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."

Comments

So

[jkflying]

Cellphones ARE deadly after all! /s

Re:So

[Anonymous Coward]

We've known that cell phones are deadly, the only debate was when some nuts thought that the mild additional EM radiation of an antenna by your ear would cause brain cancer.

Here's my favorite non-injury example.

Re:So

[Anonymous Coward]

More than terrorists, at least.

That's why you should use wired networks

[Anonymous Coward]

Faster _and_ less deadly.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[Anonymous Coward]

No you asshole, satellites. Nobody ever fell off a satellite...

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[Anonymous Coward]

People fall off roofs when they mount satellite dishes though.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[Anonymous Coward]

What about Hubble? I heard Hubble is dead.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[jellomizer]

How many people have died crashing into a telephone pole?
I think more then 10.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[Anonymous Coward]

What's a telephone pole? Do you mean the poles that public telephones used to be mounted on? Or the poles that hold up the wires in third world countries where they don't put communication lines in the ground?

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[Anonymous Coward]

Precisely! If we didn't have any of those dang telephone poles, so many innocent drunk drivers would be alive today!

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[cellocgw]

How many people have died crashing into a telephone pole?
I think more then 10.

No need to bet. First Google search results show a report from NJ state gov't with the number 50 -60 deaths per year in that state alone.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[sjames]

If those damned telephone poles would quit getting drunk and jumping into the middle of the road, it wouldn't be a problem.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[Anonymous Coward]

If those damned telephone poles would quit getting drunk and jumping into the middle of the road

Nonono, it isn't the poles that are jumping into the road, it's the road that decided it no longer wanted to run beside the poles.

Re: That's why you should use wired networks

[Anonymous Coward]

Third world countries -- like New England.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[NatasRevol]

Guess where Felix Baumgartner is going next.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[fahrbot-bot]

How many people have died crashing into a telephone pole? I think more then 10.

No need to bet. First Google search results show a report from NJ state gov't with the number 50-60 deaths per year in that state alone.

Many people just haven't learned that there are better ways to get out of NJ.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[petermgreen]

What's a telephone pole?

A pole used to hold up telephone wires.

third world countries where they don't put communication lines in the ground?

I don't know where you live but it's not just third world countries that have overhead telecoms gear.

Here in the UK while city centers and newer suburbs don't tend to have poles older suburbs seem to use a hybrid system where the multipair cable runs in ducts and then up a pole then the final connection to the house (the "dropwire") runs overhead and rural areas often seem to be pure overhead.

In the USA I believe pure telephone poles are actually pretty rare. Normal US practice seems to be to use shared poles that are owned by the power company.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[tompaulco]

Or the poles that hold up the wires in third world countries where they don't put communication lines in the ground?

The poles that hold up the wires in countries where they were smart enough to do a cost-benefit analysis and realized that underground wiring only resulted in 50% fewer outages, while costing 4 to 6 times as much to install and repair.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[tompaulco]

Many people just haven't learned that there are better ways to get out of NJ.

Such as? The surface streets don't go one direction for more than a couple of hundred feet at a time. And if you took the parkway, you'd go broke. Your best bet is probably to jump in the water and hope the current takes you out to sea.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[OhSoLaMeow]

What about Hubble? I heard Hubble is dead.

You're right. He's been dead for almost 50 years!

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[Miamicanes]

> where they were smart enough to do a cost-benefit analysis and realized that underground wiring only resulted in 50% fewer outages,
> while costing 4 to 6 times as much to install and repair.

As opposed to countries where they went a step further & decided that the higher cost of underground wiring was pocket change compared to the impact of service outages?

