(An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect title for Eric Steinmann. He is development manager for Clear Talk.)
LAS VEGAS — A new nonprofit, aimed at providing rapid financial assistance to the families of telecom tower climbers injured on the job, celebrated its inauguration at CTIA’s Super Mobility Week along with an initial funding donation of $400,000.
The Tower Family Foundation, a 501(c)3 foundation, was formed by tower industry leaders in order to provide “bridge funds” to the families of workers injured working at heights or in tower-work-related accidents. The foundation’s goal is to get funds to eligible families very quickly after an accident — a check sent within 3 – 5 days of an application being received and granted, according to the foundation — in which a worker is injured or killed, and assist them with with immediate bills such as food, transportation or mortgage expenses that other resources such as insurance may not cover or materialize quickly enough to help.
Jim Tracy, president and CEO of Legacy Telecommunications in Burley, Washington, and president of the Tower Family Foundation, described the funds as “grocery money,” a one-time grant to families affected by tower-related accidents.
Clear Talk Wireless and the law firm of Fletcher, Heald and Hildreth LLP made a joint establishing donation of $400,000 to the Tower Family Foundation. The foundation was formed through the efforts of the National Association of Tower Erectors and is closely partnered with NATE, although they are separate entities.
Tracy shared the story of a 22-year-old tower climber torquing bolts who slipped and was saved by his harness – but added that not all tower accidents have a safe ending. Tower climbing work is widely recognized as dangerous, and the industry has had a particularly tough two years with more than a dozen deaths.
“We’ve heard about the families and we’ve talked to people firsthand that have gotten injured in our industry,” said Eric Steinmann, development manager of Clear Talk. He said that after a tower incident in Colorado in 2006 (that didn’t involve his company), he got in touch with the affected family and helped that family where he could, but wanted to someday do more.
Steinmann acknowledged that tower workers often may have a family but not be married, especially since many are young. He also reminded the crowd that the tower industry can do more to establish permanence and competence in climbers – including through compensation, and “that’ll lead to a safer situation for the good people that are involved.”
Don Evans of the law firm of Fletcher, Heald and Hildreth said that in his time as an attorney for the tower industry, towers often were just information on paper — latitude, longitude, height — but that in working with the industry, he came to appreciate the danger of climbers’ work.
He said he came to understand in working with the industry that “this is a deadly job, that people lose their lives every month and are seriously injured. As my consciousness has been raised, I hope that other people in Washington will have their consciousness raised by this foundation and by some of the other work that NATE is doing.”
“This is not a sprint, this is a marathon,” Tracy said, and urged the crowd to support the new foundation. “We have a moral obligation in our industry to support it in the fashion that it has supported us.”
The foundation also will provide scholarships, in the amount of $2,500 per year with a maximum of $10,000 over four years. Tracy said that not only can family members apply themselves, but they can be nominated by another family member or an employer who works together with the family. But the money, he emphasized, will only go to the affected family.
Todd Schlekeway, executive director of NATE, told a crowd at the inaugural event that the foundation has no full-time employees and its advisory board and board members are all volunteers. The reception itself was sponsored so that funds raised for the foundation will go to families.
Families of telecom workers injured after Sept. 1, 2014, will be eligible for relief from the foundation. Full eligibility guidelines, the application and more information can be found at Towerfamilyfoundation.org.
