OSHA and Tower Climbing industry

The Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) and Tower Climbing industry has had a tenuous relationship right from the start.

With the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance.

OSHA is part of the United States Department of Labor. The administrator for OSHA is the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. OSHA’s administrator answers to the Secretary of Labor, who is a member of the cabinet of the President of the United States.

OSHA policies are for every employee as follows:

• You have the right to a safe workplace.


• OSH Act was passed to prevent workers from being killed or seriously harmed at work.


• The law requires employers to provide their employees with working conditions that are free of known dangers.


• The Act sets and enforces protective workplace safety and health standards.


• OSHA also provides information, training and assistance to workers and employers.


• Workers may file a complaint to have OSHA inspect their workplace if they believe that their employer is not following OSHA standards or that there are serious hazards.


• If you have a question about your rights or a workplace hazard and you cannot find the information you need on OSHA’s website, contact us.


• OSHA WILL KEEP YOUR INFORMATION CONFIDENTIAL. WE ARE HERE TO HELP.



On the other hand, for the past two decades there is the proliferation of Tower Climber industry. Tower Climbers are a specialized group of trained and skilled workers. (www.towerclimber.com) Nearly 10,000 men and women work mostly in the wireless communication business operated by major carriers, such as AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.


Due to the massive rise of cell phone wireless and digital use, this career has been called the most dangerous job in the United States. There has been a steady rise in deaths of tower climbers. And the number is increasing.




Many see OSHA and major communication carriers as the main culprit. None of the carriers have been held responsible for fatalities. The major carriers have passed the responsibility on to subcontractors.




The bottom line is that in spite of OSHA being a government regulatory agency of the US federal government, little has been done to improve the health and safety of tower climbers. There is a lack of enforcement and no solutions that improve the occupational hazards that exist.




Despite the overabundance of media coverage, little progress has been made. However, there are tower climber families who are involved in lawsuits against major carriers. Other than that, there has been mostly passing the buck than anything else. While there has been a plethora of suggestions made, nothing has turned into any type of accountability from major carriers who continually evade regulations and enforcement.




In the meantime, independent tower climber contractors and employees continue to be at risk. For now, the system is broken.




In Memoriam

The latest Tower Climber death.
https://www.osha.gov/doc/topics/communicationtower/index.html



OSHA and Tower Climbing industry

Tower Climbing Hazards

Tower climbing, or cell-tower climbing, is the most dangerous job in America. Between 2003 and 2008 there were 70 job related death in the US, and only 10 reported internationally. While this could make someone wonder about the safety standards in the US, remember that more towers exist in the US, so it is more likely that deaths would occur in the US. Also, some countries may not accurately report deaths.

On most lists, tower climbing ranks #1 as far as dangerous jobs. On all lists, it ranks top 10. New requirements in this industry have made the tower climbing industry a lot safer than it used to be and proper preparedness and training on the part of the climber can prevent most injuries.


Tower climbers may have to climb as high as 1700 feet to reach the peak of certain towers. This is higher up than the Sears Tower and Empire State Building. It is not a violation of OSHA regulations for climbers to “Free-Climb,” that is climb without a safety harness. And while this is the way most tower climbers climb it is also the cause of most falls. The logic behind the free climb is that the amount of energy expended fastening, unfastening and refastening the harness clips will cause the climber to tire more quickly than free climbing.

Even with great gloves and a firm grip, the bars that serve as a ladder can be slick or unnoticeably wet. The tool bag which must be carried up can weigh 30 pounds. As climbers are unlikely to know what tools they will need, they must bring everything they could possibly need to handle any situation. At great heights there is a serious risk of the wind grabbing the bag and throwing the climber off balance. Wind speeds are hard to determine from the ground. A 5 mph ground wind can become a 50 mph wind once up in the air.

Storms are another element to climbing that is very unpredictable. Blue skies can be inhabited by storm clouds in the time it takes to climb to the top. There are metal “flowers” attached to the top of antennas that are designed to disperse electricity. In the event of a lightning strike, these flowers would not prevent a climber from getting struck by 100 million to over 1 billion volts of electricity.

