OK, this is the time of year that you may be slow. If you are then it’s the perfect time to do some planning. What could you do this time of year? Well, I have a list. This is something you should do every couple of months but many companies get slow this time of year so why not now?
First thing you should do is get your vehicles in order. Make sure you have the maintenance and inspection schedules understood. Chances are you know what month they are do but it’s a good thing to look at and know when you will take them in. That way it is not so last-minute.
You should inventory your truck. If you have a day then take everything out. Take inventory of all of your supplies. Anything you use daily, like tie wraps, vapor seal, nuts & bolts, connectors, caulk, anything that you use, stock up. Now is the time. It beats running to Lowes or Home Depot while on site. However, remember that some caulk will freeze and may not be good after it’s frozen.
Inspect all of your safety gear. This is the perfect time to get out your safety gear and look it over. Inspect it. Take inventory, what is missing and what do you need? If you were working in the snow or rain, take it somewhere it can dry out. Remember that the cold and wet are very hard on the gear. Some people do this but if you are traveling all the time it is easy to leave it in the truck. Don’t get lazy, inspect and replace if needed. If you are missing gear, then get it ordered!
Don’t forget to look over your rope, inspect it, dry it out, replace it if you need to. Make the old life lines tag lines. Inspect your steel cables, hardware lanyard, and carabiners. Look them over, make sure they are acceptable for the job you will give them.
Inventory your tools. Tools have a habit of walking away and we may forget about them by the time we make the 4 to 8 hour drive home. Well, now is the time to look over all of your tools. Make sure you have everything and if you don’t then replace it.
Inspect your vehicle, look at the tires and look at when the oil needs changed. If there is a problem you know about that could leave you sitting somewhere, now is the time to take care of it.
Catch up on all of your paperwork, now is the time. If you are a contractor you may need to prepare for tax time. Clean it all up. This is not fun but it is necessary. Make sure you have all of the customer’s paperwork in and ready to send out. This could be tedious and you should have done most of it while on site. Just take the time to clean it all up.
Do you know your deployment schedule for the next month? Then make a plan for the roll-out. Whether you work from a playbook or a maintenance schedule you should start planning who will go where and plan out the duration of each trip. Don’t wait until the last-minute and be prepared to change it last-minute. We know it’s hard to set a firm schedule but it really helps to set a tentative one and remain flexible.
Do you know the on call schedule? This is a good time to update it. Give people plenty of time to make changes if it won’t work for them. That should be planned out months in advance.
One more thing I like to do this time of year is look back and see what worked and what didn’t. This is good to do several times a year but this time of year you may have time to think about what to do better next year. If you are an owner or a lead, take the time to review some paperwork, like the hazard assessments and the close out packages. Not all of them but just randomly pick some. Are they being filled out so they are site specific or does it look like the people are making them all the same just to finish them quickly? It pays to take the time to see if the crew is actually thinking about the work when they do it or if they just complete the paperwork because they have to. There is a big difference.
Do you make the most of downtime? Let me know what you do!
Have a safe year everyone!
Be smart, be safe, pay attentions and follow the plan, then adapt, improvise, and overcome to be successful.
Remember to help the Hubble Foundation because they help the families of the climbers.
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Merry Christmas and happy holidays. I pray that you are all with your families and having a wonderful holiday this year. Please appreciate this time with your families and loved ones.
Next time you are asked to climb when you don’t’ feel the weather is right or things are going wrong or if you have a gut feeling that something is wrong. Next time you know something is wrong, please put your life first.
I put this together to remember the ones we lost this year. I don’t want the families to relive bad memories, if they do I apologize. I only want you all to remember and say a prayer for these families on this day. I am doing this to honor their memories as the hard workers they were and that they will not be forgotten. I am doing this to make a point that things need to get better. I know many climbers don’t want change because they may be getting a steady paycheck right now. Just remember that in just a few seconds that could all change.
I would like you all to appreciate your time with your families this holiday.
Special thanks to Facebook friend, Nick Fiedler for sharing this on Facebook and giving me this idea.
Please verify the information and let me know if anything is wrong.
I would like to wish all of you the Happiest of Holidays! A very Merry Christmas! May you all be home and blessed over the Christmas holiday with loved ones!
So, this may seem like a strange subject. I mean most of you are thinking that the AWS-3 auctions will lead to more work, but how and when? Well, that is why I am here. I want to break it down for you so you have an idea what the auction is and how it will affect the industry. Let me start by saying this is my opinion and I am putting this out for informational purposes only. I read a lot about this and thought you may want to know how to plan for future work.
I hear all the time about people that aren’t getting paid, do you know what would help? Understanding that the SOW can be the document to get you paid! I have a free PDF that gives an overview of the SOW,free eBook,aSOW Overview. If you think it helps, then go ahead and make the investment for the SOW training package. Remember how important it is to get paid, define your work, and understand the change order process.
Let’s start with what is going on. The FCC release more air, that is bandwidth to raise money for the treasury and for FirstNet. Remember that FirstNet intends to spend $7 Billion, with a B, for their deployment. Now, this is a tremendous amount of money, but it probably won’t be enough to do what they want to do but I will get into that later. Let’s go over some acronyms. AWS = Advanced Wireless Services, pretty simple, right. EA = Economic Areas. CMA = Cellular Market Areas. Now, let’s break down the frequency allocation.
Block
Frequency
Bandwidth MHz
Area type
# of licenses
A1
1695 to 1700MHz
5
EA
176
B1
1700-1710MHz
10
EA
176
G
1755-1760/ 2155-2160
10 (2 channels X 5MHz)
CMA
734
H
176-1765/ 2160-2165
10 (2 channels X 5MHz)
EA
176
I
1765-1770/ 2165-2170
10 (2 channels X 5MHz)
EA
176
J
1770-1780/ 2170-2180
10 (2 channels X 10MHz)
EA
176
The FCC was hoping to raise $10 Billion but the bidding is over $40 Billion so far. This is good for the USA and paying some debt down as well as funding FirstNet without tax payer money. However, who is paying The carriers, they need to dish out this kind of money before sticking one antenna in the air. The government will get that money up front and then more money in the form of taxes on your cell phone bill, and they are higher than ever. (Once again, the government found a way to double dip, but that is another subject. But I am getting off point, sorry.) There are 70 companies bidding on this. This is the first auction since 2008. There is an incentive auction scheduled after this one.
