Update on the RFI response:Thank you everyone who responded to OSHA tower climber RFI. Less than 500 people in the US that really want to help OSHA recognize the importance of tower safety in the wireless community. Congrats! For the rest of you, don’t worry, I realize I am beating a dead horse with no hope of getting him to move. So I will let it rest for a while. I was just so shocked that so many of you complained about safety but so many of you refuse to let OSHA know what their problems are. I just don’t understand, that’s all. I should have remembered my dad’s old saying, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink”. In this case I can’t help those who won’t help themselves, even if they spend their spare time complaining about this very problem.
Special thanks to Tower Safety for their sponsorship! Tower Safety, where the best get better.
Contracting and Work Oversight
Describe your role in the contract chain and the key safety-related provisions typically included in your contracts. How do contracting parties oversee or enforce those provisions?
Currently I help put together large offers that will require contractors to deploy large communication systems. Usually with larger companies a project manager will manage the contractor and follow through the work with them from inception to close out.
What are the consequences if a party fails to fulfill those contractual requirements?
If they do not present the certifications and safety plans they do not get the work. If they send uncertified people out to the site and the contractor hears about it they are not paid.
What characteristics of past safety performance does your company use in selecting potential contractors and subcontractors?
Review contractor’s safety record as well as the required material.
What safety-related criteria does your company use in this selection process?
Ask for certifications up front but that is it. We should be asking for the safety and rescue plan as well.
Are safety-related factors considered in determining whether to remove a contractor/subcontractor from an ongoing project or from future selection processes? If so, what specific factors are considered?
Yes, safety record and feedback from the end customer, landlord/tower owner and the PM. The subs employees are usually very honest and their feedback is also taken. If the feedback is very negative, then they are removed.
What are the ways in which the multi-leveled contracting environment (i.e., where entities such as the carrier, tower owner, turfing vendor, subcontractor, and contractors hired by the subcontractor all have some role in the project) impacts employee safety at communication tower work sites?
As margins are added, the price that the actual crew doing the work is very low. It takes money to provide training and PPE to employees. It also adds delays to the schedules because the work required passes through many hands before it is released to the company doing the work. Compressed schedules cause the installers to rush increasing the chances of making mistakes.
What practices might companies in the contracting chain adopt to encourage communication and coordination among employers at tower work sites? What obstacles stand in the way of communication and coordination between different parties in the contracting chain?
Many contractors are afraid to let the end customer or master contractor talk to the end worker but this should not be the case. There should be NDAs in place that allow the turf vendor or contractor to act as a placement company and open communication showing the certifications from the people on the field to the end customer. The obstacles are fear that the other contractors will steal the sub contractors. The other fear is that there could be confusion with all of the information being shared. There needs to be a way to streamline the information from the end customer to the work crew. Then, streamline the information from the field back to the end customer. It all comes down to program management.
Economic Issues
The Agency seeks information on the number and size of firms that are engaged in communication tower work and on the number of employees employed by those firms.
The companies that I deal with are mostly 30 to 50 employee companies.
The Agency seeks information about wage and turnover rates for employees who work on communication towers. The Agency is also interested in information about the experience possessed by workers currently doing communication tower work. Are they usually experienced in this type of work? Are there many new or inexperienced employees working on communication towers?
Experience – From what I see the experienced crews are doing the tower building and structural upgrades. The tower crews doing antenna and line installations are usually the less qualified people. These crews are usually less experienced and paid less. There are many inexperienced crews doing cell deployments and there will be again when the work picks up.
Payment – for carrier deployments they usually get paid from $15 to $30 an hour. For heavier tower work they generally get paid over $35/hour depending on experience.
General – I have personally talked to many tower techs that have worked in the business for less than 2 years, they are just learning the job and the issue is that they often are on a crew with the same experience and that is not the structure that we should have in the field.
What types of equipment are used in tower work and how often is this equipment repaired and/or replaced?
Tools, winches, PPE, rope, cranes, vehicles, so much more.
It should all be maintained, repaired, and replaced as needed.
