it to nwsa@nws-a.org as soon as you can!

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

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Feedback from “PCIA Setting the Wireless Training Standards”

March 1, 2015 Wade Leave a comment

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This is from my post “PCIA Setting the Wireless Training Standards”. Now when you read these, they are two opposite views, whereas one is pro PCIA and the other is trying to detect whether the climber’s best intentions are really the reason for this. Remember that PCIA is funded by large companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. They have lobbyists that represent the carriers in government. This isn’t necessarily a bad ting because wireless builds come to a crawl when government regulation steps in so they work hard to make sure that deployment can happen in a timely manner. PCIA has done a lot of good for the industry. They were at TIRAP showing support, like AT&T was represented there. So read both responses then make up your own mind.

Comment: As the Director of Education and Training for PCIA and a climber, I very pleased to be leading the effort to bring a standardized industry training program to our industry. Today we are forming the National Credentials Committee (NCC), a committee, although lead by PCIA is an industry committee. The NCC will be charged with the how to portion of training with the creation of textbooks, study manuals and industry competency testing, all of which ties back to the larger program. NCC will also provide guidance on continued education modules and next steps of curriculum / outline development. Also, in creation and expected to be operational within the 6 months is the industry National Database. The database is a registry and centralized location that tower climbers, DAS / Small Cell, etc., employers and other can utilize to develop safety practices and create career pathways. The database will also be the location for the industry testing module that will provide proficiency and understanding of knowledge based retention in all facets of our industry. Testing created and approved by industry is a keystone to ensuring our workforce is competent and safe and meets industry standards. PCIA is starting with Tower Climbers, but the program is for every discipline of our industry. This is an industry program, “by the industry and for the industry”. I welcome anyone who would like to know more about this program or who want to serve on the NCC, to contact me directly. (Phil Larsen)

Response: This is great that PCIA is stepping up to tracking all credentials in the industry, wow, what an undertaking. To be fair though, it may be hard to get to many field people to participate because many of them travel extensively for work, as you probably know. They often spend more time on the road than home. However, I am curious, why start with the climbers? Is this where the grant money is going? Who is funding the database support down the road? Will this system stay in place for the next 10 years? What are your plans to capture the existing climbers training data? What about companies that do more than carrier work, is this a standard for them as well? So many questions. I originally tried to talk to Phil who did reach out to me, but then we got busy so I just sent an email to him about this so when I hear back I will update all of you! I sent the questions to him at the same time I worked on this post, so to be fair, we should have answers soon. FYI – PCIA does support TIRAP!

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And now, from someone who has been in the industry for over 30 years!

Comment: Wade, pardon me if my BS detector goes off here! It’s political overload mode is on.

Doesn’t it look really good for the big guys if they are really doing something? And the government (not them) ponies up a few million for a few favorite institutions (including PCIA). And politico Adelstein is in charge of the show. But, note that there is no mention in any of this of the small businesses that really make the system run. And no comments ever about keeping that base financially safe so that it can actually pay for training (your comments noted).

I have walked in barnyards before. The odor is curiously similar…

Response: WOW!, Tell me how you really feel! OK, I know that this may not be the way the climbers want to see standards set, but we have to start somewhere and we all have to align. Right now we see to have several different standards out there but nothing official. If something can get set and we have an industry standard I think it will be a good thing, especially if they are documented in a database somewhere we can all access them. I believe we need to progress, the result will be a better system, someday.

Comment: Unfortunately, I agree. I think your more likely to see an improvement in Safety & Quality if U just took that money and distributed it to the last 2 contractors/sub-contractors in the food chain. Not the end workers (sorry to say but…) but their employers and their employers’ clients.

Get some profits to the people who are actually adding value to the projects not to mention taking significant financial risks. I hate saying it’s all about money and I hate picking on the Fat Cats (when they’re looking), because it’s not ALL about money and the Fat Cats played their role (most of them) in making the industry what it is too.

But we all know that many of the bigger Turf Vendors absorb sometimes the majority of the profits while adding debatable amounts of value to the product. I’m sorry but it’s true. And U want to at least give them credit for improved logistics or organization or something, but that’s not always true either.