Advanced weather monitors can help a climber determine the likelihood that the clouds will develop into electrical or other storms. Lightning is not the only danger that comes from storms. Rain drops, ice drops and hail are more likely at higher elevations, regardless of the season. Anything unexpected can be deadly for a tower climber because there is no “quick escape.”

Radio Frequency, or RF, damage has been covered in other articles. But, this is perhaps the most dangerous of the hazards a tower climber may face simply because it is unseen. The companies that own the towers will lower the frequency while people are on the tower. But, sloppy paperwork or miscommunication can lead to the towers not having their RF frequency turned down. Without a properly functioning RF meter, the only indication a climber would have to a tower being “hot,” would occur after the climb has already begun. The warning signs could be a sudden rash, a burning or tingling in the arms and legs, even a numbness.

There are other seemingly small matters that can be dangerous on the job. Poorly maintained equipment, malfunctioning equipment, dead batteries on a radio or RF meter can all reek havoc. Experienced climbers develop a sense for the ins and outs of the unforeseen. New climbers can learn a lot from the insights of those who have been doing the job longer than others.

Tower Climbing Hazards

The Deadliest Job in the United States

The rapid adoption of mobile communication devices, and the seemingly endless functions they serve, is unprecedented. No other form of technology has grown so rapidly, or become so deeply entrenched in the everyday lives of its users.

But the technology that consumers use for mobile communication and computing is only a small part of the story, because for mobile communication to be truly mobile has required the creation of a global infrastructure to provide a nearly constant and reliable wireless connection to users via a telecommunications network. Consumers marvel at the technological advances in mobile devices, but the invention, refinement, and expansion of the modern cellular network is the far greater achievement. Costing billions of dollars to create, and hundreds of millions of dollars to maintain, the modern mobile cellular network is a technological marvel.

But some of the costs remain hidden.

The first commercially available mobile cell phone—the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x—offered only one phone line, was capable of storing only 30 telephone numbers for rapid redial, and had an LED display capable of showing nothing more than the phone number being dialed (Wikipedia) Today’s smart phones, on the other hand, allow the user to access the World Wide Web via the Internet; watch movies and television programs made available by streaming service providers; videoconference with multiple participants; determine their precise geographic location; capture and send high resolution video and still images; and, of course, talk, text, and tweet. Moreover, today’s cellular networks connect users’ telephones, tablets, computers, and automobiles; not to mention wristwatches, fitness trackers and other “wearables”.

As users of mobile communications technology have increased in number, so has network coverage. In 1985, there were 900 towers in the United States (Cell tower statistics), providing cellular telephone service to 340,213 subscribers (NationMaster). As of late 2013, there were an estimated 190,000 cellular towers in the United States (Cell tower statistics).; and today, there are 345.2 million (mobiThinking) mobile cellular subscriptions in the United States alone. It has been reported that the number of cellular subscriptions worldwide will exceed the global population sometime this year (SiliconIndia).

Of course, some of those numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. The precise number of individual cell towers and antennas is difficult to determine, since service providers are frequently tempted to inflate the number of sites in their network to appear more attractive to potential subscribers.

Oftentimes publicized “towers” turned into raw land opportunities, structures that were owned by another company or towers that were in development – a discreet way of affirming it could be a year or two before they’re available, and possibly never (wirelessestimator.com).

Nonetheless, the growth of network coverage is unquestionable. First only available in major metropolitan areas, cellular service is now widespread across the United States, with more cell sites added each day to meet the ever-increasing demand of the growing consumer base. Not since the construction of the transcontinental railroad system have private enterprises invested so much in the development of national infrastructure.

All the more surprising, then, that the actual construction and maintenance of the towers that make up the cellular communications networks in the United States is left to a relatively small number of independent contractors; and an even smaller number of overworked and underpaid subcontracted technicians. Major cellular service providers in the U.S. typically hire management firms to oversee the construction and upkeep of their cell sites. These firms, in turn, hire tower construction companies for the on-site work.