The Agency seeks information from all employers in the contracting chain about the extent to which employees directly engaged in tower work are covered by workers’ compensation and/or an employer liability insurance policy.
I have worked on all sides. Insurance is handled by HR or finance. I do not have the best insight into this issue.
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That’s right, less than 5% of the wireless industry contributed to OSHA’s Tower Safety RFI! I am talking actual contributors.
I originally was counting all the comments when I reported the earlier numbers. Someone pointed out that I was counting comments, not individual submissions or individual contributors.
You see before I was counting all the comments. A comment is what is just the response, not the contributor. On the FCC website, actually athttp://www.regulations.gov/#!docketBrowser;rpp=25;po=0;dct=PS;D=OSHA-2014-0018;refD=OSHA-2014-0018-0001where you can see and count each comment. This would be one answer or an answer for all 28 questions, just one submission. So I went through and looked at the names individually. Don’t worry if you submitted anonymously. I didn’t actually see your name, just that someone submitted.
So, on there were actually 32 submissions, of that 26 of them were accepted and actual submissions, 1 was a proposed rule and 5 were supporting material. I counted each anonymous as a separate entry because they could be unique. So out of the 26 there are 22 unique entries, so 22 people submitted comments on the FCC page.
Now, on the Wireless Estimator page, found here,http://wirelessestimator.com/osha-rfi-2015/#!/. This took a little longer to build a list of unique names. It took me awhile but I came up with around 195 unique submissions, really a best estimate based on cut and paste and excel and asking around.
So let’s add this up, 195 (Wireless Estimator) + 22 (FCC) = 217 people who submitted responses. That is probably high because some people, like me, submitted on both sites. So that would lower.
217 people in the industry were willing to help OSHA understand the danger associated with tower climbing. In the tower industry there are over 10,000 people, allegedly, working at tower sites, training, running crews, etc. So let me do a quick calculation, 195 of 10,000 would be 2.17%. So either the number for the workers is way too high or only 2.17% of the people want OSHA to understand what is going on in the industry.
If you want to make a difference, then go toWireless Estimatoror to the Regulations.gov websites and give your 2 cents. Let them know what is really going on. Read what others in the industry want to change.
Or do nothing, it appears that over 90% of the industry would rather just get up and go to work, keep the blinders on.
Ask yourself, are we better off now, or before OSHA existed? Nobody seems to care until someone gets hurt.
God only helps those that help themselves. Here is a chance to help the industry, or do nothing and see what happens.
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Special thanks to Tower Safety for their sponsorship! Tower Safety, where the best get better.
Update on the RFI response: Let me start by saying thank you to the 929 people that got on Wireless Estimator to respond to the OSHA Tower climber RFI and the 29 people who uploaded their RFI response directly to OSHA as of May 28th, 2015. Thank you. Apparently there are less than 1,000 people in the US that really want to direct OSHA. From the feedback I am getting the rest of you think it’s all up to the climber. That’s fine, it just does not align with what many of you told me earlier. I just needed to know where we stand, that’s all. Many of you complained prior to the RFI, so I guess that was the 958 people that responded with input. Many of you were afraid of your companies, maybe they would fire you, and so you did it anonymously, which is great, because you responded. Thank you all! I guess the rest of you are fine with the way things are, great! I can see where it is such an inconvenience to take 30 minutes out of your life to help OSHA improve the rules for safety specifically for tower climbing and tower safety, it’s a real burden. After all, many of you think we were better off before OSHA and the DOL existed, probably even feel that way about the FCC.
Falls: Falls are currently the leading cause of fatalities among communication tower workers. OSHA believes that many falls result from the improper use of fall protection equipment or the failure to use any fall protection equipment at all.
How are employers addressing fall hazards?
100% Tie off.
Are employers providing appropriate fall protection equipment to employees? Is it maintained and replaced when necessary?
Many are and most of them do maintain it. It varies from company to company and many make that decision based on budget.
What factors contribute to employees failing to use fall protection while climbing or working?
Common sense and safety. If someone is not using it then they are not trained properly or the company did not provide it or they are stupid. Probably a combination of all 3.