Us “bottom of the chain” people, Our employers (mostly) all want us to be safe. We want to be safe. But just as humans didn’t learn to read and otherwise become civilized until we weren’t worrying about what we were going to eat or what we would be eaten by – 24hrs/day.

Which is exactly (the slightly exaggerated) position most of our employers are in…..Eat or get eaten. You’ll never change the safety culture when the end businesses are in survival mode. They can’t help their employees if they don’t have any. Survive first, learn to read 2nd.
Johnny wants to learn how to read.

Response: You make a great points, (I hope I summarize this properly) nobody wants to see someone get hurt and businesses in survival mode are more worried about surviving. As long as the businesses are trying to make a profit they can’t be overly concerned with training standards but they really don’t want to see someone hurt because that’s bad for business in all aspects. Unfortunately there are so many people in the industry trying to make a name by pushing workers that they don’t think through the liability issues, if something happens they just move on to the next company and start pushing. If companies don’t survive, the thought is the workers will work somewhere else until that company sinks. I can tell you now, this will drive people out of the industry, at least those of us who aren’t building a career. It is hard for those of us who have been in this industry for 20+ years to throw it all away you become a greeter at Wal-Mart or Target. We really want to move ahead and grow in this exciting industry, but it’s all of the companies that put schedules ahead of human decency that make the entire industry look really bad, so remember to set realistic expectations.

So remember to be smart, be safe, and pay attention to what you’re doing! Make a plan, follow the plan but don’t be afraid to adapt, improvise, and overcome your obstacles!

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Go to the IWCE conference and see me! I will be on the “Tower Safety and Regulatory Compliance” panel on March 17^th, 2015. Don’t you need an excuse to go to the Las Vegas convention center. I will share the stage with Cory Crenshaw, Charles Ryan, Dr. Denis Boulais, and Robert Johnson. Our moderator will be J. Sharpe Smith of AGL 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.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

November 26, 2014 Wade Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Loyalty versus Lowest Bidder in Wireless

November 15, 2014 Wade Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tell me what do you think?

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

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Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Feedback on Drugs, Morons, and Steel

September 3, 2014 Wade Leave a comment

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Today I thought I would post some of the feedback comments. Mostly from the Drugs, Morons, and Steel post.

Concerning the incident in Norman, OK. I wanted to say how sad it is that those climbers yesterday got hurt. I hope they are OK. Let’s all pray that they will be OK. They all were working together to make it home and hopefully they will be with their families soon. Read more here.

First off, I had no idea there were so many experts on pot. Second, I had no idea that harder drugs were so rampant in the industry. Third, so many people thought that this article was about everybody in the industry. So I had many different kinds of feedback.

My overview. I was hoping to point out that when something bad happens the first thing that most people will look at is the drug test. If you don’t believe this, maybe you should wake up. The interesting thing is that most people took this to the extreme and thought I was calling all climbers potheads, which I was not. Some said I should have pointed out that climbers are doing hard drugs like crack and cocaine. I just wanted the tower worker to realize that if something bad happens the first thing that will be looked at will be the drug test when making a final evaluation on what happened. I want people to be conscientious when going to work. Granted there are so many things that could go wrong, why make your bad habits one of them to be blamed whether is had anything to do with it or not. Why risk your reputation or your job? If you still don’t understand this, then maybe it’s time to move on. Many tower workers I know are outstanding workers and people, it’s a shame that there are a few that make the majority look bad. Trust me, this is a hard job that deserves respect. Hard for more than the physical aspect or the fact you need to know so many different things to be successful. Most travel and are luck to be with their family for more than a weekend. It takes its toll on your personal like. Most climbers are a jack of all trades from steel to electrical to rigging to RF to Telecom and so much more. It’s not an easy job. It’s not just labor. It is a skilled profession. Many others in the industry forget all of that, they just expect it to be done quickly and on time. I believe it is time to start demanding skilled workers. With all of that said, I would bet there are still guys out there that crimp with pliers.

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STEEL

Let’s start with Steel, some people got back to me about what should be done to help make steel safer. Someone mentioned how dangerous it is to work on lights atop the tower. Here is what they said.

