Hey, I thought I would offer more near miss stories because I saw that there was another rescue of some guys working a monopole on August 11th, 2014. They are not climbing but they were in a lift. Go tohttp://www.khl.com/magazines/access-lift-and-handlers/detail/item99810/Two-injured-in-boom-accidentandhttp://kingston.wickedlocal.com/article/20140815/NEWS/140818333 to see how employees working for Timberline Construction got stuck in a lift. These poor guys were probably happy to be on a lift and it breaks down. They called in for help at 5:11PM local time when the Kingston Fire Department was dispatched. The platform on the lift fell about 30’, they were about 135’ in the air. Hard and fast, then stopped. This was enough to injury the 2 men on the lift, one had facial injuries and the other had ankle injuries. It had to be scary for these guys on the lift. Actually that turned out to be a good thing because they must have been about 130 feet up and that brought them down to 100’ where the fire department’s ladder could reach. Apparently there was a loud bang before the fall.
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When both Kingston Fire Department and Plymouth Fire Department crews got on site they did not want to try to operate the list because of the problems so they sent the PFD ladder up to help these guys. Thank GOD they are alive and well. This is a mechanical failure that could have been really bad but turned out well. These guys got to go home at night with a few injuries and a story. Very special thanks go out to the Kingston Fire Department!
Both workers had all the safety gear on and were wearing it properly! They are alive to tell us that today. The workers were treated. PFD and KFD kept the lift open until OSHA arrived to investigate. Then they cleared the scene.
The lift was a Genie Z-135/70. About a year ago, June 2013, in Buckinghamshire, UK, there was another accident on this type of lift that ended in death. The owner of those boom, Kimberly Access grounded the fleet and after investigation they devised a new safety procedure before putting the fleet back to work. UK’s Health and Safety and Kimberly Access conducted a full investigation to come to this conclusion.
Story 1: After I left my one company they had to raise some large dishes on a tower in upstate NY. Well the plan was to raise the dish and there were still crates of hardware all over the site. The dish was not directly under the tower. To save time they thought they would use the winch to move it and just guide it in. Well, when they raised the dish, it kicked, and pushed one guy towards the hardware crate where his leg, just above the ankle, got pinned between the crate and the dish, guess what happened, his leg snapped. It went from straight to a 90 degrees in seconds and was pinned until the rest of the people could get over there to free him. It happened so fast that some people were in shock. It pays to plan and have a clean site. He was laid up for a very long time. Lesson learned: clean site, plan the lift, tag the load, prepare the people, make sure the winch guy is on the same page as the crew.
Story 2: We were changing out a TV stack from a 90′ analog stack to a 65′ digital. When the new stack came up 1 of the crew members forgot to stay at the tower top to help land it and instead went up to the rooster head of the gin pole. When the guy tried landing it alone he got the first spud perfect but crossed holes on the second. We came down with all the weight resting on the spud. When we tried to take the weight back up, the stack jumped 4′ up, then came crashing back down into the tower top. We pinned it, but bent our gin pole pretty good. Could have been a bad day if it snapped. Lesson learned: plan where each person should be at the time of the lift, stick to the plan unless there is a good reason not to.
Lessons learned? You tell me! Other Lessons Learned postshereandhereandhere.
Thank you all for the Near miss stories and keep them coming!
Talk to me! Email me atwade4wireless@gmail.comor message me on Facebook or leave the information below. Or call and leave a message at my Google voice mail at 510-516-4283.
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By the way, if you read this far, I am planning to put out a new program training the tower workers on the paperwork and processes needed in this industry.
First off, thank you for all the near miss stories, I appreciate it! Link ishereif you missed it. Keep them coming!