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So, this is the knowledge you need to understand what it is, but how does it affect wireless deployment. Well, that is obvious, because the carriers will want to build ASAP. This will happen but not until the OEMs, like Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, and maybe others get the product together, the testing takes place, and then devices have to be made. So that would probably be 6 months to a year after the build. Then the fun begins, site acquisition and then deployment. So when this deployment happens it will likely be LTE Advanced. I am not sure if they will wait for 5G. So then the deployments happen with all of the Remote Radio Heads (RRH) being put on the towers. This is a lot of loading. I would imagine that 2G networks will be decommissioned soon. So that will definitely happen o make room for this. Then the 3G networks will start to be decommissioned, but that will take a long time, maybe 5 or more years. To put this into perspective, the carriers are mostly finishing up their current build. Sprint is still building out their Sprint Spark initiative but Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile should finish up in 2015. Then in 2016 I would expect things will start to heat up again. Remember that the carriers need to make the money back to show return on their investment. They also need the bandwidth because data is being used at an amazing rate. All customers ask for is more, more, and more. So how will they make their money back? Customers will need to pay for it and the deployment. It won’t be free to build but they must have a business plan to in place for payback. Just remember that the first place they will look to lower costs once again will be the climbers, fair warning.
Oh, by the way, FirstNet will also be ready to deploy early 2016, I hope, to get their network constructed. They have a huge task ahead of them because they committed to covering the continental US and all territories. That is a huge area. They also will be looking for partners. Will the carriers help out, who knows. What about Google? I think that would be the perfect partner because they could become a wireless carrier in a short time. Just my opinion! When FirstNet does build, it will be a lot of work all across the nation with the LTE build and the backhaul. The backhaul will be a combination of wireless and fiber, maybe both for redundancy.
So there it is, in about 18 months there will be deployment, beefing up towers, testing, optimizations, and more. Just in time to hear about the introduction of 5G. Then the upgrades will begin. Chances are the OEMs will be ready with mostly software updates but the antennas may have to be changed. Then 3G will be decommissioned.
So there should be plenty of work. Will the industry be ready to comply? Will the climbers have standard safety compliance? Will the schedules be reasonable? Will the tower crews get paid? We will have to wait and see.
Also, in audio and eBook formats get your copy ofTower Climbing: An Introductionso you can listen while you’re driving or too busy to read!
What are you thinking?
Listen, this is the time to support theHubble Foundationbecause they are looking after climbers and their families that can’t take care of themselves. When a climber gets hurt, they want to help. When a climber is stranded and needs help to get home, they are there. When a climber gets stuck somewhere because they won’t get paid, they are there. Would you want someone to help you out if that happened?
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So many people complain about not getting paid in this industry. One main point of contention is the change order. So how do you get paid for change orders? Well here are some ideas. By the way, I have some dialog in my podcast about the last post, Is It Time to Unionize Tower Climbers? that I didn’t write about here, just in case you’re interested. I had some things to say about the feedback I got.
Planning is key. You need to be sure you understand what your job is going to be. By this I mean the scope of the work. When you submit a bid, read the RFP or discuss the work with the customer. Read the SOW and modify it to match your assumptions and exclusions. You will need to match the desired outcome of the customer with the services you plan to do. Then you may move forward. Remember, you are in this to get paid for the work that you do! If you get paid for 20 hours of work but your crew works 40 hours, chances are good that you’re not making money, or at least making the margin you deserve.
Happy holidays everyone! Make sure you go to my Wade4Wireless products page where I have products to help tower climbers and deployment teams. Want to learn more about the SOW? I would like to give you the free eBook,aSOW Overview. If that helps you out then I have a tutorial outlining how to write and read a SOW in the SOW training package, The SOW defines how you get paid! It may outline how change orders are done. Remember, it’s your bottom line that matters! This is a business.
Also, in audio and eBook formats get your copy of Tower Climbing: An Introduction so you can listen while you’re driving or too busy to read!
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For the change order, the first thing you need to do is make sure the work being requested is outside of your scope of work (SOW). I just happen to have a tutorial on how to write and understand aSOW available here. Anyway, what you need to do is understand what work is defined in the SOW, and then you need to decide how far outside the boundary of that work you will go. For instance, if the customer asks you to do an additional 4 hour task, you may do it because they are a good customer and you want to help out, right. Brownie points go a long way in future work. That is if they don’t just put it out to the lowest bidder. If you work with customers that always put the work out to the lowest bidder, then there is no reason to do any work outside of the SOW. Then it will all be a change order.
If you can, put the change order process in the SOW. If not make sure you understand the customer’s change order process. You need to follow protocol so you get paid. If the change is something that is a one-off or very different from what you are used to, make sure that you know what the desired result should be so the customer can sign off on it and you get paid. If it is something that you do all the time then it should be straight forward, like if you need to install or move a dish and complete a link. Simple stuff, right?
I have had customers that really push the limit and ask for so much work that is out of scope. So what happens? If you do it then they expect it on all the jobs. That may be good if they throw you a lot of work. However, suddenly a 20 hour job may be 30 hours and you will lose margin and time on site. All things to be considered if you commit to do the work.
On the other hand, I have seen contractors that have a business plan of going in cheap and then requesting as many change orders as they can to make up the money they lost by being the lowest bidder. Many customers get sick of this, so there is a balance of what you could ask for and what you will get. It is better to prepare the customer up front rather than nailing them along the way with change orders they didn’t expect.
So, define the work and define, to your team, what you will do outside of the scope. That is priority one!
Then, define the change order. If the customer gives you a verbal, ask them for an email or PO so you have some proof that they authorized the work. If they want a paper document, then make sure you know that. You should have authorization. Who may authorize the work for the customer and the contractor. Just because you are on site doesn’t mean that you have the power of authorization. If it is something that they want done while you are at the site, define the work, determine or estimate the pay. Chances are if you need to do it while at the site you know what to do. Just make sure that someone gets more than a verbal authorization. An email is usually enough but a PO is even better. Many customers do not appear on the site for the job except to complete the punch list and inspections. They may pay time and materials, (T&M) this is quick and easy but in today’s world most people want a not to exceed number.
If the customer has a change order process, make sure you and the field personnel understand what that is. Make sure the customer has someone who can authorize the change order! All job site leads should know what the change order process is. If you have a process, make sure they understand what to do for that customer! Each customer may have a different process. It would be a good idea to understand that prior to starting the work.
