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Tower Worker Falls 115 Feet to Death
Palm Beach County authorities said a technician working on a cell phone tower fell about 115 feet to his death. The sheriff's office reports that 36-year-old Clinton Waters was working on a T-Mobile cell tower in Lake Worth when he fell, just after noon on Tuesday. Palm Beach County Fire Rescue responded and pronounced Waters dead at scene. It's not clear why Waters fell, but authorities are still investigating.
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The 14th Annual Conference & Exposition at the Gaylord Opryland™ Resort & Convention Center Nashville, TN.
Tower manufacturers and owners are seemingly unaffected by stagnant economy.
January 16, 2009 - Noted industry analyst Clayton Moran, of the Stanford Group Company, believes that that two of the largest wireless companies, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, are unlikely to pull back on wireless spending - AT&T because of the launch of the iPhone and the resulting network demands, and Verizon because they are historically very steady in building out their network. Therefore the two biggest wireless companies are unlikely to reduce capital expenditures. As such, he doubts that the tower growth outlook will change, a position taken by the three public tower company executives.
Another Tower technician fatality.
September 16, 2008 - A Bonney Lake tower technician fell to his death from a tower in Port Angeles, Washington while performing a night cut.
Authorities say 33-year old Jeremy Combs died just after midnight last Friday when he fell from the tower on top of the Elks building in downtown Port Angeles. Combs was about 40 feet up the tower when he fell. According to Port Angeles police, Combs was part of a crew of Emerald Wireless Communications, Inc. sub-contracting for AT&T. The Buckley antenna and line company was established in 2000.
The Department of Labor and Industries is investigating the accident. Combs was the tenth communications worker killed this year from falling from a communications tower. Four of them were on AT&T projects. Funeral services for the well-respected tower foreman will be held at Yahn and Son Funeral Home, 55 West Valley Highway, Auburn, on Wednesday, September 17 from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Jeremy is survived by his wife, and their two children, Robert Allen Scott and Ashley Joy. He is also survived by his Grandfather Robert White, Mother Susan Combs, Sisters, Cindy Bates (Joey), Kristen Kirkland (Jay), and Michelle Manuel (Steve), and many nieces, nephews, extended family and dear friends. Prior to his employment with Emerald Wireless, he worked for Brookstone Construction, Wren Construction and Steelhead Construction.
NATE cautions its members about rappelling
August 1, 2008 - The National Association of Tower Erectors issued an industry safety alert yesterday evening to its members regarding controlled descent from an elevated structure, more commonly referred to as rappelling.
In a statement from the association, Chairman Don Doty said NATE was reminding its members that if they are utilizing controlled descent methods while descending a tower, they were still required to utilize recognized fall arrest equipment.
"The fall arrest equipment should be attached to separate engineered anchorage points and when executing a controlled descent, a secondary means of fall protection is required," Doty said. NATE did not state why the alert was being issued, but those close to two recent industry fatalities said that they occurred while the technicians were rappelling.
DATELINE" PRESENTS "TOWER DOGS
An upcoming "Dateline Presents" takes
a never-before-seen journey into the perilous world of the tower climbers who work on the frontlines of America's high-tech
communications system. They scale heights of up to 2,000 feet, in all
types of weather, to install, maintain, and upgrade cell phone, Internet, and broadcast towers coast to coast. And according to figures cited by OSHA, these so-called tower dogs have the highest death rate per capita of any occupation in the country. The hour-long broadcast goes up close and personal to give a no- holds-barred look at tower dogs' lives - up in the air and on the ground. We experience their on-the-job tension and watch them work hard, play hard, and mourn when they lose one of their own. In a twist on all the dangerous-job programs viewers have already seen, "Tower Dogs" follows an unusual subcontract crew boss: a woman named XXXXX XXXXXXX, a single mom, former cheerleader, and the person keeping her tough-guy charges in one piece.
There are approximately 9,500 tower climbers working at any given time, and they spend about 300 days per year on the road. A "Dateline" team worked with veteran tower dog Doug Delaney for four months documenting this group of tower climbers as they worked their way through 40 towns and cities in 24 states. During this time there were seven fatalities nationwide, including five deaths in a 12-day period in April.
"Tower Dogs" airs on Monday, July 21st at 10:00 PM/ET. David Corvo is the executive producer.