Are there situations in which conventional fall protection (safety nets or personal fall arrest systems) is infeasible? What alternatives can employees use for fall protection in those situations?
There can be situations like that and each one should be treated as a one-off. They should always be able to use some type of fall protection. If there is a situation like that at a tower site then the owner should put something in to make sure the worker is safe. It would be a hazard once but then safe for every worker after that.
What are the ways in which fall protection systems or anchorage points on communication towers can fail? How can these failures be prevented?
Often times they are not installed. If there is a cable grab, they need to maintained and inspected. Preferable annually but every 3 years would be good. Anchor points, if installed, should also be inspected every 3 years. Climbing pegs should be inspected and replaced as needed.
Should OSHA require built-in fall protection measures on new towers? Existing towers? Would such a requirement enhance worker safety?
Definitely on new towers, there is no reason not to. On existing tower I believe so, but it would be an expensive venture. Perhaps on all towers built over the last 5 or 10 years would be reasonable.
Structural issues: When new equipment is added to communication towers, the additional loading of the tower has the potential to overload or destabilize the structure. Older towers may need additional reinforcements to maintain their structural integrity as new equipment is added to them. Communication tower collapses have resulted in numerous fatalities in the past two years. Which contractual party bears responsibility for ensuring that any structural work on the tower—such as modification or demolition—is done safely from a structural perspective? What steps are employers currently taking to prevent collapses?
Responsibility: That lies with the team, the tower owner, the structural engineer, the customer, and the crew doing the work. The customer needs to require that the structural engineer not only provides the loading requirements and the upgrades, but also a procedure to do the upgrade. The tower owner needs to approve the plan, and the tower crew needs to understand and sign off that they can do the work properly.
Steps taken – Most companies are reviewing the upgrade plans and verifying their steps with their given experiences. The crews and structural engineers need to be on the same page.
Hoisting materials and personnel: Base-mounted drum hoists are often used to hoist materials and personnel to working heights on communication towers. Hazards arise if hoists that are not rated for lifting personnel are used for that purpose. OSHA is aware of incidents in which hoists have failed under such conditions. Also, overloading material hoists and improper rigging procedures can result in loads striking the tower structure or workers located on the tower. OSHA knows of several deaths in the past two years that have resulted from these types of incidents.
When are personnel hoists used?
In my experience, rarely.
What types of hazards are associated with personnel and material hoists? What are the best practices for safely managing those hazards?
You need to have the proper winch and a good operator.
How are capstan hoists used in tower work? In what types of operations can they be used safely?
In my experience, to raise equipment, and I have never had a problem with one as long as the operator is qualified and paying attention. They can be used safely if inspected and the operator is qualified.
What are the most common types of rigging hazards that occur on communication tower work sites? What can employers do to eliminate or minimize those hazards?
Often, people don’t know the load rating of the block or they choose a poor termination point for the block. Also, rope needs to be inspected. I have seen rope failures due to crappy rope. It needs to be inspected and replaced. There should always be spare rope available for any job. Winch failures happen, although I have never had that problem because we maintained our winches, but they do fail and usually at the worst of times. One more thing, all the workers need to pay attention. If one worker rigs the tower for a light load and then the ground crew tries to pull a heavy load, bad things happen.
Are there methods, other than the use of a hoist or a crane that can be used to lift material and personnel at a communication tower? Which methods and procedures are the safest?
If you can’t pull it up by hand or carry it, I don’t see another way to get it up there. Maybe someday drones will be strong enough to carry payloads.
What are the roles of different levels of the contracting chain in managing rigging and hoisting activities?
Not sure I understand the question, contracting chain confuses me. However, on site I can explain the on site work. Guys on the tower choose the anchor point, knowing what they expect to pull up. They also anchor it based on load, obstructions, mounting location on the tower, and access. Then the block is attached to the tower using straps, steel cable, or carabiners. Then, depending on the weight of the load the ground crew will operate the winch or pull it up. The ground team is responsible for attaching the load to the rope/cable properly not only so it can be held on the way up but also so it can be positioned properly for the attachment of the item to the tower. They need to plan out how to rig it so that the equipment can swing into the tower with the attachment points where they need to go, or at least very close. Then there is a tag line on the ground. A rope is attached to the load to make sure that the load is swinging out from the tower and does not hit anything on the way up. The tag line is there to ensure that the load flies in the direction that you need it to go. It is also there so control the load in the wind. Wind is a huge factor. You do not want to destroy anything that belongs to someone else nor do you want to destroy your load.
