FCC, Department of Labor launch TIRAP at workshop
After talking about it for weeks, the Federal Communications Commission (in conjunction with the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) workshop, titled “Tower Climber Safety and Injury Protection” happened this past week. Many industry heavyweights were in attendance, including FCC commissioners, FCC chairman, PCIA president and CEO, NATE’s executive director and representatives from AT&T, American Tower, Black & Veatch, and the owner of tower industry website Wireless Estimator. To stress the emphasis on safety, even family members of climbers that have died or been injured on the job were also in attendance. You can watch the entire event for yourself if you click here.
So what happened?
Everyone that spoke stressed the need for increased safety for climbers, as well as tower climber empowerment, education and industrywide collaboration. These are some of the more important comments from the day:
- “2014 is going to be recognized as the year that America said, ‘Enough.’ Enough fatalities, enough injuries.”
- “We respect the tower climber. We empower them to make discussions. They can stop at anytime [if they don’t feel safe]”
- “If a worker stops their work for a concerning condition, and they get fired for that? There’s no room for that in our business.”
- “We need to have one set of standards & hold true to it. If you’re going to do this work, follow these standards.”
- “Workers must not only know how to work safely, but have the ability to stop a job, when the work is dangerous.”
- “Apprenticeship does work. It does gives them the training they need. It gives them the access to good jobs.”
Fortunately, the majority of the climber-specific comments about safety and stopping when conditions aren’t safe came from Paul Roberts, the VP of compliance for American Tower – someone whose company owns towers and employs boots on the ground … or tower as it were. Craig Lekutis from Wireless Estimator also made a powerful comment stating that enough is enough and that no climber should go from climbing a tower to a wheelchair. So everyone’s in agreement about the need for increase safety. So what is to be done about it?
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To answer this, the group announced and signed into action an initiative called the Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program. This new apprenticeship program, orchestrated by PCIA, will create wireless worker training programs that are officially credentialed by the U.S. Department of Labor. Once someone completes the apprenticeships, they will earn a nationally recognized credential of technical proficiency. In an effort to create industrywide standardization and illustrate the push for collaboration, wide-ranging and even competing companies will come together for the apprenticeship program: American Tower, Crown Castle, SBA Communications, CommScope, Midwest Underground Technology and Shenandoah Tower Services.
As a tower climber, you might feel as if this doesn’t affect you directly, but it does. There may be talk about training for future climbers, but with the workshop’s heavy emphasis on safety, training and standardization, tower climbers stand to gain quite a bit. Keep in mind, a climber already knows about the disparity between training and safety at different companies in different positions. This was to raise awareness of safety issues for the people in the offices and in the suits – perhaps more removed from the day-to-day who forget just how dangerous it is. This discussion will hopefully inspire change from the top of a company and filter down. Then a climber won’t have to explain why they won’t work on a site that’s unsafe or how potentially dangerous it is. Thanks to raised awareness, those in charge will hopefully already understand the concern and put safety before completion dates and the bottom line.
Speaking of safety, ever wondered what all that writing on your carabiner meant? Heres’s an interesting breakdown:
Tower news quickies
- Petition to OSHA requesting they do not reduce the fines against Wireless Horizon.
- Man still owes $60,000 after shooting at cell tower.
- NATE announces 2014-2015 STAR Initiative participants.
- Crown Castle in running to bid on Verizon Wireless cell towers.
- Why you shouldn’t use a handle ascender as your backup device.
- Were we all suckered by the mystery “cell phone tower” story?
- Get a full body harness safety poster for your office/worksite.
- Reduced price on “tower hands” t-shirts
Regional/local tower news
- Cell tower ruled out on school property in North Hampton, N.H.
- No urgency apparent in erecting Southern Shores, N.C., cell tower.
- Ligonier Township, Pa., allows cell tower.
- Monterey, Calif., councilwoman denies conflict in cell tower regulations vote.
- Glastonbury, Conn., residents voice concerns about cell tower proposal.
- Cell tower proposal divides Pine Island, N.Y.
- District won’t move forward with cell tower plan in Canal Winchester, Ohio.
- Lookout Mountain, Tenn., officials still weighing cell tower options.
- Meeting about proposed cell tower in Hamilton, Mt., postponed.
- City council denies cell tower at Jersey Pike in Chatanooga, Tenn., after neighborhood group objects.
- Cell tower approved for Chester Park in Duluth, Minn.
- Vote expected on new cell tower rules in Scarborough, Maine.
This week’s edition of cell tower industry news is brought to you by Towercrews.net.