Cell carriers give several reasons for why they outsource tower work: Building and maintaining towers, though crucial to cell service, isn’t part of their core business. Contractors have greater expertise with construction. It’s more economical to hire workers where and when needed, given the up-and-down volume of work (ProPublica).

But the industry practice of outsourcing tower construction and maintenance to smaller independent, and inadequately regulated private contractors also shields the major cell carriers from legal liability in the event that a tower technician suffers a workplace accident.

OSHA has the authority to cite carriers if it can prove they had direct control over work or knew of safety violations. Yet, even though some carriers set prices and timetables for tower jobs – and many of their technical specifications, down to how to color code coaxial cables – their supervisors typically stay off-site and do not manage jobs directly (ProPublica).

Tower climbers—or “tower dogs”, as they sometimes refer to themselves—climb cellular communications towers up to 500 feet tall—often in difficult weather conditions—building, upgrading, or conducting routine maintenance on the towers and antennas in the nation’s cellular networks. Although a few private companies offer tower climber certification courses for a fee, the job requires little formal education. Many tower climbers work on a temporary contract basis, and what little training they receive is on-the-job. Their hours are long, and their risks are high. In fact, it is precisely because of the risky nature of tower climbing that the occupation attracts a very specific personality.

Climbers live out of motel rooms, installing antennas in Oklahoma one day, building a tower in Tennessee the next. The work attracts risk-takers and rebels. Of the 33 tower fatalities for which autopsy records were available, 10 showed climbers had drugs or alcohol in their systems.

“It’s the wild, wild west of the technology industry,” said Victor Guerrero, a construction project manager and former climber. “You’ve got to have a problem to hang 150 feet in the air on an 8-inch strap. You’ve got to be insane.” (ProPublica)

Combining that personality type with the high-stress demands of a rapidly growing cellular communications infrastructure was a recipe for disaster.

In 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone, one of the first smartphones to be widely adopted in the United States. In a controversial decision, Apple designed the iPhone to function only on AT&T’s 2nd generation mobile cellular network. Though the move frustrated many potential buyers, it had little effect on the iPhone’s sales. Even before the day of the iPhone’s release, media outlets reported customers lining up outside Apple’s retail stores to be the first adopters of the new technology. Apple reported sales of 270,000 units in the first 30 hours of the iPhone’s release.

The following year, Apple introduced the second generation iPhone 3G, and reported sales of 1 million units in the first weekend.

In response to the iPhone 3G’s phenomenal commercial success—and to meet future demand—AT&T had to scramble to extend the coverage of their third generation cellular network.

In 2006, Verizon Wireless had 7.7 million new subscriber additions compared to AT&T’s 7.1 million. After the iPhone launched, AT&T outpaced Verizon in net subscribers adds for the next three years, according to FCC figures. By 2009, AT&T had 8.1 million new adds while Verizon had 5.9 million (gigaom.com)

The rapid expansion of AT&T’s 3G network, however, may have directly contributed to the spike in tower climber fatalities in 2008 that led Edwin Foulke of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to declare the occupation “the deadliest job in the United States.” (OSHA) Rushing to complete their work, with minimal oversight and inadequate fall protection, eleven tower climbers fell to their deaths while working at AT&T sites—more than the number of fatalities at all other providers’ cellular sites combined.

In all, eighteen cellular tower technicians fell to their deaths in 2008; and, although that number may seem small compared to the number of fatalities in other professions (Aircraft pilots: 101 fatalities; farmers and ranchers: 291; truck drivers: 940), the number of tower climbers in the U.S. was thought to be between 8695 and 9800 at that time—a number so small that neither OSHA nor the Bureau of Labor Statistics had ever bothered to include the occupation in their annual list of most dangerous jobs.

