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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."

2 of 247 comments (clear)

  1. 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/

  2. 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.