WASHINGTON-The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health said injuries and fatalities from workers falling from wireless towers are occurring at a substantially greater rate than in other U.S. industries.
“The cost of a phone call should not be a worker’s life,” said NIOSH Director Linda Rosenstock. “With industry, labor and other partners, we in NIOSH are reaching out to employers and workers in this burgeoning industry. We are striving to make them aware of the significant risk of fatal falls and to provide them with information for preventing these tragedies.”
The new NIOSH findings are included in the latest of eight reports on investigations of tower-related deaths.
NIOSH estimates the risk for fatal injuries among telecom tower workers ranges from 49 to 468 injury-related deaths per 100,000 employees, compared with about five deaths per 100,000 employees in all other U.S. industry.
The reason for the wide spread in the estimate is due to difficulty in identifying the number of employees involved in building and maintaining telecom towers, said NIOSH.
Between 1992 and 1997, NIOSH said nearly 100 workers died from falls and other injuries related to tower construction.
“Whether they [mobile-phone and tower firms] are training for safety is a real good question,” said Gregory Sweet, a tower siting expert and president of Acquire Telecom Services in Reno, Nev.
With the government’s telecom competition mandate in the mid-1990s, the level of antenna siting has risen dramatically throughout the country. Wireless carriers, facing four or five competitors per market, are under intense pressure to build out systems and sign up customers.
Carriers, given the capital-intensive nature of tower construction, are increasingly outsourcing tower construction and maintenance.
“There are a lot of people in the tower construction business that were not there a couple of years ago,” said Sweet. Competitive pressures are forcing carriers and tower companies to constantly look for ways to cut costs, he noted.
A Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association spokesman said tower-siting safety is an issue for individual companies and not a policy matter addressed by the trade group.
“Safety is obviously a top concern of ours and we’re justifiably proud of our record,” said Jeff Langdon, vice president of sales and marketing for SBA Communications, a tower firm in Boca Raton, Fla.
Other tower companies and the Federal Communications Commission were contacted for this story, but did not immediately respond for comment.
Based on the eight fatality investigations, NIOSH issued the following recommendations:
Employers should comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Compliance Directive 2-1.29, which describes safe practices in tower access and egress, the proper use of hoists and training of hoist operators, and the use of proper fall protection equipment. Employers should ensure that workers follow these practices.
Employers should ensure that tower erectors are adequately trained in proper climbing techniques.
When employees are working 25 feet or more above ground or on a working surface, employers should provide and ensure the use of 100-percent fall protection. This applies to ascent, descent, moving from point to point, or any other work activity at those heights.
Employers should provide workers with an adequate `work-position device system’ rigged to allow a worker to be supported on an elevated vertical surface while working with both hands free. Connectors on these systems must be compatible with the tower components to which they are attached.
Employers should ensure that gin poles are installed and used according to the specifications of the manufacturer or a professional engineer. Unique to the telecommunications tower industry, a gin pole is a component of a temporary lifting system used to raise workers, equipment, or successive sections of towers into place.
Employers should know and comply with child labor laws, which prohibit hazardous work by young people under 18, including work in any occupations involving the operation of power-driven hoisting equipment.
Tower owners should ensure that OSHA safety measures, including provisions of Compliance Directive 2-1.29, are followed.
Manufacturers and tower owners should consider installing fixtures on tower components during fabrication or erection that would facilitate the use of fall protection systems.
