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A New Spate of Deaths In the Wireless Industry

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. More gov't intrusion then by roman_mir · · Score: -1, Troll

    Like I said earlier, as long as the silent or vocal majority wants government to regulate, tax, subsidise, print, there won't be anything left for real justice, real equality and real freedom.

    Workers don't want to die, companies don't want to have a hand in more deaths, companies want to keep their workers, who are apparently in high demand. However all of the existing regulations, taxes, etc., all that burden prevents companies from growing, from hiring.

    If government was interested in actually lowering unemployment, it would stop the regulations, taxes, inflation and subsidies, redistribution, welfare state. Instead there will be more regulations, what do you think that would do?

    It would raise the costs obviously, but it would also further limit employment, it wouldn't provide more jobs with those companies, who are building this infrastructure, it will prevent jobs from appearing. I mean this is infrastructure, the kind of 'shovel ready' work that government officials cheer for supposedly.

    In reality of-course they are only interested in government jobs, nothing else, government jobs are welfare, not real jobs.

    Why am I talking about this?

    Here, quoting:

    "OSHA is taking a close look into factors that may be responsible for this tragic increase in fatalities and, based on those findings, we will initiate additional measures to improve safety in the cell-tower industry," said David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health.

    OSHA has estimated there are roughly 10,000 workers in the U.S. communication tower industry. Ten deaths may not seem like a huge number, but it is enough proportionally to rank the industry among the deadliest in the country.

    In 2008, citing data from 2006 when 18 tower workers died, OSHA said tower climbing was "the most dangerous job in America," ranking it above occupations such as fishing and logging. Fatalities had declined since then, with only one death recorded last year.

    The rise in tower fatalities comes as preliminary data from OSHA show overall workplace fatalities are down in the nine months that ended in June.

    Construction managers say there is so much work this year that many crews are working around the clock and haven't taken days off in weeks. One project manager said crews are working 12- or 16-hour days and, when they get tired, forget to clip on safety lines or clip them on improperly.

    You think a welfare state, taxing, redistribution, regulating helps or prevents employment? If the companies need more workers because the ones on the job are overworked, why do you think companies don't hire more people? It's the costs associated with employing more people. It's not just salaries, it's all the costs added not by any market forces but only by government meddling, this of-course also factors in the cost of the economy that is hurting from inflation, which prevents real capital formation and real economy from restarting.

  2. Re:That's why you should use wired networks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    The pole that you take up your gaping asshole because you can't feel anything smaller anymore.