It's like electricity. From the perspective of end users who need power during anything short of an extinction-level asteroid impact event, it's almost always going to be cheaper to pay the marginal cost of buried infrastructure and hardened generation sites than it is to personally build and maintain their own parallel on-site power generation capabilities. My normal electric bills are ~$180/month. If FPL charged me 2% month more to pay for amortizing the cost of burying the neighborhood power lines out over 25 years, my bills would increase by approximately $43/year. Compare that to the cost of buying even a shit generator that's big enough to wheeze and limp while powering an air conditioner & a few hundred watts of battery chargers & lights. Add in the $35-50/day worth of gasoline it takes to keep it running at 50% load all day during the outage, and even a 10% surcharge starts to look cheap, if only because the net reliability ends up being almost the same, with a lot less individual hassle.

And yes, I said $35-50/day. A typical 5600-watt generator has a 5 gallon tank, and can run for about 8-10 hours at 50% load. $3.50/gallon x 5 gallons/tank x 2.5 tanks/day = $43.75. Add up the total for 2 weeks without power after a hurricane, and you're looking at one HELL of an expensive power bill for the month ($612.50 for 14 days). Balance that against the likelihood of having about 4 weeks of cumulative power outages per decade against the relatively long service life of buried power lines, and buried infrastructure starts to look like an *incredibly* good bargain.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[knorthern knight]

> If those damned telephone poles would quit getting drunk and
> jumping into the middle of the road, it wouldn't be a problem.

You mean like so?

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/11/20/miscommunication-leads-to-hydro-pole-in-the-middle-of-a-quebec-roadway

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/11/19/dangerous-driving-power-pole-appears-smack-in-the-middle-of-quebec-highway/

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[sjames]

It sure seems like someone was drunk!

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[cusco]

It depends on the locality. Normally "shared" poles aren't really that. Whoever hangs wire off them leases that right. If the power company owns the poles they will lease the right to use them to the telephone company, cable company, or maybe a private company that wants its own telecom infrastructure between sites, for $X per pole. It can get really complicated in some areas when the owner of the property where the pole is situated can get a portion of the lease, and even sometimes the owner of the property that the cables pass over. In some places there are companies that only own poles, none of the wires that attach to them. Utilities have entire departments that do nothing but deal with this.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[tompaulco]

My normal electric bills are ~$180/month. If FPL charged me 2% month more to pay for amortizing the cost of burying the neighborhood power lines out over 25 years, my bills would increase by approximately $43/year.

But the estimated cost of burying the lines underground was $40,000 per customer based on a study by NorthEast Utilities after the recent hurricane. And that it would take 40 years. Amortized over 40 years, you would be looking at an increased cost of $1,000 per year. For you, that is about a 50% increase. Maybe it would be cheaper in Florida. No mountains, and you're just digging in sand. Of course, it is going under the roadways and whatnot that costs you.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[Miamicanes]

When pressed after Hurricane Andrew, FPL came up with a completely bogus estimate that was so outrageous, even they could barely deliver it with a straight face. The reason WHY it was completely outrageous was the fact that traditionally, the assumption has been that people want power lines buried for aesthetic reasons, so it's fair to make them pay the full cost of doing it in a way that makes FPL completely 100% happy.

When FPL semi-voluntarily buries lines, it demands a 20' dedicated easement adjacent to a paved road. In roughly 70% of South Florida, that means their estimate included the cost of acquiring by eminent domain literally the entire front yards of half the city. Moreover, they demand a vacant lot per block for the transformer pad, which literally escalated the projected cost to more than a trillion dollars since actually doing it would have required buying a house on each block by eminent domain and demolishing it.

Oh, and their "plan" called for FIRST burying the high-voltage transmission lines, which are the most expensive lines you can possibly bury, and the ones that are generally repaired within a day or two of a hurricane *anyway*... as opposed to the lower-voltage neighborhood lines that are the ones that end up getting shredded by anything that vaguely resembles a hurricane, and take weeks to repair.