When the work is completed, how will it be inspected? You will need to determine how to get paid. If you are installing something then they may not pay until the unit is tested and operational. If you are turning up a point to point link, then it is easy, the link is up and tested, then you send a bill. If it is a cell site, you have to wait until they integrate and test it. That may be in a week or in 3 months depending on the roll out. It may be beefing up the tower so they may need to see a complete closeout package. So then you should determine how long you need to wait for your money. Remember that the original Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) may apply. Make sure that when you write the SOW, you include a change order process or if the customer has a change order process get a good look at it and determine how the payment will be made. Making sure how to mark the job complete is how you will get paid, so then you will need to determine what marks the job as completed.
So make sure that you understand the change order process for your company and from the customer. Payment is what keeps you in business! You should get paid for the work you do and you should get paid for the additional work you do. Time is money, change orders take time, and you should get paid for them.
Be smart! Be safe! Pay attention! Make a plan, follow the plan, improve the plan and you should do fine.
Let me know, did this help? What do you think I should talk about next?
Please, please, please help the Hubble foundation. Don’t you want to support an injured tower climber’s family? Here’s how, click on the Hubble picture below and look for the donations button and give today!
Thank GOD for the Hubble Foundation! Click on the picture below to donate!
Get on iTunes for Wade4wireless then subscribe and write a review now! Just click on any ICON below!
Interested in products I have created for the tower climbers and wireless deployment, click on the pictures below to find out more!
I wanted to let everyone know that I will be at theIWCE conference in March, 2015. I will be on the“Tower Safety and Regulatory Compliance”panel on March 17th, 2015, starting at 1PM local time. It is in Las Vegas at the convention center. Click on any of the BLUEwords for more. There will be an impressive group who I am honored to share the stage with. I will be up there withCory Crenshawof Crenshaw Communications, Charles Ryanof Concept To Operations, Inc,Dr. Denis Boulais of Bytecan Pty Ltd, andRobert Johnsonof Narda Safety Test Solutions. My track will be sponsored byAGL Magazine. If you can make sure you go to see what is happening with today’s wireless communications systems. I feel honored to be selected to be on the panel. So if you can think of anything I should be talking about, then let me know below.
Go to Wade4Wireless products page where I have product links. and an audiobook for the eBook. If it helps, download the free eBook for aSOW Overviewfor more information.The Scope of Work training, SOW training package, I made for you to understand how the SOW will affect your payments and bottom line as well as the customer and safety requirements. The SOW is your key to getting paid and to defining change orders! Because you asked for an audio book I put the Tower Climbing: An Introduction in audio so you can listen while you’re driving or too busy to read! Hey, don’t forget to sign up for my monthly newsletter over there on the top right. > > >
Comment: I appreciate the comment about working on the beacon on top of a mast. Like so many other precarious situations on a tower, a small rail around the mast to stand on and one around the beacon to hook off on is easily designed and manufactured—-unless it is required to support a 5,000# load as OSHA requires. On the drug issue, there are a very high percentage of tower hands that use drugs. There is an even higher percentage that drink excessively, but not on the job. If accurate statistics existed, which they don’t, they would reveal that there are very few fatalities caused by someone being high or drunk. There are more accidents attributed to stupid than intoxicants, and there are a lot of hands that are stupid even when they are sober. I watched the video of you with Kelly Hill and I totally disagree with you on the use of capstans on a tower job. To begin with, you have to use a fiber rope with a capstan, not a wire rope. The statistics will show that there are numerous fatalities caused by ropes breaking, but not wire ropes. Fiber ropes are good for a tag-line or a trolley, but certainly not for hoisting loads up and down a tower. I can cite four accidents where ropes broke that caused the death of twelve people. The accident you referred to where the five men were killed was the 2,000′ Senior Road project in Houston. The men were riding the top half of the FM mast dressed out with the panel FM antenna. I think the load got too close to the tower and hung up which caused the picking channel across the face to fail. The load fell and hit the guy wire causing the whole tower to come down. I was hired as an expert witness by the firm representing Harris is why I am so familiar with this accident. Riding the winch line is safe!!! Much safer than free climbing and every job that requires the hoisting and lowering of antennas and/or mounts should be rigged with a wire rope.
Response: I called this guy and he is amazing. He is a big fan of winches, but only if you use cable versus rope. That is where I got the idea for the blog “Rope Versus Steel Cable for Hoists”. We also talked aboutmy video with Kelly Hill of RCRand he mentioned that the thing he disagreed with was the way I mentioned the safety of the winches. I made it clear that only a larger hoist should be used for man loads and he agreed. Now, as far as the accidents go, he knew so much about many of them. I plan to talk to him more in the future.
Comment: Wade; Scheduling is most definitely a problem, and a serious one. Unless you have been there and suffered in extreme conditions, you cannot fully comprehend the difficulty in working in subfreezing temperatures in a 15 or so mph wind. When you are in the midst of work on one of these days, you cannot help but wonder why this job wasn’t scheduled two months earlier or two months later. And you are not receiving any additional compensation for your suffering, and if you so chose, you could be at home in a warm house with your family—-maybe sort of like the bodily orifice that scheduled this project. When that anger starts building up inside, it doesn’t take much of a reason for a man to suggest to his boss to “just take this job and shove it.” If you don’t have a foreman with great leadership skills to keep this project under control, which means leading, not pushing, this job is going to go bad real quick. And when it stalls, nobody ever thinks of blaming the scheduler, they always blame the contractor and the crew. I learned early in my career the difficulty of working in extreme conditions and I have always made every effort toavoid putting a crew up north in the winter. I have a famous quote that I use when scheduling jobs, it’s “If you’re gonna be stupid, you gotta be tough.” I could write for hours telling stories about winter in the north without informing anyone of anything that they didn’t already know. I don’t really think the professional people who organize and schedule the jobs even care.
Response: Been there and done that, it is a tough job! I would bet that so many people have stories where they didn’t know how much they could take in the weather until they did it.
Comment: Thanks for this article with a high level approach to analyzing costs and benefits of small cell deployment. It raises more questions for me ultimately, and that is a good thing! I appreciate your work and insight, thanks!
Response: Thank you sir!
Comment: #4 small cell = small power demand. Depending on the load, duty cycle and site location an off-grid solar electric system could be the small footprint economical power solution rather than the minimum 100A service expense.
Comment: Enjoyed the article. It is very timely for me. Having serious problems getting paid. Company/worker loyalty in an unbiased format would be a good article also if not already done.