Let’s talk fines and how the FCC and OSHA fines compare. I wanted to go over what the FCC and OSHA are up against. They both issue a lot of fines and many of them take research. The FCC covers so many issue as does OSHA. All that we see is our world and the problems we face. We cry for help because we are losing fellow climbers. We are asking OSHA to help and now the FCC has joined our cause. I thought I would show you how many fines and all the work both organizations do. These guys mostly hear us whine and complain, but there are people working hard in the groups that are trying to make a difference. While I don’t agree with all of the fines, I find them all interesting. This may help us understand why they are taking so long to do anything. That is, we understand unless you know someone who died. Then all this seems unimportant because they need to step in to make sure it never happens again. Look at the losses in the tower industry this year and you see that several of the fallen were older. They were in their 30s and 40s. We need to find out what is happening, and we have been asking OSHA to help. Remember that several climbers were injured and stuck on towers and had to be rescued by fireman after waiting for EMS to respond after the 911 call. Our industry needs help.
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So I was reading an article,http://www.somdnews.com/article/20140730/NEWS/140739911/1045&source=RSS&template=gazette, where the FCC imposed a $10,400 fine, reduced from $13,000, for tower lights that were out. The FCC fined Washington Gas for a 2010 Frederick Tower light outage. Washington Gas did notify the FAA immediately, but 4 days after the outage. This is the reason for the fine. I don’t know the circumstances but just bare with me so I can make a point.
OSHA fined S & S Tower Company $14,000 for a tower collapse that killed 2 tower climbers causing a second tower collapse that killed a fireman. In this case three people died, and the fine was slightly more. This was the second violation for this company. However, this seemed to be an accident.
Now looking at this I have to wonder if the FCC has more clout in the government or how the fines for 2 penalties that are drastically different can be so close in dollar amount. Does this make sense to anyone? I think that it’s time that the Department of Labor and the FCC collaborate on how the fines are issued. Something appears to be very wrong here.
Listen, fines are tough, and I have never been on a crew that got any, thank GOD, but I do know that they should be fair. These are 2 incidents that warrant fines as the law is written, but it seems that the heavy fine for the light outage seems excessive and the fine for the fatalities seems light. My opinion!
Now, if you look at how OSHA hammered Morlan Enterprises back on February 25th, 2014, when they saw 2 employees climbing without the proper climbing gear, on a monopole surrounded by trees. They hammered them with $35,000 in fines. No previous violations, but this was a willful violation who was the first to violate the rule stating that workers must have effective fall protection. Keep in mind this was a willful violation, they willingly decided to ignore the safety rules set by OSHA!
So to give you an overview of all the fines, OSHA handed out 8,241 fines for Fall Protection violations in 2013 according to thisarticle. Fall violations were #1 in OSHA’s fine list. They do not take it lightly for any industry.
Now for the FCC it is much harder to count and separate the fines. So I went to their headlines screenhereand loaded the data into Excel and here is what I saw was around 90 total fines issued in 2014. The FCC fines are very complicated for the most part. They range fromfencing violationstoEmergency alert violationstofining Intelfor importing unapproved smart phones and tablet. By the way,Wal-Martwas fined $120K for wireless mic marketing issues!
So to sum this up, in the wireless communications tower industry we have needs but these departments are overseeing a ton of industries. So because the tower work is small they tend to get overlooked. I think that the 13 deaths last year and the 9 deaths this year have changed that. I also think that the record hiring rate of green climbers is going to change things. We want everyone to be safe and look out for each other. We need these people to be trained properly and to gain experience from experience. The FCC and OSHA are doing what they can with what they got. What about you? Are you doing what you can to train new climbers or do you sit there and say that someone should do something? I wrote this and I am trying to get the word out beyond Facebook, show some support.
So my question to you, the reader (or listener), what do you think is fair? Is this another government oversight where they just issue fines without a thought standard across the industry? Should the FCC work with OSHA to issue fines in the communications industry? What do you think is fair?
Email me atwade4wireless@gmail.comor message me on Facebook or leave the information below. Or call and leave a message at my Google voice mail at 510-516-4283.
But wait, there’s more!