“Working on lights on top of masts there is rarely anything to tie off too. It’s excessively difficult to work inside a flash head when the flash head is your only way to hang on. I’ve been climbing 5 years and that’s the only time I get scared for my safety is when I’m at the top and cannot work safely due to lack of points to tie off too”

Another comment was about the guy wires and anchor points and that we should inspect them. So here are some pictures of some rusted guy wires someone gave me on Facebook. Comment, “Everybody is forgetting that the guy anchors need to be inspected. If rust is found please dig down to see if it is safe I have had to tie heads to heavy equipment then do repairs (install new anchor) to make tower safe.”

DRUGS & MORONS

OK, let’s move onto the drugs section. On Facebook so many people mentions the drugs section. Some of them mentioned that I should not bring this up because it is only a small amount of climber, which I believe. Then others brought up about the heavy drug use in the industry. I had no idea that crack and cocaine were so common. Most of the information I got back was about the time that THC stays in your system. I just have what is on the websites. That is why I put 3 sites up there to use as references.

Here is a great response, “I see you forgot to mention that THC metabolites can stay in your system for up to 90 days. So if I smoked legally on vacation in Colorado or Washington last month and get drug tested at work, I would fail and lose my job. Even though I was more aware and alert (being sober) than the other workers who are on prescription drugs with a huge list of side effects. Or what about the guy who smokes meth or crack? That crap is out of your system in 1-2 days. They would pass the drug test. If you want to test do an impairment test.” If you wrote this, all I ask is that you send me a link or a book to back it up. I honestly have no idea.

Another powerful comment, “I’d just like to say that weed is probably the smallest problem when it comes to climbers doing drugs. It’s just the one that stays detectable in your system the longest. There are much bigger problems with heroin, crack, coke, meth and the most widespread issue drug, alcohol. I would rather climb with a pot head than a drunk any day of the week.
Weed is addressed all the time in terms of safety while alcohol seems to be forgotten about. Someone who is hung over is much more likely to cause an accident that a pot head but they’ll pass a drug test almost every time.
It’s time that as an industry, we start looking towards the individual who is actually responsible for the incident rather than the one crew member who smoked some dope three weeks prior. We should be using drug tests to see who is more of a risk instead of using them to place blame after an incident.” This response makes some great points! However, if something goes wrong they will look at the blood work to see what they can find. It will become a legal issue, like it or not.

A note about drug testing from LinkedIn, “All safety sensitive positions should be mandatory drug tested. Blaming the pot head gets you nowhere. Start at the top (I know, shocking). When you do not implement proper procedures to manage your “safety sensitive” employees, you will have people do things on their own time that will no doubt have an effect on others. Legally you cannot test someone under federal law if they are employed and you have probable cause to test. It must be corporate policy. Only corporate policy can mandate when a random test can take place. It’s expensive and today, employers are gambling with everyone by not following their own policies. It’s not the pothead or the moron……it’s the CEO, not running the company.” I hear that drug testing is becoming more and more common.

One thing, I am told that drug tests are not always accurate. Sometimes they give a false positive. Make sure if you test positive and your company’s policy allows, you see the test results. If you did not do anything illegal and you test positive, then speak up or volunteer to be tested on a regular basis. There was a scam, I was told, going around where companies would ID employees as testing positive to fire them to cut headcount. This is a rumor but it would not surprise me. I try to be fair, I know if something bad happened then the drug testing might be blood to be more accurate. It would not be a swab, urine or blood. I just wanted to bring this up to be fair.

Feedback! Feedback! Feedback!

I talk about the new OSHA release on climbing and winches with Kelly Hill of RCR.

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I wrote 2 books. One for the new tower climber, the green hand, to understand that will be expected. The other is a handy aid to help out when you are at the site. I am writing a new book to go over all of the paperwork that you could encounter on the job so you understand what you are working on and what you should be doing. You may expand to other jobs in the industry.