Response: Thank you! It’s a shame that even today people are not getting paid for the work that they do. Why is it that loyalty to the people working so hard can dissipate so quickly?
Comment: Just left a company 2 months ago for lowering my per diem from $600 to $500 per week. And had us on a 40hr. Week salary working 60 – 80 + hrs. A week. And only got home every 2 or so months.
Response: This is often the case when they try to make tower climbers salary. So many times the way companies raise margin is to screw the worker. That is very common in the industry. If it happens to you I would look elsewhere like this guy did, it is only a matter of time until they start making more cuts.
Response: Good point! Solar would be awesome! If the physical footprint would remain small with the batteries I see it as a viable solution.
Comment: Wade, Reminds me of the stories we hear constantly with tower tech’s where they had to finish work started in the early morning and ended after dark. The real part of the story is they had to drive 5 hours before and after the climb! This is plain dangerous! Completion bonuses, etc, etc, are nice to get your sub’s to hustle but would you like to explain to a jury why you had people in dangerous jobs working these hours?
Response: I agree, sometimes the worker put in such long hours and no one cares because they feel the work is more important and the customer may not know what the worker is going through. The workers need representation in the company.
Comment: Very good Mr. Wade, hope we get a Congressman to help us. The situation should be better for a person who chooses to work in this field! Thank you!
Response: I think that the FCC working with DOL should help by creating TIRAP. It is still voluntary but it’s a start. This is a chance for the government to recognize the seriousness of the climbing industry hazards.
Comment: I have been in the industry for 12 years, each year it get worse for tower hands… this industry makes more money than it knows what to do with and what they need to realize is this technology isn’t going to put itself up on any tower, water tank, or roof top without the tower hands that do it… appreciate your employees and treat them better… give better pay, appropriate per diem, and most of all better hours… the majority of tower workers have families, think about that when you go home to yours everyday and you have several crews that only see theirs 8 weeks out the year…… if that…….. so when you get on your cell phone to make your next call think about the guys that sacrifice so much for you to be able to enjoy that luxury and think about what they endure to provide you that luxury
Response: Like I said before, so many companies think that to raise margin they need to cut per diem and employee salaries. It is common. I guess the CFO that is sitting in his office that gets to work from 9 to 5 and go home every night to his family makes the decision that the tower crew who leaves Monday and won’t get home Friday night should skip meals. I guess they forget that physical work as well as engineering might burn a few calories each day. I guess they determined that they can always find more grunts. Good luck with that strategy. I have learned that it pays to take care of your employees, but there are so many people who just stay at a company because it’s a job and they don’t want to leave, no matter how bad the company treats them.
Comment: We have been blessed to be able to work with customers and vendors that have created a loyalty around what we do. We for the first time have really felt the issues of low bidder and the companies that go out of business one day and start again tomorrow. We hope that our customers will determine that it is not a low bid industry and will continue to give us a chance to do work and be profitable. The 3rd party companies and now the equipment providers have created hard times for the small company trying to keep up with increased pricing pressure and hard to find quality staff. They know they can stop us from taking work by buying a competitor and lowering their prices to push us out. Small business can only grow with the help of our customers. We need them to demand companies to have experienced employees and not just how many crews you can come up with. We have to stop the companies and owners which have failed multiple times but keep doing work. We know these are the companies that have made the industry unsafe and less profitable for the hard-working small businesses. Have a safe Thanksgiving.
Response: Thank you and I hope you had a great Thanksgiving as well. This is a great thought, I would like to think this is where the industry is headed, quality over quantity. Some helpful links below.
Please, please, please help the Hubble foundation. Don’t you want to support an injured tower climber’s family? Here’s how, click on the Hubble picture below and look for the donations button and give today! Thank GOD for the Hubble Foundation!
Get on iTunes for Wade4wireless then subscribe and write a review now! Just click on any ICON below!
Interested in products I have created for the tower climbers and wireless deployment, click on the pictures below to find out more!
More in-depth information is on the podcast! Search on iTunes for Wade4wireless and write a review now!
Topics covered:
Lowest bidder wins, even if they have to cross 3 states to do the work. So many times a tower crew will pass the local crew to do a job. We can’t figure out why one crew can do something for less with the same equipment but traveling farther to do it. What are they not spending money on? Could it be safety gear and training? We really can’t figure that out.
Tower workers are often away from home for 1 to many weeks at one time during a deployment. This job wears people down, affects their family life and their attitudes. It can cause depression and anger issues. Family stress causes so many problems with people. When you are trying to support your family and they resent you for being away, it becomes a painful conundrum.
Deployment speeds are making a difference, crews struggle to keep up with the rate that deployments are moving. Wally brought up that every time he would be on the phone with a foreman/PM/customer they would always end with, “You will be done today, right?” This goes without saying when you look at Kathy Pierce’s story about her some Chad Weller who was ordered to climb in a harness that didn’t fit. Dangerous conditions and wrong equipment make for a disastrous result. Here you have attitudes and deadline that pressure people to make poor decisions. Gette mentioned how many people wanted to refuse to climb but when their paycheck was dangled over their head because the customer/foreman would say they would just find someone else and it would be the last job you would do, climbers feel the pressure to do it. Most times things turn out OK, what about when they don’t? It usually ends badly and then all you have is fingers pointing, OSHA investigating, and lawyers hushing everyone.
Workers and contractors not getting paid. Just because the lowest bidder wins doesn’t mean that the crew will get paid. This is all too common in the industry. Many people are just not paying an agreed to price. This corruption in the industry must stop. It is not only affecting the well-being of the workers, the crews, the safety of people, but causes most people to look at the tower industry with a despicable taste in their mouth. This was one thing that Liz Day brought up, that the other biggest complaint in the industry was not getting paid. The problem with this complaint is proving it. Not many people hiring subs will want to open their books!
Layers upon layers of contractors. Why is it that there can be so many layers of workers between the customer and the actual crew doing the work? This creates problems. Liz Day mentioned that when you search the OSHA database that you never see one death from American Tower, AT&T, nor and large contractor like B&V, because they hire the smaller contractors that pay the price. The larger guys may have their own climbers but mostly for maintenance, not large deployments. What is something bad happens? Then the customer can simply say, the contract says the lowest bidder should be safe. Meanwhile, today they are asking for proof of training and certification, which is a great thing. What about customer safety inspections? That would really help and I believe someone brought that up, either Wally or Craig, can’t remember which one, but they said that AT&T made enough money where they could randomly inspect the work at the site. I will tell you from experience that they inspect the final work with their punch lists. This affects payment, and there is always something that need repaired to delay payment, been there and done that. Final inspection is a key component to getting paid. So in this case the ends will justify the means. When that terrible decapitation happened this year Verizon Wireless stepped in to help with the process because no one else knew what to do. That was the right thing to do. They showed that they care and that they wanted to take action.
