Deadliest job in America- climbing and building towers

[N4AUD]

For everyone who wants an antenna tower but considers cutting corners and not doing things the right way and the safe way, here's an article for you. And remember, these guys do this for a living.

Deadliest job in America (http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/97827)

[ai4ep]

link is slow for those of us still on dial - up .

thanks anyway. The link DID ( finally ) work.

good information about a topic not mentioned very much, but important , to say the least.

thanks for the eye opening experience.

[wb5ydk]

I used to work with some BellSouth guys back in the earliest days of cellular telephone service. As is true today, the cellsites weren't always located in the best parts of town.

One of the Miami-based, BellSouth cellular engineers was up high on a cell tower when he looked down to see a thief breaking into his car. Before he would have been able to descend the tower safely, the crook managed to start the car and drive it away. The BellSouth guy could only watch. These days, a person would have had a cell phone in his pocket to call the cops. But, back then, cellphones were big, luggable affairs!

[k7mh]

link is slow for those of us still on dial - up
Still running a Harvey Wells Bandmaster I bet too eh?? :rolleyes:

[k7mh]

link is slow for those of us still on dial - up
Get real, the whole internet is too slow for dial up anymore!

[KB9YCO]

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.)

================================

It must be people trying to cut corners, that's all I can think of. Having worked a couple of times for one of the larger tower companies where I used to live we never had any problems that weren't as a result of someone being careless/stupid. Even those problems never resulted in death. Otherwise, unless the tower was actually going to fall over I never worried about being on towers, most of which were much larger than you average cell tower. Granted, I wasn't on the job for many years like some people, but I never saw anything as crazy as some of the stories I've heard in the last couple of years.
The only thing I can come up with is people being cheap (as Frank Zappa use to call it "Cheepnis") because as long as you're on a properly constructed tower, using your equipment properly and paying attention to what you're doing, then there shouldn't be a problem. I'm not saying it was the easiest job, or that there was no danger involved, but I have to wonder what's going on with some of these companies if they're so willing to sacrifice safety for profit. Not good.

[KU0DM]

Cutting corners doing tower work is like playing in the free way.
There is one way it should be done: safely

Sometimes it's a drag going through all the safety measures, delaying the installation of that tower because of weather, but if it keeps you hamming one more day, it's worth it IMO.
I think the same goes for the industry.

--Duncan

[wb5ydk]

A link I posted a short while back listing a number of 2003-2008 tower fatalities: http://www.wirelessestimator.com/generaldoc.cfm?ContentID=9

A number of the accident causes were: "Riding the line when cable snapped" - whatever that means. Also, although not supported from the chart details, I remember that "Transitioning without being tied off" was also a cause of many accidents.

[N8CPA]

A link I posted a short while back listing a number of 2003-2008 tower fatalities: http://www.wirelessestimator.com/generaldoc.cfm?ContentID=9

A number of the accident causes were: "Riding the line when cable snapped" - whatever that means. Also, although not supported from the chart details, I remember that "Transitioning without being tied off" was also a cause of many accidents.

I think "riding the line" and "rappeling down the guy wire" may be the same thing.

[N8ODF]

For everyone who wants an antenna tower but considers cutting corners and not doing things the right way and the safe way, here's an article for you. And remember, these guys do this for a living.

Deadliest job in America (http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/97827)


I would think coal mining has a far worse safety record then tower construction/maintenance....when performed correctly by those who know there limitations as to what they can do safely....tower work is a pretty safe profession....No cell operator I know pushes network growth over safety...

[N2RJ]

That's why I use all the right gear and test it before going up the tower.

There's a right way and a wrong way.

[ky5u]

I don't think it is "cutting corners". Most cell carriers require contractors to hold safety meetings and insist on good gear. They literally pay through the nose for tower work where a climb to change a light bulb can cost $5,000 or more.

I believe the problem is the amount of tower work going on as the industry continues to grow at 20% or more a year. With workers in any field, familiarity breeds contempt. You climb for many years without any problem then get careless. Tower climbing is seen among climbers "macho" so in many cases there is little reporting of unsafe activities (which is seen as "ratting out" a coworker). Of course this varies from company to company.

My favorite tower climber years ago was a little guy named Eddie Morales. He used to kneel and pray at the base of the tower before climbing. This guy was SAFE. In over 10 years, I never saw him do anything out of the ordinary, drop anything, or fail to use safety equipment. That was 35 years ago. Eddie is now a happy older guy. I am thankful he is.

[W5HTW]

Get real, the whole internet is too slow for dial up anymore!

You got that right! But for some of us, that is all there is available, unless I want to spend several hundred dollars a month for satellite internet, which I do not and cannot. I hear our local electric coop has given up on BPL, so that is out the window. Cable TV lines don't run within 2 miles of my home. No wireless around here. So it's dial up or no up.

If people would be reasonable with their opening web page, and put those 9,000 videos and 18,000 sound files on a second page, so I could look at their home page, that would make things a lot easier. But everyone has to put two dozen streaming videos so they all open if you even click on their web site.

This morning I paid my phone bill on line. Each page took six minutes to open. Yeah, six minutes. It took me 24 minutes to pay a simple bill online. Easier to address an envelope, write a check, and mail it. And I have begun doing that with come folks.

Yep, the days when dialup worked are about gone. But no one is giving us rural rolks an alternative. Now there is a push for free wireless to everyone in the nation. Yeah, right. It won't get out here until 2080. And maybe not then.