Radio Frequency Hazards: Much research has been done on the health effects of overexposure to radio frequencies. General health effects reviews have found that high levels of exposure to radio frequencies may result in burns. In addition, the link between exposure to radio frequencies and cancer, reproductive diseases, and neurological effects has not been thoroughly explored.
What methods are employers using to protect workers from overexposure to radio frequency?
Several things, site and tower inspections looking for dangers like Sirius/XM and antennas and broadcast. This should be part of the hazard assessments and a requirement. Also, RF exposure meters, like the NARDA.
Is there a need for employers to institute comprehensive radio frequency monitoring programs on communication tower work sites? What would a good program look like?
Yes, it would be simple, add it to the hazard assessment, require RF safety training, and assign each climber a RF exposure meter with the requirement that they have it on their body at all times. They would need to be trained to use the meter properly and they would need to keep the batteries charged. It should be a require part of all climbers PPE.
Weather: Communication tower workers work outside during all seasons, and in all climates. They can be exposed to heat, cold, wind, snow, and ice. Storm conditions can quickly arise when workers are at elevation, and it can be difficult to descend the tower quickly.
What are the specific weather-related hazards to which communication tower workers are exposed?
Hot – Heat exhaustion, sun stroke, dehydration, severe sun burn.
Cold – frostbite, hypothermia, numbness and stiffness causing climbing difficulties.
Lightning, always a risk, most climbers are usually off the tower or safely attached to the tower during a storm, but still a risk.
Ice – Falling ice is a risk, could fall on the ground people. Climbing an icy tower should never be done but some people break the ice off as they go up.
How does a crew monitor and respond to changing weather conditions, including storms?
Weather report, smart phone apps, and simply look at the sky.
Fatigue: OSHA believes that fatigue can affect communication tower workers in several says. Climbing a communication tower is physically demanding, and OSHA is concerned that fatigue due to exertion can be hazardous for tower workers. Accelerated work timelines can also result in tower workers working very long hours. And OSHA understands that communication tower workers may travel long distances to reach remote work sites, which can result in workers being fatigued before they even begin work.
What hazards are faced by a worker who finds it physically challenging to perform expected tasks, such as climbing a tower or performing a self-rescue? What impact can this have on other crew members?
Falling is the biggest risk for everyone. If a climber is getting tired to the point where they can’t get down, then they need to be rescued. Many times the climber can tie off, drink some water, and rest. The workmates should be aware of the condition of the climber but if they are not paying attention then they will be responsible for the rescue. IF the climber is too tired to climb, he probably shouldn’t attempt self rescue, but controlled descent is easier than climbing so it may be a viable alternative.
What are the common causes of worker fatigue at communication tower work sites?
Long days, heavy lifting, extreme weather.
What are the effects of fatigue on tower worker safety, and what types of incidents occur as a result of worker fatigue?
If a worker gets too tired they make mistakes, not only the obvious physical mistakes like falling or dropping things, but mental mistakes and miscalculations. Not only for that day but they will be hurting for the next day or 2 and should be grounded so they don’t continue to be at risk. This puts more work on the workmates to perform. If all 4 crew members are climbers, then they should shuffle the work on those long days even if they alternate climbing duties daily. They should log their high time to make sure this happens.
Other common hazards:
What other hazards are present in communication tower work, and what types of incidents are resulting from those hazards? What can be done to protect employees from those hazards?
Bee stings, allergies, snake bites, spider bites, over exertion, crushed limbs, broken bones, Carpal tunnel, long-term RF exposure, auto accidents, stress due to being away from home causing depression, stress of working a high rick job, bird poop, chemicals, long-term sun exposure.