OSHA and the BLS base their analysis of industry fatality rates on the number of deaths per 100,000 workers. Applying that methodology to the 18 deaths suffered by tower climbers in 2008, authors of a joint investigation by ProPublica and PBS’s “Frontline” found that the “death rate” of cellular tower technicians was significantly higher than all other professions on the list (wirelessestimator.com; ProPublica). In 2013, following another spike in tower worker deaths, Dr. David Michaels of OSHA declared that “tower workers have a risk of fatal injury perhaps 25 to 30 times higher than the risk for the average American worker.” (OSHA)

OSHA held the subcontracted construction and maintenance firms responsible for each of the cellular tower deaths investigated by ProPublica and “Frontline”. Fines levied by OSHA ranged from $50,400 to $450, although many construction firms reach formal settlements with the government, and avoid paying any fines at all. Those firms that do pay significant fines for failing to meet appropriate safety standards frequently go out of business, rarely compensating the workers who have suffered injuries while employed at their sites, or the families of those who have died. Jay Guilford, a tower climber who fell to his death in 2008,

Left behind a fiancée, Bridget Pierce, and two young children, Emily, now 7, and Aidan, now 5. Under policies provided by Phoenix of Tennessee, Pierce received $200,000 in life insurance, but was denied worker’s compensation because an autopsy showed Guilford had recently smoked marijuana. Lawyers advised Pierce not to sue because of the drugs (ProPublica).

Over 100 tower climbers have fallen to their deaths since 2006, with over half of these fatalities occurring at cellular communications sites. In 2013, more tower climbers died than in the previous two years combined. As of today, no major cellular service provider has been fined or successfully sued following the injury or death of a climber. In 2006, AT&T was named in a wrongful death suit following the fatality of William Cotton, but settled the case for an undisclosed sum without admitting wrongdoing. When the plaintiff in the case attempted to appeal the settlement, AT&T threatened to sue him, the appeal was dropped. AT&T was removed from the list of defendants (PBS)

Over the same period of time, AT&T’s worldwide operating revenue has grown from $62.52 billion to $127.75 billion.

The Deadliest Job in the United States

Tower Climber Equipment Check

Safety equipment is, needless to say, the difference between life and death or serious injury. Tower climbing is the most dangerous job in America, but using proper equipment can lower the risks dramatically. Keeping it in good order is of paramount importance.

The tips below are suggested methods and things to look for to make sure all your safety equipment able to keep you safe. As professionals, you know that what safety gear you use depends on the details of the environment in which you work.

Tower Climber Equipment Check

Safety harness - According to NATE standards these should be secured in a way that that will distribute fall arrest forces over the thighs, waist, pelvis, chest and shoulders. Safety belts can not be used for fall arrests.

Periodically, at least once or twice a months, they should be checked for cuts, rips and tears, electrical burns, rot and deterioration (both physical and UV), chemical damage and evidence of shock loading. Any harness that is suspected of these types of damages should be discarded immediately.

Lanyards/Positioning Straps - Each end of the lanyard needs to be securely snapped into a D ring of the full body harness.  They need to be inspected for spring tension, no exposure of the inner layer, cracks, burns and corrosion, and no excessive side movement. Make sure the rivets aren’t loose or worn and that there is no chemical damage.

Carabineers - These are not the average carabineers found in tool store and retail outlets. First things first is to make sure the don’t have that infamous “not for climbing” stamped on them. Also, make sure they are rated for your weight.

Hardhats - The straps inside the hard hat should be 1” to 1.25” from the outside of the hard hat in order to protect from shock. It should fit securely, not too tight, but not able to wobble around.

Manufactures recommend hard hat replacement every five years, however, if they are exposed to a lot of sunlight, chemicals or heat then it’s recommended to replace them every two years. This guideline is important to follow because hardhats don’t show wear and tear like other pieces of equipment do. Needless to say hard hats with holes or dents should be discarded.

Vehicles - In order to keep vehicle safe from falling objects, they should be at least a half a towers length away from the climb site.

RF monitor - Making sure that they have a full charge just makes sense, they can’t work if the batteries don’t. They should be periodically checked to make sure they are reading RF waves correctly.

Radio – Just like the RF monitor, make sure that the batteries are charged and do quality checks on a couple different channels before climbing the tower.

Rope – Once or twice a month ropes should be check for wear and tear, fraying, and rot. The knots should especially be checked, if the rope has gotten wet, mold and mildew can hide under the knot, making it a hidden enemy.