Deadliest job in America: Working on cell phone towers
Next time you can't get a cell phone signal in the middle of town, put your problem in perspective: New figures show that the deadliest job in America now goes to the men and women who construct, upgrade, and repair cell phone towers.
According to a story in this week's RCR Wireless News (no online link yet), building and climbing towers (which can be hundreds of feet tall) is more dangerous than ranching, fishing, logging, and even ironworking. The fatality rate is currently 183.6 deaths per 100,000 workers: Five tower workers died during one 12-day span earlier this year alone. 18 tower workers died on the job in 2006.
The cause for the runup in tower worker deaths isn't completely clear, but it's likely a combination of careless working practices (workers not using safety gear 100 percent of the time, or not using it correctly) and network operators pushing to build out and upgrade their networks too quickly. Hard to blame carriers for wanting to get faster networks up and running, but not at the cost of human life. (RCR is careful to note that the investigation into the rise in fatalities is too early to attribute to any specific source.)
Oddly, a loophole in OSHA rules may make it difficult for changes to happen quickly: Towers are often constructed by small contractors instead of the carriers or the owners of the towers. Since the carrier isn't on site during the construction of the tower, the contractor receives the fine and the carrier and owner face no sanctions. (That hasn't stopped the families of some of the deceased workers from suing carriers, though.)
Up next: Workers and their unions are hoping to push through federal legislation which could lead to more thorough regulations covering safety in this largely ignored industry.
Update: The original story concerns only accidental deaths in traditional vocations, not combat-related fatalities, so military careers are not included in the "deadliest" tally. No offense intended to our men and women in service. (discuss)
Fifth fatality has industry troubled about sudden rash of climber deaths throughout the nation.
April 23, 2008 - While family, friends and coworkers were paying their respects today during funeral services in Virginia Beach, VA, to a 46-year-old Chesapeake man who died after falling from a communications tower on April 17, another tower worker fell to his death in Natchez, Mississippi. Initial reports say the tower technician remained alive for a short period of time after falling approximately 100-feet, but later died. He was reportedly hanging boom gates on a Cell South tower. His death is the fifth fatality within 12 days, which has the construction industry duly concerned about the sudden rash of incidents following a fatality free period since December 5, 2007. Some management companies are calling for stand downs to address their safety concerns.
Chesapeake worker is North Carolina's second fatality
A representative of the North Carolina Department of Labor said that William Edward Bernard, Jr., of Chesapeake, VA, fell while working on a tower in Frisco, NC last Thursday, and that additional details would not be provided until their investigation is complete.
Bernard was employed by Brook Hill Communications, Inc. of Mechanicsville, VA. Memorial donations may be made to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, P.O. Box 807, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425.
On April 14, another tower technician fell to his death in Moorcroft, WY, according to a Moorcroft Police Department administrator and Crook County Sheriff Steve J. Stahla.
The worker was employed by Cornerstone Tower of Grand Island, NE.
Officials of the Wyoming Occupational Health and Safety organization were at a state-wide conference this week in Casper and were unavailable for comment.
On April 12, a worker fell to his death while transitioning on a monopole in Wake Forest, NC. Two days later a tower technician fell 225-feet off of a guyed tower and died.
Concerned about the losses within the industry, the National Association of Tower Erectors sent a newsletter to their members yesterday emphasizing the need for companies to remind their climbers of the importance of following the training they have received, specifically that 100% tie-off is mandatory.
" Above all else, take this opportunity to let them know that their decisions are essential; their lives depend on the choices that they make," said NATE Executive Director Patrick Howey.
Second tower climber's death in past three days mars four fatality-free months
April 15, 2008 - (updated 4/17/08) James Friesenhaun, 38, was killed yesterday when he fell 225 feet from a guyed tower located near Northwest Military near Camp Bullis, in San Antonio, TX, according to Sergeant Ted Prosser of the San Antonio Police Department.
Friesenhaun was employed by Ransor Incorporated of Schertz, TX, according to a San Diego OSHA representative.
Ransor Incorporated, a company that has been building wireless telecommunications tower sites for over 26 years, had been hired by CPS Energy to provide reinforcements on its guyed tower.
The worker reportedly was loosening bolts on the steel that he was attached to when he fell. Two other technicians working on the tower said that they saw their co-worker "sort of lean back a little bit, and apparently, after the last bolt that he loosened, he just fell down 225 feet," according to Sergeant Prosser.
*Tower news courtesy of Wireless estimator
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