Working on the road really wears on some people. When they spend weeks on the road and it shows how their attitudes become different. Each person responds differently. Some get depressed while others get angry and some people become party animals. Why is this? Well, they didn’t bring this up but think of “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding. Some people become a product of your surroundings meaning if they have a strong leader they will maintain but if the leader is a party animal then peer pressure could play into your actions. Remember that these crews are together, all day and all night. It becomes the family and someone in the crew will be the role model for the younger and more impressionable people. There are exceptions to every rule, but the odds are against most of them.
This was brought up – Tower climbing is being formalized int he education system. Aiken Technical College received a $2.45 million grant from the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training competitive grant program for the expansion of the College’s nationally unique Tower Installation training program. This program is supported by the DOL and the DOE.
Commitment – Leaders gave their commitment to helping this cause! Leaders high up like the Honorable Thomas Wheeler of the FCC, Honorable Thomas Perez the Secretary of Labor, Dr David Michaels of OSHA, and Jonathon Adelstein president of PCIA offered to give their full commitment to this cause in full support of Scott Kisling the TIRAP chair to make sure that this program gets wheels! The rubber meets the road and the tires started rolling!
You – Here is where you can be the engine to insure this program has full success. Members of NATE have the ability to make a difference and support each other. Let’s make sure we monitor the industry! Let’s make this program go forward and offer our support. We can only make a difference if we not only support the program, but each other by caring for what happens a year from not. Compassion is contagious, let’s make sure it spreads throughout the industry, from the climber to the foreman to the crew owners to the project managers to the customers! It will take more than a team effort to make this safe, it will take an industry full of compassion to insure true success, ZERO point ZEROcasualties! Do you want to make a difference in this industry, here is your chance! Just say no to unnecessary risks, to dangerous work, to crazy demands. Be realistic and work as a team not only within your company but across the industry. We may be competitors in business but we have the opportunity to stand united. The tower climber can only be strong as an industry. Make a difference and stand for good work ethic, smart working, good ethics, and safe work environments!
Soon I will release my training for the SOW and more, to build your library of basic knowledge so you can advance in your job and the industry! My books will help teach someone the basics of tower work.
Part 1 – I had to break it down to prevent this from becoming a book. Part 2 will be out soon!
I had a great time, the only thing that would have made it better is free candy. I got to meet many superstars in the industry like Gette Hester, Liz Day, Art Pregler, Wally Rearden, and Todd Schlekeway. I got to discuss business with Doug Lee and a few others. I have to tell you that the wireless industry has so many good people in it. I could go on but I think that most of you would like to hear some feedback on the speakers, so let me move right into my feedback on what each person said.
Quick update – apparently I had everything wrong on the recent water tank fall, the family of the climber reached out to me to straighten me out. I will correct it but I really wanted to finish this first. I am updating the blog and will update the podcast out of respect for the family.
They had a lot of speakers, so I am going to fly through some of them. Now remember that this is my opinion of what each one said, my opinion! If you want more of what I thought, then listen to my podcast. I will have an extended version of each on there. More information is available athttp://www.fcc.gov/events/workshop-tower-climber-safety-and-injury-protectionif you want to see what they have first hand.
These people are making a difference in the industry. The measuring stick will come in 1 year, to see if the industry can shape up. Every one of you in wireless deployment can play a part to make this the safest industry if you only can be smart, be safe, and pay attention. Correct the problems.
More in-depth information is on the podcast! Search on iTunes for Wade4wireless and write a review now!
Roger C. Sherman, Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, FCC – The opening remarks by Chief Roger Sherman of the FCC was a good start, got us off on the right foot.
David Michaels, PhD, MPH, Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA – Dr Michaels kicked it off with his speech on how most of the accidents out there were preventable. Dr Michaels committed to doing everything he could to make sure the industry is as safe as it possibly can be with
Kathy Pierce, Hubble Foundation – Then came Kathy and she brought the room to tears with her memory of how things happened the day she lost her son. She opened up about her son’s accident. She recounted that terrible day and how that accident should never have happened. This woman poured her heart out in front of a group of people who needed to hear it. This was enough to make you realize that change in necessary to prevent this from ever happening again! She recounted that horrible day when her son went up on that water tower in a wrong size harness only to never go home that night. It makes you realize that the people who get hurt or die in something like this aren’t the only people who suffer! The families of these people pay a dear price in loss and suffering. Many of them never get the answers they deserve.
Dave Anthony, Shenandoah Tower Service – Boy, if someone like Dave ran every company I don’t think there would ever be an accident in the industry again! This guy took the safety and policies that he was able to implement in his company and shared them this group. He firmly believes that change needs to come from the top down. From the owners down to the climber. The attitude around the way that policies are laid out and given to the climber need to be more than writing in an employee handbook but preached on a daily basis. The climber needs to know that the leaders care as much as they do!
Liz Day, City University of New York (CUNY) – to refresh your memories, Liz did the expose when she worked with Propublica, links here and here and here and here. This woman is a statistical machine! She talked about what she learned in the stories she got from people in the industry. She also pointed out that tracing the death and accidents in the industry was very hard because you can’t look at the carriers, like AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless, nor can you look at Black and Veatch and Bechtel, because the tower crews are very small companies, they are working for a contractor that when an accident happens the groups up the food chain simply pass it off as “Not my problem!”. She told a story about how one person’s family tried to sue one of the carriers only to lose because they were removed from the work and had statements in their contracts about safety.
Bridgette Hester, Hubble Foundation – If you are reading this then you probably know Gette and her work with the Hubble Foundation. She had a presentation which you can get here. Gette explained the toll that these workers have just doing the job and traveling so much. So many workers are on the road and already have strained family lives. This causes distractions in the field when they start to worry about what is going on at home or how they missed their child’s first steps. It can become such a distraction that worked don’t pay attention, become angry, or very depressed.