Following these fines, I think that it’s time that OSHA niches down to have a specific division that can concentrate specifically on the tower industry. Even if it’s just one guy. Or maybe listen to the complaints that roll in. Could we do that? They dish out many fines, but they only have so many resources, they need a specialist for the tower industry.
* We impose a penalty of $15,000 against Jean Richard Salvador for operating an unlicensed FM radio station on the frequency 89.5 MHz in Miami, Florida. Although Mr. Salvador denies operating the unlicensed station in September 2013, he did not dispute that he operated the station in June or July of 2013. *
We propose a penalty of $10,000 against Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises (Duhamel), for failing to ensure that its antenna structure was properly illuminated. Although Duhamel believed that the structure did not require lighting because of its position in a three-tower array, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) notified Duhamel officially that lighting was required for the antenna structure. Given that public safety is at risk when antenna structures are not properly illuminated, Duhamel’s failure to light the structure after the FAA notification warrants a significant penalty. In this Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture and Order (NAL), we find that Duhamel, owner of antenna structure number 1042912 in Rapid City, South Dakota (Antenna Structure), apparently willfully and repeatedly violated Section 303(q) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Act), and Sections 17.23 and 17.48(a) of the Commission’s rules (Rules), by failing to exhibit required lighting on the Antenna Structure during nighttime hours and for failure to notify the FAA immediately that the Antenna Structure was not lit. We conclude that Duhamel is apparently liable for forfeiture in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
We propose a penalty of $25,000 against CMARR, Inc. (CMARR), for apparently willfully interfering with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) weather radar in San Juan, Puerto Rico, by operating radio transmitters without a license. Given the risk to public safety created by CMARR’s unlicensed operations, and the fact that CMARR had already received a warning for similar violations, these actions warrant a significant penalty.
In this Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL), we find that CMARR, operator of an Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) transmission system in San Juan, Puerto Rico, apparently willfully and repeatedly violated Sections 301 and 333 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Act),[1] by causing interference to the FAA by operating an intentional radiator without a license. We conclude that CMARR is apparently liable for forfeiture in the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000).
We propose a penalty of $7,000 against Sound Communications, LLC (Sound Communications) for apparently failing to enclose AM Station WENY’s antenna structure in Southport, New York, within an effective locked fence. Sound Communications admitted to leaving a gate unlocked for several days so that personnel from a tower repair company could gain access to the antenna structure site in order to prepare a bid for a repair project. The unlocked gate was of particular concern to FCC agents because the antenna structure is located in a residential neighborhood.
In this Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL), we find that Sound Communications, licensee of Station WENY and owner of antenna structure number 1053420 (Antenna Structure) in Southport, New York, apparently willfully and repeatedly violated Section 73.49 of the Commission’s rules (Rules),[2] by failing to enclose the antenna structure within an effective locked fence. We conclude that Sound Communications is apparently liable for forfeiture in the amount of seven thousand dollars ($7,000).
OSHA fines for tower companies (OSHA cites many companies but I only see a few violations in the past few months);
COOLVILLE, Ohio – Two workers were free climbing, or climbing without safety lines, a 195-foot communication tower under construction without adequatefall protection in Coolville. As a result, Morlan Enterprises has been cited for one willful and eight serious safety violations by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA has proposed penalties of $52,500.
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. – Following the collapse of a Clarksburg communication tower in February 2014 that seriously injured two and claimed the lives of two employees and a volunteer firefighter, S and S Communication Specialists Inc. has been cited for two serious workplace safety violations. The citations issued to the Hulbert, Oklahoma-based Company follow an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Tower fatalities from OSHA;
6/17/2014
Microwave Transmission Systems Inc., San Angelo, TX 76903
Worker died after falling from tower.
Fatality
3/25/2014
Wireless Horizon, Westmoreland, KS 66549
Two workers killed when a wireless communications tower collapsed.
Fatality
3/19/2014
Redwing Electric, LLC, Pasadena, MD 21122
Worker killed in fall from water tower.
Fatality
2/1/2014
S. & S. Communication Specialist Inc., Clarksburg, WV 26301
Two workers killed in a communications tower collapse.