Regardless of what your equipment is, it should be stored properly. Radios and RF monitors should be placed on their chargers. Ropes, harnesses, helmets, etc… should always be stored in a dark, cool, dry place. Riding around with them in the back of your truck can cause damage to your vital equipment.

Below is a link to the NATE approved checklist for all equipment:

http://natehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Equipment-Basics-Checklist.pdf
http://www.engineeringspecialtiesgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Tower_Climber_Safety.pdf

Tower Climber Equipment Check

Tower Climber Safety Tips

Most employers often complain that the cost of tower fall prevention training and equipment is on the high side. These trainings are however important to prevent tower falls which are mostly very fatal. There have been cases of tower climbers falling to their death during tower installations, which makes adequate training and tower climber safety tips very important to prevent such deadly falls.

Employers know the high expenses that accompany such falls as they will be fined heavily for safety lapses by concerned agencies with their job sites closed for several months while the investigation into the falls last. Most times when such sites are reopened, the enthusiasms among the workforce reduce drastically as a result of psychological distress and rustiness. This has further enhanced the need for adequate training for tower climbers to make sure they observe all necessary safety precautions while climbing to save themselves from such falls and save their employers the losses recorded when such falls take place on their sites.


Employers have been advised to provide proper safety training, site and equipment maintenance to prevent the emotional and financial shakeups that affect all parties involved when a tower climber falls during tower installation projects.

Safety Tips for Tower Climbers

Several factors have been identified as possible causes of fatal falls for tower climbers. Such factors include weather conditions as at the time of undertaking the tower installation project, high electricity voltage, falling objects, and several other hazards that are capable of tipping the balance of a tower climber.

The need for the right safety tips and gear for climbers safety was became more evident after two young amateur climbers had fatal falls in 2011. New tower climbers are more prone to fatalities than the experienced ones. The fact that no other industry has experienced the rate of fatal falls the tower climbing industry has recorded prompted in-depth research into the major causes of these falls.

These researches showed that most of the falls experienced by tower climbers occur due to wrong use of tower gear and inadequate adherence to safety rules and procedures. Only a few of these falls occur due to gear failures. There are certain major safety procedures you must always observe before undergoing any tower climbing project. Below are some of the tips that can help keep you safe while working at height.

Be thoroughly prepared

It is wrong to start your way up the ladder without making all necessary adjustments to all your tools and equipment. Never be in a haste to get up the ladder without checking the gear and all other tools to make sure they are in good shape. Being fully prepared involves taking all necessary security measures like monitoring the weather daily to make sure you are climbing when the weather condition is more favorable. It is a known fact that when accidents occur at high heights, the weather condition can go a long way to determine the safety of the climber before help comes to him.

Be well hydrated

Most times, tower climbers are exposed to intense heat while working up there. It is advised that you stay as hydrated as possible while working at ground level, which makes adequate hydration a must for you as a climber working at great heights. Inadequate hydration can lead to a number of problems that may result in fatality cases. Some of the problems that can arise from inadequate hydration for a tower climber are; heat stroke, weakness, confusion, dizziness, nausea, fainting, and exhaustion.

Give Yourself Regular fitness checks

It is always important that you give yourself proper physical and fitness check before you embark on any tower climbing project. Make sure you feel energetic and strong enough to embark on the climbing project before you commence. Make sure you are not under any heat-related illness before you start climbing. Check for heat cramps in the muscles of your hands to forestall being unable to properly attach the snap hook of your safety positioning lanyard to an anchor point to enable you stop and rest safely at intervals while on the job. Knowing the symptoms of all heat illnesses and monitoring yourself and other members of your tower climbing team is of utmost importance.

Have a Rescue Team Handy

The truth remains that a fall may still happen at any time despite all the safety measures taken. This makes the enforcement of efficient work site prevention and emergency rescue plan to rise to the occasion in case of any falls very important. These precautions have helped handle life-threatening situations very adequately on several occasions.

Use Full Body Slings

Tower climbing equipment manufacturers continue to make the job of tower climbers easier and safer. The full body sling helps redistribute the pressure from your body weight away from the leg straps of your harness. This will not only increase your comfort, but goes a long way to keep you in a work position for longer periods. With the full body seat sling, you can afford to stretch out your leg in front of you, taking attention away from the pain in your legs and focusing on the job at hand.

