For the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE), 2015 was a fruitful year. This year saw the establishment of the National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA), which began holding its first certification programs at the end of the year and the Unmanned Aerial Systems committee to address the growth of drone use as a whole, as well as in the tower industry.
On this week’s episode of Cell Tower News, NATE executive director, Todd Schlekeway, talked about NATE’s accomplishments in 2015 and explained what was on tap for the organization in 2016.
Schlekeway discusses:
- The progress made by the NWSA in 2015 and the next step to establish a tower tech I and II certification program
- The 5 day train-the-trainer course hosted in New Orleans in Feb. 2016 and 11 fall protection training courses in geographic regions throughout the country funded by a $140,000 federal grant NATE received through the Susan Harwood Training Grants program.
- A climber connection marketing campaign, which is “geared directly towards the young workforce who are working at heights and we’re going to take that message to the platforms that they’re on, specifically social media [and] video, so it’s really geared more towards the 18 to 29 demographic,” according to Schlekeway.
- Tidbits about NATE’s annual flagship event, NATE UNITE 2016, which will take place in New Orleans Feb. 22-25 and wil have an opening reception in the club lounge of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the home of the New Orleans Saints football team.
- Topics of discussion for NATE UNITE 2016, including 5G and other emerging technologies, the future of the wireless industry and training courses on DAS and small cell installation.
- The loss of industry icon Ernie Jones and the difficulty replacing his innovation and expertise.
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