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Wade4Wireless BlogCast

NATE STAR and the Competent Person

August 29, 2014 Wade Leave a comment

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Hey, I was looking over the NATE webpage, (for those of you who are green NATE = National Association of Tower Erectors), and they have a new STAR program. (NATE did not ask me to write any of this, I just think it looks interesting!) Now, this has some interesting things in it and I would like to go over them. The page for the program is here. They will have a live webinar on September 23^rd at 11AM EDT. We should all learn from this if possible. Just a warning, it may be boring, I have attended some NATE webinars in the past and they are geared for the tower crew company owner. If you are a climber, keep that in mind! Don’t complain because they set this up to help the owner understand compliance. The guy speaking, Edwin G. Foulke, Jr, is what I would call a legal labor expert having been a leader at OSHA and now he is a partner in the firm Fisher and Phillips LLP. The guy’s write-up is on the web page and is impressive. Let’s see if he can help the tower industry.

First off, there is some free documentation that you should grab. These are all PDF documents that you can download. They may help you set the foundation for some of your checklists that you should already have.

They may not be all that you need but they will help you create your internal documentation. Use them for what they are, a tool and a starting point.

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So what else did I read in this? Well, let me tell you, if you go to the Eligibility and Requirements then you will see something very interesting. They put requirements on the training. Go to the “Requisite Levels of Training” section. They have 10 OSHA or equivalent for all personnel working at the tower site. I see that meaning not only the climbers, but the ground guys, the technicians, and the engineers. Even the construction workers building the shelter. Anyone who might be working at the tower site. Anyone there should have the 10 hour OSHA training. This is actually very common in all of the construction industry.

Then they state that the 30 hour OSHA training, or equivalent, is required for the competent person on site or the supervisor. Did you read that? They put the requirements, or at least one of them, on the competent person on the site. How many of you had the 30 hour OSHA training? I know many of you did but here it is actually put in writing that it should be required for the competent person on site. This is very important. Somebody has to lay down the requirements and NATE took the first step. This makes a difference as to who is considered a competent person. How many competent people have a 30 hour OSHA? You tell me.

OSHA defines a competent person here and here. They say that a competent person is capable of identifying 1) existing and predictable hazards, 2) working conditions that are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and 3) who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them. “By way of training and/or experience, a competent person is knowledgeable of applicable standards, is capable of identifying workplace hazards relating to the specific operation, and has the authority to correct them. Some standards add additional specific requirements which must be met by the competent person”. In 1926.32(f) it states, “”Competent person” means one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them.” Get it? A competent person may not only identify the hazards but they have the ability to take corrective action. Who is your competent person on site? Would you take corrective action? Would you do it even if it costs your crew an extra day? Would you honestly?

Then NATE states that all people working above 6 feet should be trained in fall protection. Well that seems really obvious to me, but trained how? On the job or in a class or by the company or is it up to the companies discretion? It seems obvious that companies should do this but then again look at the company that was recently fined for sending workers up the tower unprepared.

So what are the requirements of your company? Are the standards in writing for the company. I often get mixed feedback. Some have a written policy while others don’t. We are living in a world where we need to document everything and we need to make sure we have it posted somewhere for all of the employees to see. Make sure that your company has everything available for everyone to see.

Defining the requirements is something that should be done day one, especially for a competent person. It should be changing as the industry changes, so it may change monthly. All requirements need to be in writing and they should be reviewed often. This industry is still maturing and as the bidding process may drive some prices down, safety should never be compromised. Safety is not cheap but neither is carelessness.

Tell me what you think!

BIG LOGS!

So how is your company at keeping safety and training logs? Do they do a good job? How do you know? Did you see them? Can you go back a year? Do they document the training? Do they keep a copy of all of your certifications? They should need them to present to the customer and the tower owner, so if they are not keeping them on record, in paper or soft copy, then what is going on? Maybe you want to look into that.

BIG BUTS!

When you ask you company for some of this information, do they say “yeah but”? Can they produce the documentation you ask for? Will they open up about how much they insure the job? Do they? We all have buts, and if they are big buts then you need to evaluate what is up their but. Due diligence is key to awareness and protection. Be aware of how your company is handling their logs and avoid the buts!