Give your Crew Adequate Training

If you have a team of your climbers working with you, chances are that most of them do not have the necessary trainings and experience to prevent fatal falls while climbing. It is your job as the crew leader to hire any of the companies reputed for the quality of safety training offered to tower climbers to come to site and train your crew members. These companies offer climbing safety, climbing skills, and rescue tips. Some major climbing equipment manufacturers are also known to offer training and consulting services for tower climbers’ safety.

Following these climbing tips, techniques and using the right safety equipment the right way will help you enjoy a safe and long tower climbing career. Using the right gear for your tower climbing projects and having the required level of professional training and knowledge will keep you safe, and still go a long way to reduce your job stress.

Tower Climber Safety Tips

Biggest Tower Climbing Mistakes

Tower climbing can be a thrilling and valuable occupation. Most the people who have this occupation love it and are intrigued by the danger. In the 80’s, it was a small and highly specialized industry, but with the growth of communication over the past 30 years, the demand has grown exponentially.

Some of the most common hazards in this field are falls from great heights, electrical hazards, bad weather, tower collapse, and equipment failure. Most of these are preventable by following not just the safety procedures of your company, but by using common sense.


The Biggest Tower Climbing Mistakes and recommended prevention methods are listed below. Most people who are in the field know that falls can happen but, the risk of RF radiation is often overlooked. When in doubt, follow common sense and avoid these mistakes:

1. Not having a proper climbing plan:

Scaling rung over hand, several hundred feet in the air while carrying an equipment bag, is not a process to be undertaken lightly. Before stepping on the the first rung, everyone in the group should be able to answer the following questions: Do the carriers know when the installers will be on the tower? Have all the appropriate permits been received? Have arrangements been made to reduce RF transmission levels? Have the LOTO procedures been implemented? Everyone on the team for each tower or set of towers should know that all of these guidelines have been followed.

2. Insufficient tower climbing certification:

Not just anyone can climb a tower and possess the skills needed to execute the maintenance successfully. Experienced climbers have the instincts needed to move up and down the tower but, like any technical job, the skills, changes, and safety updates made in the field must be periodically re-taught and certifications updated. A mistake made by experienced climbers is to get set in their ways and not implement new techniques.

3. Not maintaining climbing gear:

Climbing gear comes with an expiration date. After so many years, stress will be put on clips, harnesses, and straps making them no longer able to perform their proper safety function. Gear should be routinely checked for rips, tears, and chips, even if it is within its dates. It should also, be stored properly as sun exposure and other environmental factors can make it age prematurely. Once gear has reached its expiration date, even if it shows no signs of damage, it should be discarded.

4. Climbing without proper gear:

Weather changes up in the air can not always be detected from the ground. Every climber should have their glasses, gloves, jacket, helmet, boots, harness, lifeline, carabiners, rope grabs, lanyards, and tool belts on their person and in proper working order before the climb begins. It may be tempting to buy discounted or used gear but, when it comes to safety, paying the extra amount will be worth it.

5. Not keeping RF Personal alarm on:

RF signals can’t be seen. Even if towers have been reduced in their operations to reduce RF signals, there is no way to know for sure that they won’t be suddenly turned back on. Make sure it is charges and wear it outside of the suit. It could save your life.

6. Lack of proper signage:

Signs, especially those that warn of RF radiation, should be clearly visible. Weathering and vandalism may damage signs, they should be properly replaced and maintained so that all those involved can read them clearly. If communication towers are lacking these signs, they should not be climbed until the specific RF conditions can be verified.

Following these tips is the first step towards safety. In a dangerous field such as tower climbing, going the extra mile is worth the time.

Biggest Tower Climbing Mistakes

Tower Climbing Deaths

Cell phones are our era’s ubiquitous technology device. There are more active cell phones in the U.S. than actual people. For the first time, PBS investigation has revealed the number of fatalities at subcontractors working on each of the carrier’s networks: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobil, Verizon (Day, 2012).