Fatality
11/22/2013
Optica Network Technologies, N. Wichita, KS 67219
Maintenance worker died in fall from communication tower.
Fatality
Dehydration alert!
Remember what Art Seely, (the CEO at Safety One International Training and a senior paramedic,http://safetyoneinc.com/) says, “A summer climber needs fluid with electrolytes such as a diluted 50% Gatorade mixture to drink at 10 minute intervals. The only disadvantage to 50% diluted Gatorade is the stomach “sees” the nutrients in the solution and immediately passes the fluid on to the small intestine where the absorption rate is only 1/3 as fast as if the fluid stayed in the stomach. With pure water the fluid stays in the stomach and is more quickly passed to the blood stream. Once in the blood stream the rehydration progresses next to the cells and finally to the interstitial spaces. The point of mentioning that is that even though a climber feels better after rehydrating from serious dehydration he should wait at least 12 hours to resume any significant work. In winter climbs the majority of the fluid loss is through the surface of the lungs which unlike perspiration does not upset electrolyte balance and water is a great substitute to drink before, during and after the climb… In either case once you have a victim on a tower or on the ground the initial attempts at “fluid resuscitation” should always utilize water at close to body temperature. As with all victims they must be able to hold the fluid container and drink from it themselves, do not attempt to pour it into their mouth as vomiting and aspiration resulting in a delayed bacterial pneumonia is a likely result and that can easily be fatal without prompt hospitalization. Once the victim’s symptoms start to improve then if they were in a hot environment you can start with Gatorade at 50% or 100% concentrations.
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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
First off, we had another fallen worker this month and I would like all of you to take a moment of silence in remembrance.
Well it’s time for the world cup!Soccer is exciting to the world! In North America and Australia we both say soccer, but to the rest of the world it’s football. Either way Let’s see how we stack up against each other in tower safety. I got some information on the high risk work certifications that Australia has from Dennis Lundin. I met Dennis on LinkedIn. He was nice enough to send me a boatload of information over. Thank you Dennis!
Here in the USA we have a high number of accidents that result in death. I often wanted to compare it to other countries where the government regulates the tower business. Here in the USA we are more or less self-regulated. We rely on the industry to regulate itself. I know you have businesses out there that say they keep an eye on it, but how? They really just give guidelines and they rely on OSHA to follow-up. Are we being proactive in accident prevention?
Now that OSHA is coming out with updated rules I thought it would be interesting to see what Australia does. I virtually met Dennis Lundin on LinkedIn. He was nice enough to send all this information on how it works down under. Here is what he sent me. It covers more than tower climbing, it cover construction in general. It covers risk management.
So what is the USA doing wrong? I really don’t know except maybe we have more work or maybe the lack of safety regulation is hurting the climber’s safety. Don’t you wonder why we don’t have more regulation for an occupation where the percentage of death is so high? Is it that government doesn’t care about the workers thatmake their communications system work? Here is a critical cog in the machine and the accidents seem to be accepted, not prevented. Is it because when it happens it is out at a tower site, not close to the public? I don’t understand. What is an allowable death rate? I think ZERO is the only answer.
Dennis was kind enough to take the time to put all of this together so we can understand what they are doing there. They seem to have a better track record that we do.
From Dennis: By Law, to work in Towers or on Roof Tops, etc a worker must have:
License To Perform High Risk Work (renewed every 5 Years)
Dogging – DG
Basic Rigging – RB
Intermediate Rigging – RI
Advanced Rigging – RA
Certification To Perform High Risk Work (renewed every 3 Years)
Permit To Perform High Risk Work on Buildings (Roof Tops, Platforms,etc) (renewed for every job) A Work at Heights Permit and Induction Certification from the Building Owner and a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) which need to be Fill-Out and signed each day by the Site Supervisor and all Riggers.