In other countries, particularly in Europe, they don't insist upon bulldozing an entire corridor the width of a city street and dedicating it forever to the exclusive use of the power company... they just bore small tunnels under streets & alleys without disturbing a single 400 year old cobblestone, and go to the trouble of finding ways to gracefully shoehorn the transformer equipment into some spot where it won't be unreasonably intrusive. Only in America is it considered sane and normal to allow investor-owned power companies to dictate absurd terms that turn a project that would be "expensive" into a project that would cost more than the entire Apollo space program (adjusted for inflation), and involve buying approximately 5% of the state's urban land area for brand new utility corridors (as opposed to... well... just burying the new underground cables in the same 10' wide rear easement that the poles are in now).

One city in South Florida (Coral Gables) was so angry and outraged by FPL, it was literally preparing to fund a study to take FPL's existing corridors by eminent domain and form a city-owned cooperative to bury and maintain new underground lines (built in existing utility easements) themselves. Unfortunately, FPL went to Tallahassee, screamed "Socialism!", and got a law passed that now makes it almost impossible for cities (even relatively large & wealthy ones) to independently build their own power & fiber infrastructure (basically, they'd have to prove they could pay the capital costs in full within an absurdly short timeframe, and get the county to act as guarantor for the bonds & accept liability for the full unpaid balance if the city defaulted).

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[Miamicanes]

^^^ Correction: the estimate was post-Wilma. Everyone understood why we had no power for 2 weeks after Andrew. 3-4 weeks without power after Wilma, however, was just inexcusable. Andrew was a category 5 hurricane whose eyewall passed directly over the southern half of Coral Gables, and spanked the northern half pretty badly too. Wilma was a little category 3 hurricane whose eyewall didn't even pass directly over Coral Gables, and didn't even do a whole lot of damage to the city besides shredding the power lines. Coral Gables wasn't the only angry city, but it was definitely the least shy about making its displeasure with FPL's entire handling of Wilma's aftermath & trying to do an end run around FPL to solve the problem for itself once and for all.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[mysidia]

How many people have died crashing into a telephone pole?

Apparently workers who died laying comms cable or building wired comms infrastructure because they got hit by a car, don't count as accidents attributed to wired technology: whereas, falling off a wireless tower does count as accidents attributed to wireless.

That's not really fair, now is it.

Re:That's why you should use wired networks

[Anonymous Coward]

Line losses absolutely explode when you bury power lines. Air is a very good insulator, damp soil is not. Putting the power lines under ground would probably increase our coal usage 25% a year.

Re: That's why you should use wired networks

[Anonymous Coward]

This is called way leaves with payments to the land owner and the dno and telecom companies do it in the uk too. Funny story a guy wanted a pole that also supplied his house removed the dno said okay but we will not lay new cables to your house result pole stayed

We're from OSHA

[Anonymous Coward]

and we're here to "help".

Re:We're from OSHA

[The-Ixian]

From what I understand, the problem is that OSHA cannot easily enforce existing safety standards because of the way the business of Cell phone tower work is structured.
 
The parent company, say AT&T, hires a contracting house to oversee all tower related projects which, in turn, hires hundreds of small contractors, many of which are less than 10 employees, to do the actual tower climbing.
 
The small companies are often the lowest bidders and, as a result, operate with a very thin profit margin and cut corners on safety in order to maximize profit. Couple this with the heavy pressure to complete projects in a very fast time frame and you have a recipe for disaster that regulators cannot really get a handle on.
 
Sure, OSHA can shut down any number of the small contractors, but they will just be replaced. AT&T, at the same time, can pay lip service to safety all they want but their hands are clean since they can just point to the contracting agency they hired to oversee their towers.
 
Obviously, there needs to be some more political will to regulate things closer to the top of the chain, I just wonder how many people need to die in order to generate that will.

Re:We're from OSHA

[Anonymous Coward]

How to scare a republican:

We're from the government and we're here to help.

How to get a republican to cream their pants:

We're from the DOD and we're here to help.

Re:We're from OSHA

[Anonymous Coward]

Obviously, there needs to be some more political will to regulate things closer to the top of the chain, I just wonder how many people need to die in order to generate that will.

One, but they have to be important, or at least a media darling.