AT&T was racing to spin out a new cell phone network to deliver music, video and online games at more rapid speeds. The network, known as 3G, was crucial to the AT&T’s fortunes. AT&T’s cell service had been criticized by customers for its propensity to drop calls, a problem compounded when the company converted to the sole carrier for the iPhone (Day, 2012).

Tower climbing, an obscure field with no more than 10,000 workers, has a mortality rate roughly 10 times that of construction. In the last nine years, alone, nearly 100 tower climbers have been killed on the job. Alarmingly, more than half of them were working on cell sites. An investigation led by ProPublica and PBS “Frontline” shows that the convenience of mobile phones has come at a hefty price: Between 2003 and 2011, 50 climbers died working on cell sites, more than half of the nearly 100 who were killed on communications towers (Day, 2012).


Cell phone carriers’ outsource this dangerous tower climber jobs to subcontractors, a practice increasingly common in risky businesses from coal mining to trucking to nuclear waste removal. Due to this aspect, cell phone carriers’ connection to tower climbing deaths has remained invisible. In the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s database of workplace accident investigations, you will not find a single tower climber fatality listed (Day, 2012).

“For each tower-related fatality since 2003, ProPublica and PBS “Frontline” traced the contracting chain from bottom to top, reviewing thousands of pages of government records and interviewing climbers, industry executives, and labor experts” (Day, 2012). In accident after accident, deadly missteps often resulted because climbers were shoddily equipped or received little training before being sent up hundreds of feet. To make matters worse, to satisfy demands from carriers or large contractors, tower hands sometimes worked overnight or in dangerous conditions (Day, 2012).

PBS reporting revealed that AT&T had more fatalities on its jobs than its three closest competitors combined. The death toll peaked between 2006 and 2008, as AT&T merged its network with Cingular’s and scrambled to grasp traffic achieved by the iPhone. “I don’t think there’s any question that the pressure to build out the network has been a contributing factor to fatalities,” said Steve Watts, who worked as a risk manager at AT&T until 2007. All other major cell carriers would not comment and declined requests to be interviewed for this story.

ProPublica Research

Nashville-based Phoenix of Tennessee, the parent company of All Around Towers, the subcontractor that had managed the climbing crew is the only OSHA cited company for safety violations. Inspectors concluded that Phoenix of Tennessee had not evacuated broken equipment from the site or addressed unsafe work conditions in plain view. The company had to pay a fine of $2,500. All Around Towers went out of business following the accident (Day, 2012).

Kyle Waites, the owner of Phoenix of Tennessee and part-owner of All Around Towers, said he sent climbers for re-training and purchased new safety equipment after the death of Jay Guilford. “Do I feel responsible to a degree? I think everybody does that was involved with it,” Waites said. “What caused Jay’s death was a chain of events that all could have, and should have, been prevented” (Day, 2012). “Once you leave men alone, the men have to police themselves,” he said (Day, 2012).

Until the 1990s, most tower work convoluted radio and television towers, which can be more than 1,000 feet high. Some phone companies employed staff climbers to endeavor on microwave towers used for long-distance calling. However, with the proliferation of cell phones, the pace and volume of tower work spiked. Carriers blanketed the country with cell locations to extend service to the most remote areas. Many advances in service require converting out antennas and doing other upgrades. The surge of cell phone work, forever altered tower climbing; an obscure field of with no more than 10,000 workers. It attracted newcomers, including outfits known within the organization as “two guys and a rope.” It also exacerbated the businesses transient, high-flying culture (Day, 2012).

Climbers live out of motel rooms, inaugurating antennas in Oklahoma one day and building a tower in Tennessee the next day. Climbers typically earn $10 or $11 an hour. The job seems to attract risk-takers and rebels. Of the 33 tower fatalities for which autopsy records were accessible, 10 showed climbers had drugs or alcohol in their systems. An analysis of OSHA records demonstrates that tower climbing has had a death rate roughly 10 times that of construction. In two dozen cases, for example, inspectors found that workers on sites where fatalities occurred had acquired inadequate training. Faulty or misused equipment was responsible in almost one-third of the tower-related deaths since 2003. Carriers sometimes power down cell sites when climbers are on them, so subcontractors often work overnight, which increases the risk of injury (Day, 2012).