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Wade4Wireless BlogCast

FCC & DOL Tower Safety Workshop

August 9, 2014 Wade Leave a comment

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Let’s talk about the FCC and the DOL tower safety and injury prevention workshop! The link can be found at http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2014/db0804/DA-14-1131A1.pdf if you want to read about it. This is great news, hallelujah! Way to go FCC & OSHA! (OSHA is part of the DOL.) This is a good thing and needs to be looked at! This year, 9 fatalities to date and 13 last year, this is something that really needs to be addressed. The FCC & DOL released the document on August 4^th, 2014, and it’s great that they are stepping up. If you would like to watch it online and live make sure that on October 14^th at 9AM ET you go to http://www.fcc.gov/live and see all the action.

By the way, this is post #131 that I put out there for you! I am on podcast #25 already! Tell your wireless friends!

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Wireless Estimator has an update at http://www.wirelessestimator.com/breaking_news.cfm if you want to see what Jonathon Adelstein, President and CEO of PCIA says. There is speculation that PCIA is pushing this and I know that they publicly endorse the event.

So what do you think they will discuss? Remember that it is safety and injury prevention, so that will open up many issues. I am hoping they stick to the death prevention first. We really need to prevent as many deaths as we can. That isn’t just going to be saying tie off 100% of the time. It’s going to be about making sure that the climber has something to tie off to on the structure! It’s going to be making sure that installations are thought out to the detail that a climber can make it around or through the structure on the tower.

Let me ask how many of the tower climbers have had to climb off the climbing leg to get around a dish or a mount or over an antenna? How many monopoles did you squeeze through the platform opening just to get to the next level? How many faces did you cross by holding on?

I think now that the communications industry is changing it would be a good time to update the towers. There will be 2G and 3G decommissioning happening soon. The next wave of LTE-A and 5G builds will be starting. This is a good time to see the industry work together to improve the conditions on towers. Pretty soon the entire radio, BBU and RF, will be on the tower in communications. Only fiber and power will be run up the tower. If there is wireless backhaul, then only power will be run up the tower.

Let’s think ahead, not just in wireless technology but also in mechanical and safety technology to make those structures safe so that the climbers can follow safe processes. Let’s make it so that the tailgate meetings include someone saying how much they love climbing this tower because they have an easy time maneuvering and tying off. Would that be a pleasant conversation for a change?

With the RRHs getting heavier and more common the tower will be asked to hold more and more weight in the radio and the steel. Let’s make sure that we plan out the tower modifications carefully! Let’s make sure that the mechanical engineers are ready to make the changes to the towers. It’s a team effort and when they beef up the tower they can also add some tie off points and plan out the climbing paths. Maybe a better way to cross the face.

So let’s make some noise and let the FCC know that it will take more than just OSHA trying to report what happened. Let’s see if the industry can come together to prevent all the threats. Let’s make it safer than ever with careful planning and thought. I don’t want them to just throw another initiative that is lip service; I would like to see real planning and industry buy in! If the money is going to be spent on growth, let’s grow the best way we can!

Where and when?

Date: October 14, 2014

Time: 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Location: FCC Headquarters

Commission Meeting Room

445 12th Street, S.W.

Washington, D.C. 20554

Remember to give me your near miss stories, it seems more relevant now that ever, right? Let me know! Email me at wade4wireless@gmail.com or leave the information below. Or call and leave a message at my Google voice mail at 510-516-4283. I cover it here.

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Remember that the Hubble Foundation needs your support. They help any climber in need, so remember that when you need help and if you can help! Show you care for the families of the fallen and the fellow climbers in need. They still have tickets to the car giveaway! Support Hubble, honor the fallen, and maybe win a Mustang! By the way, how much did you give today?

By the way, I am planning to put out some more books, this time on scopes of work, Bill of materials, and other useful information for the workers. Let me know what you think. I am working on 2 new projects, a new book that outlines my different jobs in the industry and a library of reference material that you can access quickly to take to the site. I want to see you make the site safer with quick reference material. If you have any idea of what you need out there let me know. Is this going to help you? Let me know on Facebook, wade4wireless@gmail.com or leave a comment or leave a message at 510-516-4283

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STEEL

DRUGS & MORONS

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Where and when?

Remember to give me your near miss stories, it seems more relevant now that ever, right? Let me know! Email me at wade4wireless@gmail.com or leave the information below. Or call and leave a message at my Google voice mail at 510-516-4283. I cover it here.

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