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A New Spate of Deaths In the Wireless Industry

Posted by timothy on from the tough-line-of-work dept.

onehitwonder writes "The race to build out advanced cellphone networks in the U.S. has contributed to a spike in deaths among tower workers, making this one of the industry's deadliest years and drawing fresh scrutiny from federal regulators, according to The Wall Street Journal. At least 10 workers have died in falls from communication towers so far this year, and three more were seriously injured. The accidents, nine of which were related to cellphone network work, come during one of the biggest building booms in years, as Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. ramp up major network upgrades in an attempt to catch up with Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc."

7 of 247 comments (clear)

  1. What the fudge.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    10 died this year, that's nothing. In the UK 3 people die each year testing if a 9v battery works on their tongue. 19 people have died in the last 3 years believing that Christmas decorations were chocolate.

    It's not exactly a huge shockwave out of the 313 Million people in America.. wondering why this story even made it here.

  2. Frontline covered this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This isn't anything new. If you have worked in the industry, you know about it. The pressure and competition from cell providers to lower the cost of erecting and maintaining towers has pushed the safety margins to very thin levels. Guys climb with gear far beyond their service life and are asked to work lots of hours.

    Frontline covered this last summer, I think it provides a good summary if you don't know about the topic:

    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/cell-tower-deaths/

    1. Re:Frontline covered this by amiga3D · · Score: 3, Informative

      I agree that happens but in my experience the number one problem is people get complacent. I've come close a couple of times to falling off stands and both times it was simply complacency. You do something long enough and you loose respect for how quickly you can get hurt or die. I've seen people do some of the stupidest stuff too. Many are just plain careless. If anything I'm shocked the number isn't higher.

  3. Acrophobia? Don't watch. by drerwk · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm ok till 1:40.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWxOx2eSqdo Free climbing is allowed by OSHA rules - per comments around 2:00.

    1. Re:Acrophobia? Don't watch. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm ok till 1:40. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWxOx2eSqdo Free climbing is allowed by OSHA rules - per comments around 2:00.

      Don't be silly. Of course it doesn't.

  4. Re:I really don't get it by the_other_chewey · · Score: 3, Informative

    How do you forget to clip on? Even after a decade working in the job how could you possibly forget? It's like forgetting to wait for the cross signal and just walking out into traffic.

    Apparently, it is accepted not to clip on at all.

  5. Re:We're from OSHA by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 4, Informative

    Pretty close. Actually, it's multi-tiered. AT&T lets a national contract, where the winning contractor takes 90% of the profit out of the contract and sub-lets 5 or six regional contracts, where those sub-contractors take 90% of the remaining profit, and sub-let dozens of sub-regional contracts, who take their 90%, and sub-let the actual work to these 10-man outfits, who can't afford enough gear or people to adequately and safely do the job. Then some free-market idiot like the GP comes along and blames the whole thing on the government. FRONTLINE has done several stories and follow-ups on this phenomenon.