Fall from tower kills three

George writes "Fall from cellular phone tower kills 3 workers near Forrest City



By The Associated Press



FORREST CITY, Ark. -- Three men replacing guy wires on a cellular telephone tower plunged 100 feet to their deaths after a rope used to hoist them to the top of the structure broke. The men, part of a four-person crew, were killed Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff's investigator Glenn Ramsey said.



The crew worked for Allstate Construction Co. of Wagoner, Okla.,and was replacing the guy wires on a 250-foot tower owned by Alltel Corp.



The dead were identified as Brian Barnes, 23, and John Seabolt, 26, both of Muskogee, Okla.; and Jamie Anders, 27, of Hattiesburg, Miss.



Ramsey said he was told the rope hoisting the men up the tower was tied to the front of a pickup truck driven by the crew's foreman, who backed up,lifting the men into the air. The foreman, identified as Barnes'uncle, Forest Barnes, 50, of Muskogee, was not injured.



David Bates, assistant area director with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Little Rock, said safety investigators traveled to the site Thursday morning. He said OSHA has regulations on how to hoist workers but he wasn't sure which rules would have applied."

 

That's right, they killed themselves...

They never should have been on any rope in the first place! Wire rope is the only acceptable means to hoist people up a tower, on an approved winch or crane with anti 2-block. Not only that, you should never use a vehicle to pull the line. Capstans & winches are the proper methods of doing this. I have to wonder how the "driver" would know when to stop backing up? There was appearantly no safety person on the ground to assure proper safety procedures were followed. What were 3 men doing off the ground to replace guy wires anyway?


As you can see, they contributed to their own deaths. Darwin selection of the smartest. They didn't deserve to be in the business in the first place & now they aren't.



I hope OSHA nails the "company" for everything they can because of their complacent behavior. They should have never been on the site with these methods in the first place! Where was the carrier representitive? Where was the Construction Manager for the tower management company? I would love to hear the excuses for them allowing this circus act to perform! They didn't "defy death" this time, did they?



BTW: Yes, I know what the proper methods are. I have been extensively schooled & have worked for safety minded companies that do things the right way. That is why I can return home at night, safe to work another day. There is no excuse for this to happen. It was NOT an accident, it was manslaughter!



When it comes to safety: Complacency KILLS!"

 

Having to climb towers myself, I never could undersand anyone allowing more than one man up at a time in such a hoist.



I am old fashion when it comes to climbs. It perhaps takes me four times as much as energy and I can't do as much the way I climb. SAFETY must be at your own hand!



I am never comfortable in a climb and try always to think safety. It still gives no guarantee. Safety starts with the ground crew by being aware of all the aspects around a climb. In this case the hoist of 3 men who died.



Education and self safety is the only answer if you are going to climb. Never trust someone's parachute - - or better to say "Don't ever take anyone's word for a rig or hoist EVER!"



Double check your own safety. It must always be at your own hands.

Three deaths from a fall causes you to put backup safety equipment first and work priority second.



Our sympathy goes to each family.



Art N9AS

 

Having worked for the carrier in question, I can with near certainty tell you that there was a carrier rep onsite. I spent many nights "babysitting" people from Motorola at cell sites in the CLT area. It is strange that the contractor would use this obviously flawed method to ascend the tower considering the fact that every tower I ever had anything to do with at Alltel had safty-climb cables installed.

I hope that this will get the attention of amateurs and professionals alike and bring safty to mind.

73 de kc4kgu

 

Matters not wether your climbing your own tower, someone else's or climbing for profit; Common sense should apply

KG4OUV bud

 

Take this example as a warning. Love your hobby, experiment and put up antennas but be careful! There are many hazards in our hobby which can be avoided by good common sense and safety practice, for example:</P>



Falling from a tower/antenna mast/tree. This can be avoided by either using the proper safety gear and learning how to use it properly, or not going up there in the first place!</P>



Electric shock. There are many ways to avoid this. First and foremost never work on live equipment. Unplug equipment and discharge major capacitors before service. Second of all, always wear insulated shoes or an insulated mat when working on equipment. There are many safety precautions, and a good source for safety precautions and good practice when doing repairs is the sci.electronics.repair faq at http://www.repairfaq.org. </P>



RF Burn. Keep all high power radiating antennas away from face/body/eyes.</P>



Fire. Funny how few people know this is a risk. Your shack is more at risk of fire than any other room in your house, simply because you have more electronic equipment, especially high power radio transmitters in there. The RAE manual always stated that you should control all power to your equipment via a master switch, which shoulc be easily accessible in the event you need to shut off things in an emergency. Circuit breakers are cheap, and fuses are cheap too. Don't bridge blown fuses, they are for your protection and could end up costing you your home.</P>



Road accidents. Be careful when talking and driving.</P>



You get the idea. There are many other ways you can be safe in your hobby. After all, you want to be alive to enjoy your hobby right? Be safe!!</P>

 

I was contracted out to a well known government agency to troubleshoot their VHF communications equipment and antennas in Louisiana. Another group was contracted to do the tower climbing to replace the faulty antenna.