I could move into an apartment in the city. Then I'd have cable or something. And I'd have natural gas, and newspaper delivery, and city water (ugh!) and mail delivery, and trash pickup, and cable tv, and sidewalks, and paved roads, and crime and traffic. Nope. Gonna have to go back to stamps and envelopes!

Progress.

Ed

[W5HTW]

I would think coal mining has a far worse safety record then tower construction/maintenance....when performed correctly by those who know there limitations as to what they can do safely....tower work is a pretty safe profession....No cell operator I know pushes network growth over safety...

That's probably true, though I'm not sure. We hear more about fatal coal mining accidents, of course. Tower accidents, fatalities, usually result in one, or maybe two, deaths, whereas mining accidents kill half a dozen to two dozen or more.

At one time, taxi driving was one of the most dangerous jobs in America, but I think that is down the list quite a bit now, though I'm not sure why. I know I would never drive a taxi into a coal mine to fix a tower. None of those jobs appeal to me in the slightest, though I did drive taxi part time for a while.

I think, with the number of towers professionally instaled, including broadcast radio and television, and cellular, the safety record is pretty darned good. The record tends to drop a bit when we consider self-installed amateur radio towers, as hams do tend to cut corners, or may not even know the safest way to do the job. I didn't. Once upon a time I helped install a 125 foot tower, and I used only a simple safety belt, and a homemade gin pole. I didn't know any better, and I admit, I was lucky.

I also did hard rock gold mining for a short while. Big difference in soft strata coal mining, absolutely. In hard rock the ceiling isn't going to collapse on you unless there is an earthquake. In shale or soft dirt, it can collapse if a spider walks across the ceiling. No gas in a hard rock mine, either. If you don't miscalculate the fuses on the dynamite, you will likely live safely to mine again. And I measured fuses at least three times each!

I'd vote for coal mining as the last place in the world I'd want to be!! Still, I don't like being more than 10 feet above the ground these days.

[G0GQK]

A few years ago a list was compiled of the most dangerous jobs in Britain and top of the list was driving a car, on the roads five days a week as a sales rep.
We have lots of scaffolders, tilers, electricity pylon riggers etc but there are few accidents in these jobs. Good training and safety regulations.

G0GQK

[n9yb]

Having worked at PiROD for 5 years, we were in tune with all of the incidents that took place as they relate to fatalities. You keep tabs on your industry.

The worst incidents usually took place at retro-fit jobs or not paying attention to the proper use and positioning of gin poles.

Strengthening or retro-fits are particularly slow jobs that require the building of a temporary support structure (think girdle) to shoulder the load while members are being replace. The are slow, expensive and time consuming. That's b/c they are so dangerous and the margin for error is nil. Every now and then, someone thinks they can cheat physics - physics tends to win.


Gin poles are another element of tower erection that requires a properly designed gin pole, proper placement and prudent use. Too much can go wrong if they are not used per spec.

There are some youtube videos of a gin pole related accident in which 7 people perish. It isn't for the faint of heart as you will see people fall to their deaths and I don't feel the need to post a link here. If you want to find it, you will. It will show you the effect of torque at the wrong place at the wrong time.

[n9yb]

My favorite tower incident in which no one was hurt:

A group of amateurs (read: non-professional tower erectors) took on the task of dropping a 250' - 300' tower, I forgot the height. They decoupled one of the guy wires from the anchoring system and tied it to the back of a bulldozer....a little one at that.

They cleared the area and the dozer driver took to getting to work. He slowly took up the slack and once taut, gave it the gas to pull the tower over. The little engine that could -- couldn't. The dozer wasn't making any forward progress (that darn physics and tower mass) and then like a rifle shot, the guy wire snapped at the coupling to the dozer and shot like a bat out of hell toward the tower.

I am no engineer or physicist, but the display of bodies in motion that took place reeked of awesomeness. The guy wire hurtled toward the tower at the same time the forward tension on the tower was suddenly relieved. So the tower started to move away from the "demolition crew". All the while the guy wire is flying through the air toward the tower. It shoots past the tower and makes a b-line for a point 180 degrees from the dozer. The energy of the tower trying to right itself (remember 2 other guy wires were attached) and the energy of the guy wire going the opposite direction of the intended demolition caused the tower to sway back a bit too far.

The tower is now leaning back (at 180 on the compass) pretty far, but doesn't tip over. So like all things in motion wanting to keep in motion, the guy wire makes a trip back past the tower toward the bull dozer (at 0 degrees on the compass). The net effect of the whip sawing guy wire and the tower doing a dance caused the structure to twist about 2/3 of the way up.

From that point it is all over but the crying. The top of the tower twists past the point of fracture and the top 1/3 of the structure folds over and begins the descent into the ground. That sucker just pile drove straight down toward the foundation and impaled itself into the earth. It was quite an epic sight (one of the demolition crew is taping all of this).

The energy caused by the top 1/3 snapping off coupled with the already swaying structure causes the remaining 2/3 of the tower to gyrate back and forth at a pretty rapid pace. After about 3 cycles, it passes the point of no return and proceeds to come toward the demolition crew. Lots of cussing and yelling begin. Luckily, the tower landed at about 40 degrees to the crew's 0 degrees.

It did however fall through the electric lines along side of the road and land on the cab of one of the crew's pickup truck.

The blue fire was, well, electric!

We were told that the engine block was a fused mass of metal by the time they got the power shut off.

No one was hurt. One pickup was lost as well as a lot of pride. My type of tower incident.

--

I showed the video in class at grad school for a demonstration on the need for proper planning and execution. Got an A.

[ai4ep]

you sure can learn a lot from reading other peoples posts.....yet hardly any thing from mine.