What are some health and safety considerations involved in working with communications equipment installed on non-dedicated tower structures, such as water towers, buildings, silos, electrical transmission towers, etc.?
Each structure has a dedicated risk, there are too many to mention and each structure should be looked into individually. I will list a few here.
Water Towers – many people don’t realize how the water tower slopes off so they should be tied off 100% of the time when working there. Also, climbing up some of them you are in a confined space which could have problems.
Electrical tower – must be certified to work on these, the risk of shock is too great.
Buildings – safety issues, poorly maintain rooftops, should have a wall or rail or the climber should be tied off, bird poop piles up in many of these, trip hazards, low overhead in some areas, hi RF areas.
Silos – usually remote, not always structurally sound, environmental issues, animal and insect issues
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This is for October 2013 to September 2014 (Sourcewww.ConstructionDataQuarterly.com) I am putting this out because it is a good idea to see how busy the OSHA department really is. I understand that we want them to concentrate on the wireless business but the reality is that they cover all workers in the USA. This is no easy task and here you can see the violations that piled up over the previous year.
Fall Protection, Section 1926.501, Duty to have Fall Protection, 6,064 citations.
Scaffold, Section 1926.451, General Requirements, 3,834 citations.
We always want them to do more, but they need the resources to do it. Believe it or not OSHA is doing all that they can to make elevated workers safe, are you? What have you done? Did you complete the OSHA RFI? If not, why not! Don’t be a slacker or a deadbeat, complete the OSHA RFI today!Wireless Estimator OSHA RFI entry website found here.
Be smart, be safe, and pay attention. Help spread the word of safe climbing!
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You know, somebody should do something to improve the industry, If only you had a say! Wait, you do have a say, don’t you! I was reading an article on Wireless Estimator about the RFI response and how response is poor at best,article found here. Wireless Estimator OSHA RFI entry website found here.
If you completed the RFI response, than thank you and you‘re a shining credit to the safety of the tower industry! It shows that you care and that you want to make a change for the better in the industry. Way to go!If you didn’t, then read on!
Are tower climbers deadbeats? I would bet most people reading this would say no, and yet all you had to do is respond to the OSHA RFI, but you were too busy doing something more important, like shaving your back! 38 questions were there to be answered; some specifically asking for the tower climber’s opinion, but you didn’t have time to type out a few sentences, did you? You will quick to bitch about conditions and pay, but you could take the 30 minutes or so to even look at the first section of the RFI.
Worried about the deadline, well don’t, just respond today, tonight, tomorrow morning, but don’t wait any longer!
Most of you that didn’t answer probably spend a lot of time on Facebook complaining or posting rude pictures, so why not do something to help the industry?
All you had to do was answer some questions, but were you too busy or too lazy!
What was more important? Was it that TV show you were watching at night?
You know, I put a lot of effort into writing these blogs so help people, but you’re too busy to let OSHA know where the tower climber needs help.
Maybe we’re fine, maybe the tower industry is fine. Maybe all that most climbers are worth are $10/hour to risk their lives. Maybe all the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, boys, and girls that lost a family member mean nothing to you. it wasn’t you that got hurt, only a fellow worker in the wireless industry. A brother or sister that does the same job as you, a fellow elevated worker, someone who has a family who may never climb again, may never work again, or may never get to kiss their loved ones goodnight again. Once they are gone, it takes away everything, all they ever had and all they ever will have.
I hear so many of you complain, here is your chance to do something and most of you just won’t. Are you lazy, that is how I see it if you didn’t fill out part of this. Maybe it is a lack of commitment. Maybe you want to see your fellow workers get hurt, after all, doing nothing is like letting people die, so why not just sit back and hope that it’s not you or your work mates that die.
This is my plea for help, this is me asking you to get off of your lazy ass and do something. Complete the RFI response.Go to my blog here for instruction on what to so. The sooner the better!
Did you do it? Are you done? I didn’t say it would be quick or easy, but it needs to be done.
You know what, if you’re not going to do it, then maybe we should just continue to blame the climbers for all the faults, after all, most of you are not motivated to change anything. Complacency is the problem, and if you look in the mirror you will see the problem if you choose to do nothing.