Wallace Reardon, Workers at Heights Health and Safety Initiative – Wally is a pretty outspoken guy that speaks his mind and he had a presentation which you can find here. Wally also brought up the fact that just because most climbers talk about safety, many do not practice what they preach. He mentioned how he would go to tower sites where work is being done only to find out that speed was more important than safety. Even recently he noticed that climbers are working faster with safety playing second fiddle to the deadline. Wally repeatedly said how most project managers or job leads would always end their conversation with the statement, “you will be done today, right?” This was to hammer home that they cared more about the deadline than anything else. Time and money are the priority, with safety becoming an inconvenience and afterthought. One more thing, Wally mentioned how angry most climbers get when they are away from home so long. I believe it was Wally that brought up how one of them even got suicidal due to a family crisis.
Jonathan Campbell, PCIA – OK, first let me say this was the youngest looking guy in the room! I thought maybe he was fresh out of college. I know he is not that young, but when he is my age he will still look like he is in his 20s! Now, with that said, it is great that PCIA is getting involved and that they will get the carriers to push the safety agenda! To have the PCIA represent the carriers in this effort to save lives should really help the carriers become an active participant in industry reform since they provide so much work.
John Johnson, Black & Veatch – John gave a pretty good opening speech that I really appreciated. He mentioned how B&V did all the safety training and yet they were still having problems in the field. The one thing that they had to implement was training on how to do the job. Then they started adding training for the tasks as well as the safety training and they started to see improvement. Listen, I have been no fan of B&V in the past because of the competition, but I have to admit what John said made a lot of sense. He said B&V put together a training plan that would cover the worker’s job as well as their safety needs. It really made sense.
Craig Lekutis, WirelessEstimator.com – What can I say, Craig is a smart guy and it was great to hear what he had to say. He covered the stats and the climber’s plight in the field. This guy is in touch with the climbers and mentioned how many times the climber is pushed to meet the schedule.
Art Pregler, AT&T – Art gave a speech on how AT&T is setting new safety standards for the industry from the customer perspective. They are working with these other groups to make sure that the safety message becomes a standard in any deployment. Art mentioned how they are working with NATE to improve climber’s safety from day one of the job.
Paul Roberts, American Tower – Let me tell you, Paul can talk, this guy was fun to listen to and he made some good points. He mentioned that ATC does have climbers that take safety very seriously. These climbers under Paul’s watch have the right to not only stop work but to throw anyone off of the tower that is not actively 100% tied off. He also mention how he was trying to work with other tower owners to make sure all safety standards are practices while they are on watch. To do this we need a solid standard in place that all tower owners can agree on. If they truly can be the safety guardians of the towers. Paul brought up how there are several standards to be followed in this industry. He also recommended that we all read MIL-STD-882, I found 882E online here.
Todd Schlekeway, NATE – Todd was there and had a good speech but the most important thing, to me, is when Todd mentions that NATE is working on a consolidated safety standard for the tower industry. Why is this so important? Because it would unite all of the other standards for everyone in the industry to work from. To me, this would be a very important step in uniting the industry, especially if all agencies could adopt it and follow it. Then the companies would adopt it and follow it.
Scott Kisting, TIRAP Chair – Scott gave a rousing speech about TIRAP, a program which is reality and was christened at this event. That is making this a historic event. This is why this event happened. This is why the people in this industry are working together.
Jonathan S. Adelstein, President, PCIA, and Former FCC Commissioner – Jonathon gave his commitment to the effort moving forward. He mentioned how PCIA would like to make wireless deployment move ahead safely and smoothly. If he can convince the carriers to work with their contractors to insure safety, then we can really expect the carriers to carry some of the burden. That would really help the industry in this time of need.
Hon. Thomas E. Wheeler, Chairman, FCC – Mr. Wheeler was kind enough not only to make this event, give a speech, but show his support for the tower workers in the USA. This speech was something that should make all of the climbers be appreciated that the FCC commissioner is taking the time and resources to propose changes for the climbing personnel in the industry. The commissioner expects to see improvement in not only the fatality rate, but the accident rate seen among climbers. I believe he was reinforcing his commitment to the wireless deployment teams everywhere by supporting this initiative.
Hon. Thomas E. Perez, Secretary of Labor – The Department of Labor has always been committed to worker safety. I believe that, thanks to Mr. Perez and the efforts of Dr Michaels, that the TIRAP program has full support of the DOL and will be used as a measuring tool for all climbing companies to follow. By working with the FCC and private industry Mr. Perez has worked diligently to provide a brighter future for the wireless deployment teams across the USA.
You, the tower worker, foreman, crew owner, project manager – You didn’t think I forgot about you, the crews and companies that could not make this event did you? You play a key part in this effort! I took a vacation day, spent my own money to be there, just to keep all of you informed, so don’t let me down or the industry down! If you thought it was all about the people who showed up on October 14th, 2014, then you didn’t pay attention. Listen – here is where you can make a serious dent in the industry. I know we always say safety is an attitude, but its work! It’s money! It takes time! It is a team effort, and you, the tower crew owner, foreman, project manager, and the tower climber have the best chance to make this work! Don’t just ignore this or say it was done in Washington DC and that you have had no say! Take it seriously and make an effort!
OK, I gave you my feedback on each speaker. I bet you’re asking, will this initiative work? Are you willing to work to support this initiative? Well that is up to you, isn’t it? This isn’t the seat-belt law where the cops will be waiting to find you on the highway and give you a ticket so you can survive a crash. OSHA will be watching but they don’t have the resources that most police departments do. They are forced to come in after the accident and determine why it happened and make sure it won’t happen again. They will start to monitor accidents after the fact. If you want to prevent them from showing up, then make sure that you are accident free by following all the safety practices you can. Will you make sure that there are no more accidents, at least in your watch? Or will you say it’s somebody else’s job and that you have no control or that someone made you do something stupid. Maybe it’s time for you to take responsibility for your actions in your company.
If someone gets hurt, it has a huge ripple effect. If someone gets hurt under your watch then who is to blame? This program will require all of you, from the top down and from the bottom up to pay attention. Can you do that? Listen, accidents will still happen, but maybe we can reduce stupidity and arrogance.
I know so many climbers complaining about so many things. What if we all focused in the safety factor here, end to end? What if we take a moment to look at what is in our control? You are a climber then inspect you equipment, and know what the SOW says. If you are the foreman then did you set realistic expectations for the work and the schedule? If you are the project manager do you understand the time line and the limitations of the worker? If you run the crew did you put your worker’s well being first by providing them the tools, the gear, and the time they need to do the job safely and right? If you are the customer did you hire a crew you trust to follow and enforce safety practices and get paid? If you are the GC, did you make sure all your crews have been vetted properly and paid on time? How can you expect the crew to work safely when they don’t get paid?