Time pressure often leads tower hands to use a technique called free-climbing, in which workers don’t attach their safety harnesses to the tower. This allows them to move up, down and around more quickly, but leaves them without fall insurance. In more than half of the tower fatalities examined, workers were, in fact, free-climbing, even though government safety regulations strictly forbid it. It is very appealing and most climbers eventually give in to it (Day, 2012).

Cell carriers give several reasons for why they outsource their tower work: Building and maintaining towers, though crucial to cell service, isn’t part of their core business, is one. Contractors have greater expertise with construction and it’s more economical to hire workers where and when needed, given the up-and-down volume of work. Handling tower work this way also insulates companies atop the contracting chain from legal and regulatory consequences when there are accidents (Day, 2012).

Tower-climbing fatalities have decreased considerably since the end of 2008. Some in the industry give credit to improved safety practices to explain the smaller death toll. Others say the recession has cut into the volume of tower work and that, after finishing 3G upgrades, much of what carriers required could be done on the ground. With the next big push i.e. building out 4G LTE networks, just getting underway in major markets, some veteran climbers continue to worry that the fatality numbers will rise again (Day, 2012).

Reference:

Day, Knutson, PBS Frontline, and ProPublica. (2012). In race for better cell service, men who climb towers pay with their lives. Retrieved from: http://www.propublica.org/article/cell-tower-fatalities

Tower Climbing Deaths

Dangers to Tower Climbers, and How to Avoid Them

Everyone knows that being a tower climber is a dangerous job. In fact, in many surveys it appears as the top most dangerous job that can be done in the entire world. Of course, this doesn’t stop people from wanting to enter into this career, and loving the job once they are fully trained, but anyone who is a tower climber should know about the dangers that they face on a daily basis, and most importantly, know how to avoid them. Here are what we consider to be the top three dangers to tower climbers, and how to avoid them:

1. Not being trained properly.

There are a huge variety of training courses and qualifications that are available to tower climbers, and it can sometimes be complicated and confusing knowing exactly what you should have to be allowed to climb towers. It is absolutely vital that a tower climber has the right training. That includes training in climbing, training in electronics, and training in all of the climbing and safety equipment that he or she will use when on the tower. This training needs to be so endemic within your consciousness that in an emergency you just react, you don’t have to think and make mistakes, because your training is so good. If you want to avoid this danger, then you need to check in with your employer and check with them exactly what qualifications they believe are the best ones, and then get them.

2. Bad weather.

Unfortunately, tower climbing is a job that is very elemental. If the sun is beating down, you are climbing up that tower. If your fingers are cold and you haven’t seen the sun for a couple of days, you are still climbing up that tower. But all tower climbers need to be smart about their decision making, and take a good look at weather reports for the whole day. If a thunderstorm is coming in the afternoon, then it is clever to adjust the timetable for the day so that all feet are on the ground by the time that it comes. If the temperatures mean that someone in the tower climbing team could suffer from heat stroke, then you need to take precautions and either decide not to climb, or make sure that everyone drinks enough water during the day. No job is more important than a person’s life, and so it is imperative that all tower climbers take the weather seriously. If you want to avoid this danger, then always factor the weather into your working day.

3. Fatigue.

We are told all of the time on the roads that tiredness kills, and this is just as true for tower climbers. No one apart from a tower climber themselves can truly tell whether or not they have the mental awareness and are awake enough to do their job properly, and so this is something that each and every tower climber will have to do as a self-assessment before climbing any tower. Reasons for being too fatigued could vary: from being hung-over, recovering from an illness, or just sleep deprived, all of these are valid reasons to doubt whether you will be able to tower climb safely that day. Taking one day out, or even just half a day, can make a huge positive difference to your work afterwards, and is always safer. If you want to avoid this danger, then be honest to yourself and your co-tower climbers about how you are feeling.

Dangers to Tower Climbers, and How to Avoid Them