Access To Perform High Risk Work on Towers (renewed for every job) Access Permit and Induction Certification from the Tower Owner (which need to see all above Licence To Perform High Risk Work and Certification To Perform High Risk Work) and a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) which need to be Fill-Out and signed each day by the Site Supervisor and all Riggers.
Induction Certification (renewed every 2 Years) Tower Owner or Building Owner will typical use a company like Rapidinduct to set up and run the Induction services. All above Licence To Perform High Risk Work and Certification To Perform High Risk Work) and a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) need to be uploaded to the system and approved before Induction can be permitted.
Also a Method Of Procedure (MOP) must be in place in the SWMS
Per Dennis:As I install Microwave Links, my MOP is below Step by Step Tower Installation Procedure ;
Access site and logon as per Tower/Building Owner and Vertel instructions
Complete daily SWMS highlighting any apparent hazards and complete toolbox talk
Confirm drawings are correct cross check with RF design plan
Unpack Dish and assemble as per manufacturer’s instructions that are supplied with the Dish
Assemble Dish Mount as per supplied drawings
Unpack and complete visual inspection of rigging and harness equipment
Check RadMan for operation and calibration
Call in outage (if any) with Tower Owner, confirm with either on site technician or NOC that power has been reduced
Set up block and tackle 2 meters above the intended Dish Mount position, employ 100% attachment techniques whilst accessing tower to install block and tackle, use only tower ladder to access tower
Use only a block with inbuilt braking system and ensure block and tackle is suitably rated for the task at hand
Approach red zone of tower with caution monitoring RadMan for RF activity
Hand haul Dish Mount into position keeping clear of existing equipment
Attach and secure Dish Mount as per supplied drawings
Hand haul Dish and ODU into position and secure as per manufacturers instructions
Pre-terminate Connector to Feeder on ground and hand haul into position, connect to ODU and seal connection in approved manner
Secure Feeder to Tower Feeder Brackets with appropriate Cable Tries or Cable Hangers that suit the Feeder being used
Install Earthing (Ground) Kits to Feeder as per manufacturer’s instructions
Route the Feeder into the Cabinet or Hut via the gland plate and appropriate size gland and terminate as per the manufacturer’s instructions at the IDU mounting location
Power up equipment and align Dish as per manufacturer’s instructions and Vertel MLT
Once tower work is complete contact NOC to close outage (if any)
Clean up site and remove all rubbish, log off site and ensure compound is secure.
So who wins? Let me know what you think, get me onFacebook (hit Like while you are there!)or leave a comment. The way I see it is Australia gets an A while the USA gets a D because we still have so many fatalities. D is very poor, but look at our track record. We have so many people who try to make the USA #1 in training and prevention but we are dropping the ball when it comes to responsibility within the companies. Safety is the priority and schedule should be a distant 3rd after safety budget. Let’s make the rest of the year safe and healthy and no more injuries! At least no more preventable injuries.
I have some good stuff coming up for you faithful followers. I am working on an interview with the FCC people on RF radiation, more tick talk, and some small cell deployment problems.
Hello everybody. I have something special for you today. I have an interview with someone who had RF Radiation poisoning. I wrote a blog a few weeks back that had information in it about the climber that got RF poisoning years ago. His name is Bruce Elle and he was kind enough to let me interview him and broadcast it on my Blog Cast podcast. You can listen to it here or get it on iTunes. It is over an hour so it’s not something that you can fly through.
I did edit out some swear words, the best I could. This is an adult conversation so be aware not to have children around for this. It is over an hour so make time to listen.
Bruce and I have a goal of alerting people of the hazards of RF radiation.We would like make sure you get the point that safety matters. Although we jump around in our conversation we want to drive home that the more you know the more you respect yourself. Respect yourself by looking for ways to keep you healthy, now and in the long run. You have the tools available to ensure that you will be safe barring a major failure, which happens in this business.