You see, it’s not all on one person or one department. It takes an industry to act as a team. It takes effort on your part. It takes cooperation, communication, dedication and caring. Do you care? We will see a year from now, won’t we?
I want you to think about something, when the San Francisco Bay Bridge was built, an acceptable death rate was one life for every million dollars spent,link here and scroll down to 1933.There were 28 fatalities building that bridge. Do you know what the acceptable fatality rate is today? Zero point zero!
I will have a part 2 on this soon. It is too long for one post.
Soon I will release my training for the SOW and more, to build your library of basic knowledge so you can advance in your job and the industry! So feel free to buy one of my books and maybe they will help you learn something that you didn’t know or teach someone who needs to know.
Hello everybody! First off, if you didn’t see there is a warning sent out about a safety climb.Capital Safetyput out a press release that their 3/8” 7X19 strand galvanized cable, also known as “Safety Climb System” could have slippage issues. All the more reason to tie off 100% even when using a safety climb. Read the notice, I have the linehere. While not a recall it is a warning so read the document so you understand what is going on. Does anyone remember that not long ago there recently was asnap hooks recall?
Today I am going to discuss the Scope of Work, SOW, for all of you who just go out and do what you’re told. It would be a great idea for everyone who is at the site the review the SOW. I am working on a book that reviews all of the paperwork that the tower worker will be dealing with.
The SOW will have the outline of the job. It should be put together so that you know what duties are required of you. For instance you will need to know what you are installing. You will be putting in just the equipment on the tower or both the base station and the tower. If you are installing microwave, what is your responsibility? Are you doing the installation and the alignment? What are you doing?
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Where are you working? This should be part of the SOW as a site list. The site list is a separate document that you will be working with but it should be attached to the SOW as an addendum.
What parts do you need? You should have a Bill of Materials, BOM, as an attachment. This is very important because if you pick up the parts at the warehouse and don’t review the BOM, guess who’s fault it is if you miss something. YOU! YOU! YOU! If you miss a part that is on the BOM and you don’t get it, you messed up. Make sure when you hit the staging warehouse you look at the BOM and check off each part you need. If you are doing the install and you need a part that is not on the BOM, guess what, it’s the customers charge and a change order so you can charge for the labor and part to add it. However, if your people put a clause in the SOW that says you will supply miscellaneous parts, then you need to define miscellaneous parts. Why does this matter, because your customer will consider 200’ of #2 copper as miscellaneous and you may have meant zip ties and vapor seal, that’s why! If you’re asking what the difference is, the maybe you should look for a new line of work. Don’t be an airhead!
So, when I put my package together I will explain the SOW and I will give you an example and I will give you audio to talk about it. I should have something out here in the next 2 weeks or so. I am putting together something for all of the paperwork so everyone can get on the same page and understand what to look for and how to write the SOW. I just need to complete it and I will put it out to you guys.
Now, I have 2 feedback statements I want to share.
Feedback on tower owners:
First off, I have to take back what I said about American Tower not inspecting sites annually. I heard back from one of their people and he told me that at a minimum they inspect the towers annually. He knew the FCC lighting regulations inside and out but he said that with or without light, they make it to every tower at least once a year. That is awesome! Think about it, they have over 28,000 towers in the USA according tohttp://www.americantower.com/corporateus/investor-relations/. From what I hear they are on top of site inspections. So if something is wrong at the site, maybe you should let them know.
Feedback on Training:
OK, this is great to hear that someone would send their people to IRATA training to improve safety. Here is the statement, “Hi Wade, we got IRATA certified so we could deal with wide face towers safely. Now we use roped access on many jobs that don’t strictly speaking require it as it’s a safer alternative to relying on fall arrest and once the ropes are rigged often many more times efficient too :)” This is awesome and it’s nice to see some super responsible people out there! This came from the UK by the way, they go the extra mile!
It appears that a professional climber out there is happy that TIRAP is happening. This man is willing to help create the climbers bible, how cool is that. Here is the statement, “Finally! Now we might even be recognized for the skilled work we do under VERY hazardous conditions on a daily basis. Now, maybe the green guys will understand that 2 yrs. DOESN’T make you a professional yet. But, give it time and actually LEARN from older and more experienced guys. It’s all in the details. I’d like to collaborate with anyone interested in writing a “climbers bible”. Let me tell you something, when you climb for 10 years you begin to learn something. However, you need to keep a good positive attitude. Here is someone who I am going to reach out to so we can collaborate on putting more information out there.
Just to be fair, I did get plenty of negative feedback saying that the industry does not need to follow TIRAP nor do they need to issue this directive. I am surprised by how many people think this is a bad idea. Someone reminded me that this is a recommendation and it is not a requirement. I look at this as a step in the right direction. I am shocked that so many people see this as a bad thing, what a shame. The industry cries for change and improvement and now that it is being recognized and improved it seems people are angry about change. I get it, there are many good tower crews, safe and without incident, but for every 10 safe crews there’s probably at least one crew that just won’t follow the safety practiced recommended just because it costs too much. OSHA just caught someone who didn’t follow thesafe climb rules, Morlan Enterprises got a $52K fine on July of 2014. Go ahead and take chances and see if OSHA cares or if the whistle-blower rules matter. Whistle blower fact sheet here!OSHA is your friend, the FCC is your friend, and they are here to help. While we may not always agree with them, in the end they are really here to make our lives safer and better.
Tell me what you think!
Other notes:
I have been talking to Bridgette Hester who is working diligently to make theHubble Foundation do as much as possible. She just awarded another scholarship award to Carrie Plants, who lost her husband Daniel Plants back in 2007. This is part of theWidow’s Fundthat Gette has created. For all of you climbers out there let us not forget the fallen, they may be gone but they are not forgotten! Let’s all say it together, “Way to go Gette, Way to GO!” She sis so much with passion, just one woman, than most groups could do.
By the way, NATE started theTower Family Foundationand they already have $400,000, yes, $400K to give out to tower climbers families. I can’t wait to see where the money is going to go, that seems to be the one thing we are waiting for. They can do so much good for all the families we lost in the past 2 years!
Next podcast I interview a SPRAT 3 level trained climbing instructor Todd Horning of Safety One, cool guy and passionate about safety and rope access! His information is here.
2 books!