Just remember what that you could have done something, and you chose not to. Way to go slacker!
Be smart, be safe, pay attention, and complete the RFI!
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I wanted to make sure we all respond to the OSHA questions. I have been working on them for the past 3 days. I am still looking them over because this is very important to me. I really want to make sure we give OSHA a good foundation for the future of tower climber safety. I plan to upload them to theWireless Estimatorpage this week. I am writing this on April 22, 2015, and plan to upload them tomorrow.
First, I want to share them with you. This may not be the final but you can look me up on theWireless Estimator OSHA RFI siteby searching forWade4Wireless or Wade Sarver. Go ahead, log in and look around, see what others have said, that is what I am doing. Click on the view comments to see what others have done.
FYI – 2015 USA OSHA Stand Down May 4th to May 15th!
Since this is so long, I have put the tower climber questions in this post. I will release a post for each section. You don’t need to answer every question, but please, make sure that your answers are going to help. You have to look at this as your contribution for change, so if you decide to be a smart ass with a stupid answer, then you don’t care. You should find a new industry to work in because we want to make this a better profession! Remember that professionals work in this profession!
As a tower climber, what are the most significant hazards that you encounter on the job? What circumstances or conditions create or contribute to these hazards?
Hazards: Falling, fatigue, injury from over exertion, stress from travel and working at heights. The climber’s job is at height and outdoors so weather is also a hazard. The climber must work in all climates causing another risk to be taken into consideration. Frostbite and heat exhaustion are all factors that cause problems when working at height.
Circumstances: Often time the circumstances that cause problems are when the schedule is pushing the climbers to work quickly and longer hours in the air. The deadlines need to be realistic and take into account that there are delays due to delivery and weather and other customer’s schedules. This is often why inexperienced crews do much of the work because the roll outs of all the carriers happen simultaneously. Look at the auctions, all the carriers win the frequencies at the same time so they all have to deploy along the same schedules. This causes the current contractors to book up very quickly. This falls into the realm of taking short cuts. If the climbers would remain tied off 100% of the time then you would think the problem would be resolved. The schedule causes them to take shortcuts. Also, a big part of this is getting paid, low pay makes for poor quality of worker, training, and lack of PPE. When the crews don’t get paid, either by their owners or contractors, for any reason, they can’t continue safely.
Conditions: Working at heights for prolonged periods in all environments and in odd positions while moving heavy weight cause many problems. It causes the workers to over exert themselves if they don’t have the right tools. The tight schedules given to the climbers due to heavy emphasis put on due dates and trying to make the hours bid. Often the job is bid skinny causing the hours to be unrealistic. If there is bad weather then it could cause issues with climbing or if you delay the climb then the schedule will be impacted causing the climbers to try to get done in less time by rushing, taking shortcuts, or working extremely long days, even in the dark. The stress is caused by the extensive travel and the worry of training new workers at height. It becomes tough to worry about yourself and your greenhorn.
What steps do you take, at this time, to complete your work safely? What safety-related work practices do you think should be in place?
Currently employed is the 100% tie off, training, and practice. That along with logging the high time and drive time of each climber.
There should be 100% ties off rule, required training for all workers on site for tower work, tower safety, and rescue. First Aid and CPR should be standard. All drive and high time should be logged and kept on record. All practice of tower rescue should be logged and kept on record. All certifications should be required and kept on record. I think that the customer should require all the records they can. All customers should require a safety audit for all tower work to be done by independent companies. This should be the customer’s responsibility!
What safety rules and work practices are provided to you, and who provides you with that information?
In the safety handbook there is a list of rules, 100% tie off, notes about the drug tests, and safety practices for the worker. There is also a safety manual from Comtrain that is passed around. There is also a list of safety practices from OSHA and the insurance company about heavy lifting.
The handbook is distributed by the foreman and HR.
Who assigns and oversees your work? Who provides your training and checks your equipment? When at a job site, to whom would you report a potential safety issue?
The department head or a project manager assigns and oversees the work from a high level. In the field, at a tower site, there is a foreman or a crew lead that oversees the work and maintains the schedule and safety practices. Someone from HR, the safety person, oversees the training and certifications.