What they did horrified me as I watched the job foreman jack up the rear of his pick-up, replace the rear tire with an empty rim, then hoist one of his men up a 400 foot tower by feeding a rope onto the rim while throwing the truck into drive. This technique may seem ridiculous, but may be more commonplace than I originally throught.


When I asked about the safety aspect, I was told to keep my Yankee mouth shut since this was how it was done in Dixie.

 

This was a senseless tragedy that did not have to happen.The methods used to lift these men are archaic and deadly.Why didnt they use the proper gear and each man should have had his own saftey line.Many of the newer towers have cables already installed however these men died as a result of their own actions. I would have refused to go up this tower in such a fashion.Get fired maybe but is better than being dead.Also the foreman will have to live with this the rest of his days.

I believe that the contrctors should be charged with some sort of crime as a result of their actions this could have just been another day at work for these men had the PROPER SAFETY GEAR been utilised.I send my deppest condo;ances to the families of these young men and would encourage them to pursue the contractors even get some legistlation mandated it wont bring their boys back but maybe it will prevent other companies from killing their crewmen.

 

I thought I had posted to this article but I can't find it so I will agree with this post since I am of the same general opinion. It is unfathomable to me that (3) men would go up a tower like this. Common sense was really not in attendance on this job.

 

The method mentioned (if true, the newspaper is notorious for getting small details wrong) is the lazy man's way up the tower. They can get to the top in under a minute compared with the half hour it would take to climb the provided ladder.



I find it hard to believe that there were 3 men on one rope, one, maybe two, and the others may have been knocked off, fallen upon, pulled off when trying to catch their comrade.



Remember, its your job to report any unsafe practices, if a crew chief told me to "keep my yankee mouth shut" I'd pull out the cellular and call OSHA right in front of him!

 

Alltel, as well as the direct employer, should be sued for allowing a contractor to operate with such lack of oversight and Alltel should have had a contract surveillance representative on site insuring that the contract was in complete compliance.

Here is a typcal case of the cellular industries drive for profits at the expense of workers. Yes the workers should have known better but also surely their employer, as a matter of daily practice,made them aware that they should not do the job if it is unsafe and take the necessary time and expense to do the job correctly and safely. But I bet their employer has this all documented on paper that they did but I'll bet it's only on paper and is never implored. What is implored probably is get the damn job done or get fired.

I hope the survivors of the accident get the best lawyers in town so they can recover from this horrible accident that was so easy to avoid.

I own several towers and I am fully aware of what should be done to accomplish safe maintenance on the towers. I know accidents do happen but using a pick-up truck and a rope in place of an OSHA approved laynard and winch-harness system my God what were they thinking here? What a horrible accident that was so easy to avoid.

 

Incredible story, but believable.
While we're contemplating our own mortality and
deriving lessons from this latest example of
winning style in the Darwin awards competition,
it occurs to me that the real irony would have
been if the dufus driving the truck had been struck by one of the guys falling. Why THREE people to change out the guys? One to hold each guy, while they put the new ones on?

More ironic was the quotation at the bottom of the QRZ screen, when I read the post. I'm sure it was randomly generated, but...

"I love Saturday morning cartoons, what classic humour! This is what entertainment is all about ... Idiots, explosives and falling anvils." -- Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson"

How'd they get the pulley and rope up there in the first place??

 

What a stupid way to hoist a crew atop a 250FT tower ! Any bindage in the rope hoisting them certainly wouldn't be detected by the front bumper of a pick up truck. It would snap that rope without hesitation. Why weren't these jokers using safety lines and climbing the tower ? Sounds like someone, perhaps all involved, were looking for a quick way to get a job done circumventing safety. They paid the price.

 

It was interesting to read the responses about the
deaths of three individuals who were working on
a 250ft tower. Obviously this story hit a
nerve in many people!
I used to work on all kinds of
towers and saw all kinds of things that would
curl peoples hair. Yes these guys were idiots
if they were all on a single rope with no
safety measures. OSHA has gone to great extents
to make it safer for people to climb, HOWEVER
some of these "rules" only make it more unsafe
for the climbers. I only did what I was comfortable doing and avoided unsafe practices
for the tower, climb and conditions!

The biggest problem I have with the story
is the continued complacency of workers
to not watch out for themselves!
Yes they get pressured to make money and
get the job done but if you make one mistake
you will never make more money!

Moral to the story, whatever the height, style
and weather make sure you know that YOU are
safe whenever you go up a tower! Screw the
boss, owner, manager...if they don't like
the fact that you won't climb in an unsafe
manner for YOU!

 

Lets not be too quick to pass judgement on these poor souls who died earning their livings. I have no doubt that the company they worked for showed a blatant disregard for safety procedures. But they were all young and perhaps naive. I have worked at heights on radio towers for a previous employee. I had ideas what was safe or not, but placed my trust in their experience. Perhaps had they been more experienced they would not have been called upon to carry out this work. Perhaps they would have known that this is not a 'recognised' way of working at heights?