We start out by going into Bruce’s background as a climber and the history of the climbing business. Many people think that the way things are now is how it’s always been. Let me tell you it has come a long way. The advances in climbing and safety have been greatly advance through training and education. The thing about climbers is that they hate to change the way they do things. So the key is to show them how it will help them improve their work and be safer. It is hard to slow down a seasoned climber because they want to race up the tower and get the job done. The focus is changing now to make sure that the job is not only done right but safety is the focus.
Focus, this is one thing that we all seem to have a problem with today. When you are going to head up the tower you need to have focus. Someone needs to be looking out for you. That is why I say the crew needs to work together, so that each person is looking for something that they other person may have missed. But, back to the interview.
Bruce talks about how he climbed up the tower that day he got radiated. He was working on the antenna 550 feet up in the air. This was in February and he was sweating while sitting on the antenna. The beacon was on the antenna. For all of you guys that do cellular work may not understand that broadcast antennas were huge and the beacons were on the antenna itself. The antenna would be a huge steel structure made to be mounted on top of a tower. The engineering that went into these was amazing because it would not only radiate but it would need to be a solid steel structure, in this case 50’ high, that you could climb on and it had a beacon on top.
So he was sitting on the antenna was on low power, which in this case was 35,000 watts coming out of the transmitter. This was considered safe at that time, can you believe it? This was considered safe for someone to site on the antenna to change out the beacon. This was considered a normal day at work.
Bruce didn’t have any real pain right away, he just felt really hot for the middle of February. He didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary until he got home that night, then the fever hit. He had to take an ice bath to break the fever. This was the beginning of so many problems that he still deals with today.
Back then he didn’t have RF alert meters, RF suits, or anything like that. Today you have the opportunity to prepare for the unseen hazards of RF radiation by preparing yourself with those tools. Bruce is telling this story so that no other human goes through the pain and suffering he has endured. OK, get it, he is trying to help all of you by sharing his experience. Listen carefully if you want to live a healthy life. Quality of life matters.
Listen to the interview, Bruce lead a climber’s life, not always perfect but he learned on the way. If you are new to this business you will learn a lot about the lifestyle. You can learn from his mistakes and set yourself up for success. Come up with a plan that will work for you. Think about how you can improve your life by reviewing the safety and lifestyle changes that will make you a better person in the long run. Bruce did this to help you all live a better life, he is here to help.
Let me know what you think. I am here to get the word out. I have a book for new climbers here. Like me on Facebook!
Here are some links, old and new, that will shed some light on RF Radiation poisoning.
If you paint towers then be aware that there may be more dangers than paint dripping on your truck. There are studies out about the long-term effects of inhaling paint. The good news is you will be outside and it’s usually windy when you do it. However, the risk is there. If you can make sure you take the precautions needed so you don’t inhale anything bad. When Utility workers were surveyed who worked with painted for a long time, here is what was reported. This is from a report in PaintSquare,
“The research examined memory, attention and processing speed in 2,143 retirees who had been potentially exposed to three types of solvents in their careers:
33 percent had been exposed to chlorinated solvents;
26 percent had been exposed to benzene; and
25 percent had been exposed to petroleum solvents.
All three solvents are widely used in various products throughout the paint and coatings industry.
The workers’ average lifetime exposure was ranked as none, moderate or high, based on company records, the nature of their jobs, and on when their last exposure occurred.
Participants took eight tests of their memory and thinking skills an average of 10 years after they retired, when they were an average age of 66. (Ninety percent of workers retired between ages 50 and 60.)
Researchers also accounted for factors such as education level, age, smoking and alcohol consumption. They did not control for factors such as cardiovascular disease, diet or physical activity and concede that these may play a role in cognitive functioning.”
Remember that there are more hazards out there than falling. Falling is obvious, it’s the long-term hazards that everyone ignores until they are in the business for 10 or more years. For me it’s my rotator cuffs that just ache, what is it for you?
My next book is ready, I should release it as soon as I update my website. I am slow but I am trying to get you quality as well as information. Let me know what I can do to help you guys out. If you want me to talk about something, then let me know. I have more about small cells to talk about.