You would report all incidents to your immediate supervisor.
Potential safety issues would be reported to the foreman or lead on site.
What specific steps do you think employers can take to make tower work safer?
I think that companies that do safety audits work best. They have a person come out to the sites randomly to inspect the crew and offer ways to improve safety without being a jerk. I think that practice makes perfect so by getting the crew or crews together once a month to practice rescue and safety and talk about how they do things is a big help. I believe that annual training is very important to keep everyone up to speed.
How, and to what extent, does the design or configuration of towers, and equipment installed on towers, affect your ability to complete your work safely?
It plays a major role. There are times you can’t figure out how to stay tied off to go to the next level. Or you have nothing safe to anchor to. Monopoles are very difficult to maintain a safe anchor. Sometimes on a monopole, or other towers staying tied off is harder because the safe points are no near. Many times there should be a safety climb on the towers and monopole but it is either broken, lose, faulty, or not installed.
What do you think of the OSHA RFI? Let me know by sending me a message and then I will send you a newsletter, eventually.
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When working in project management it really helps to have some templates to get started. I have a partner that has the toolkit you need! If you need some tools then I think this will help. Get some templates and tools that would help you improve your PM work.Click Here! Scan or click the ICON for more information!
For all of you that say OSHA doesn’t care, you’re wrong! I have proof, well here you go! They released a Request For Information (RFI) to get the feedback of all of you climbers! All of you climbers that care enough to take the time to respond! The official FCC information is hereand thePDF is available here.
However Wireless Estimator came up with a way to make it easy on us to fill out the form. They have an overview here. I am going to go through it for you so you understand what is going on. The link isHEREand let me walk you through the process. If youclick on the linkthen you will see that Wireless Estimator has compiled the questions for you. They also are going to let you look at other people’s answers as well. You will not see their names but you can see what other people said. It may help you modify answer or totally disagree.
So for all of you that say OSHA is not listening, here is your chance to take action! This is your chance to help shape the industry. All I ask is that you give a professional and fair answer. You can’t say you disagree or agree with no explanation. This is your chance to contribute, no excuses. OSHA has more information here.
Now, let me go over the web page and how to enter questions. When you answer the questions and give your input, remember, be concise, be professional, base your reasons on experience and evidence and how it will impact you, and make sure your answers are sound. If you want to see a website on how to respond go tohttp://www.regulations.gov/docs/Tips_For_Submitting_Effective_Comments.pdfand see what the feds recommend that you do.
OK, now the website overview. When you go tohttp://www.wirelessestimator.com/osha-rfi-2015/#!/section/1/questionsyou will see that the sections are broken out on the left, I have a picture below. You will see the sections to the left and the questions in the center. Make sure you complete each question that you are prepared to answer. Now remember that you will be able to enter good information and if you enter a crap answer that it will be flushed!
I would recommend answering only the questions you are qualified to answer, don’t try to suggest something for a section that you are not qualified to work in. Make your answers count, but don’t feed a line of crap, be truthful, honest, and give a great suggestion.
There is the overview in the beginning to tell you what each section encompasses. You have the following sections:
Question for Tower Climbers
Training and Certification
Suitability for Work
Hazards and Incidents
Contracting and Work
Economic Issues
Tower Design
Regulatory/Non-Regulatory Approaches
Do the best you can, make it count, and you will play your part in shaping the industry by informing OSHA what to do and how to make progress in saving climbers lives. That what this is all about! Saving lives and making sure that qualified people are doing this job! Do you get it? This all depends on you and your participation. So be a professional and contribute to the industry that you work in.
Don’t you want to make a difference at OSHA that could affect all climbers? It’s up to you!
Be smart, be safe, and pay attention. This is your time to shape the industry, don’t waste it with regrets!
I am sending this out in a Newsletter, so sign up if you want to get it!
When working in project management it really helps to have some templates to get started. I have a partner that has the toolkit you need! If you need some tools then I think this will help. Get some templates and tools that would help you improve your PM work.Click Here!If you are on your mobile then scan this.