“Tower Climbing: An Introduction” is for the new tower climber, the green hand, to understand that will be expected.
“Field Worker’s Aid for Tower Work” is a handy aid to help out when you are at the site.
You may expand to other jobs in the industry. This can be the beginning of a great career path in the wireless industry. Whether you decide to keep climbing or find another opportunity, the industry is large and growing!
I am going to go over the HetNet, what it is, and how it will mean more work for the entire industry. I have more information in the podcast but I do ramble a bit. I also put come rigging and cling videos at the end of the blog. The first video is really good at explaining how slings are made and the difference between them Please take the time to look at them. No, I am not promoting anyone, I just thought it was a good overview of slings and Jim Steele did a great job. My opinion!
OK, so what is a HetNet? Well, Wikipedia definition is here. Let me break it down for you and explain.HetNet is short for Heterogeneous Network which when you break it down in the wireless world it would be a combination of connecting Macro and Micro cells and several technologies into one network to create a better overall network. That would include LTE, CDMA, and Wi-Fi. Just think that several different devices all working together combining different technologies into one beautiful seamless network! Look up HetNet and you see it’s a combination of Macro, pico, and femto cells. Multiple systems, multiple frequencies, and multiple technologies all working in one harmonious system so you can play Angry Birds on your smart phone. LTE, CDMA, and Wi-Fi, all working to make sure that you can use your phone to look up directions to the nearest bar.
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What does this mean to the wireless deployment industry? Billions of dollars from carriers and Public Safety. In the USA I am hoping that FirstNet realizes that if they deploy Macro and Micro together they will be starting with a better network giving better coverage. Why not build the best network possible from day one? If you have time read thisarticle from Mission Critical. It shows you that the small cell deployment will really start to get rolling. They expected more in 2014, but there are too many deployment issues to be worked out. I think that most of the research people totally overlook deployment and backhaul. They need to understand that Site Acquisition and backhaul will be similar to that of a cell site. It is not going to be quick and easy. It needs to be well thought out and designed and cost-effective. All three are hard to align.
So what does this mean to the tower worker, the tower technician, the field engineer? Well, it will mean more work. The small cell deployment will create a good bit of work for the deployment people. It will be large deployments for work that probably won’t be more that 15′ off of the ground. It will also be changes to the antennas and equipment on the towers. This is going to shape the industry as we know it.The tower work will not only include improvements to antennas, but the outdoor units, the RRH or RRU, will be improved, changes, fiber will be run on the tower, like it is now, and will the primary cable used. The Hybriflex cable and how it will be common place. Then, to make the network complete, the small cells will complement the network. The wireless worker who has the fiber skills and understands antennas will be the one who has the experience to terminate fiber, understand azimuth, and power up the unit to make sure it is installed correctly and working properly. Make sure you have the proper training and you will bid on the work and hopefully win the large deployments locally. There will be a lot of work so if you win in your hometown, great. I don’t see people traveling far to do this work so this is a great opportunity for you to get some local work. It should only take 2 people to do this work.
Just because it is smaller and lighter doesn’t mean you should not think about safety! You need to know about ladder safety while you are there. Also, remember that you will be on the street and in businesses and malls. What I mean is you will be around people who will complain if you talk like you talk at the tower. This means limit the swear words, specifically the F word because if there are complaints that get back to the carriers then they will remove you from the bid list for something stupid. Trust ,me, I know. I had complaints about one of my crews that took hours of apologies to many people who I had to personally deal with because the crew forgot that “normal” people were around. Be safe and be courteous. Think about the people around you when you are working. For more on ladder safety go to OSHA Ladder Safety Quick Card.
Anyone who thinks we don’t have dead spots must live in an awesome area because I still drop calls on the highways and in the cities and in my house. Maybe it’s just me, right? So when you look at the HetNets being deployed, currently by AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless you will see that the changes and upgrades to the networks are massive. They are not only going to repair dead-zones but improve the download capabilities of the devices. Someday they may compete with the cable companies for internet access.
So who will deploy a HetNet? Everyone! It is a combination of Macro work by the tower climbers and the Small Cell deployment people rolling out the large numbers. Small cell deployment will be broken down into 2 segments including indoor and outdoor. Indoor should be very straight forward where you deploy several in a building or a mall but it still takes RF design and site engineering and backhaul. However, then you will have a stadium where you will have a mix of indoor and outdoor. This is where the engineering will really be precise. Not only the RF engineering, but you will have site design and backhaul that will be taken into consideration.
Small Cells will really improve coverage to the customers who will appreciate having not only a good connection but also great download speeds. Ubiquitous coverage will be closer than ever, at least in populated areas. It will really start to become a solid reality that we have wireless coverage no matter where you are at in populated areas. HetNet will become the norm in the industry. I don’t think the OEMs and carriers look at it with any curiosity now; they are looking to roll it out.
What do you think about this or what I should do next?
I kept this short; more in the podcast, here are some links.
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. This can be the beginning of a great career path in the wireless industry.
I am not sure if you saw but OSHA issued some citations. Here is some information.
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S&S Communication Specialists, Inc has a serious citation for the way in which they removed the diagonals. This is all for the accident at the tower site that was at 9141 Murphy Rd, Clarksburg, WV. Proposed penalty #1 is $7,000 for not using temporary braces or supports. Citation #2 is another “Serious” citation for the attachment of personal fall arrest equipment not capable of supporting at least 5,000 lbs. Issued on July 23rd. Total of $14,000 for both citations. S&S has 15 days from July 23rd to respond.
If you remember back on Feb 1st that 2 workers and a firefighter died when 2 towers collapsed, Kyle Kirkpatrick, 32, from Hubert, Ok, and Terry Lee Richard, 27, of Bokoshe, Ok. May they rest in peace. Also, a firefighter that was called to the scene also died when a second tower collapsed during the rescue attempt. He was Michael Dale Garret, 28, if the Nutter Fort firefighter of Clarksburg, WV. May he rest in peace.
I am reading in one article, WBOY.com that they account for 9 deaths in 2014 attributed to tower work.
So what are you going to do? Make sure you can do the work if necessary!
What do you think of the citations? Let me know ASAP! Don’t tell me you can’t reach out to me!Facebook, wade4wireless@gmail.com or leave a comment or leave a message at 510-516-4283
Remember that theHubble Foundation needs your support. 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?
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. Show me you care, Facebook, wade4wireless@gmail.com or leave a comment or leave a message at 510-516-4283