Re:We're from OSHA

[Anonymous Coward]

You're on the money, but it is worst than that.

These jobs used to be all in house (at AT&T and Verizon anyway). Too many people fell and died, and they paid out too much money. They laid off everyone doing this sort of work, and turned to outsourcers for the reasons you stated. Some of the contractors submitted proposals with references to safety standards and were told to take them out of the proposals, that was their problem and AT&T wanted to know nothing about it.

This problem is also wider than cell phone tower deaths. AT&T in particular outsources many of it's jobs to small contracting companies, making sure none of them are more than 10-20 people. Why? They don't pay overtime. They are hourly positions with no time and a half. The small contracting companies can't force that in their contracts with AT&T, but have to do what they are told if they want the business. Several have been sued by their employees and gone under. Mean time AT&T moves on to other contractors. It's effectively an easy way for AT&T to insure they never pay overtime to hourly workers by burning up small companies.

Re:We're from OSHA

[Princeofcups]

Obviously, there needs to be some more political will to regulate things closer to the top of the chain, I just wonder how many people need to die in order to generate that will.

But not having cheap disposable labor means less profit for the executives and board to hoard. The days of government taking care of the workers is well in the past.

Re:We're from OSHA

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

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.

Re:We're from OSHA

[X0563511]

Solution? Don't contract for AT&T. Can't survive otherwise? Maybe you shouldn't be in that business, then.

Re:We're from OSHA

[asmkm22]

Which is exactly what the article said...

Re:We're from OSHA

[Anonymous Coward]

Danger: "Magic of the market" thinking detected.

This is a bit like saying "Don't like Windows? Don't work with Microsoft". AKA, not an option in the vast majority of the business world.

To put it another way, you don't technically need a car. This is true on the face of it, but in reality, without a car you better live downtown if you want to not be late to work every day.

Re:We're from OSHA

[Anonymous Coward]

That would work if it weren't for the constant oversupply of labor. People get desperate.

Now if you want to make the social safety net so good that it's better than one of these jobs...

Re: We're from OSHA

[Anonymous Coward]

Wouldn't say, a tower workers union be a good thing right about now then?

Having done some tower work, last I heard it varied state to state as unions do, and being blackballed was a risk if you made waves. Granted it wasn't cellular work, but after talking to enough tower monkeys, it sounded just as most people fear: Big Industry cutting corners and safety to the lowest bidder to maximize profits.

Similar things happened at the Deep Horizon Well, did it not?

And once again, it goes back to regulation, oversight, and OSHA. But politicians are lobbied, systemic fixes put on hold since profits now, matter more than people.

The cynic in me would die if there wasn't so much wrong with Big Industry in th US.

Re:We're from OSHA

[AvitarX]

The problem is that the solution is to act unlawfully and stay in business (unless you're unlucky and employees sue), or to not have a business. You can argue about the validity of labor laws, but in this case the options are to violate them at AT&T's encouragement or to stop doing business. AT&T doesn't need to worry about it, as they are isolated, but is essentially funding massive amounts of illegal work.

There will always be a supply corrupt employers willing to violate their workers' rights, that's why we need to monitor regulations to some extent (but not too much, the correct balance is where things become tricky).

Re:We're from OSHA

[Anonymous Coward]

How long have those contractors been working for AT&T and do they work only on AT&T Contracts?

Aah, now we have grounds for a wage theft lawsuit.

Not only should the company be held liable, the managers and accountants who came up with it need to go to prison and do hard time. They know Damn Well hiring some fucking kid and paying them $X per pole to climb a 1000ft pole is going to motivate them to climb safely and make $28,000 a year or climb unsafely and make $40,000+ a year. These people can't form a union, and there's always some dumb fuck desperate and stupid enough to do this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_-7Qp7uzbQ

Notice the architecture of the pole. The guy is free climbing, and often holding onto an aged metal bar with both hands, notice the point when he relaxes, what happens if that goes "TINK" due to a defect? What happens when that rusts? Who keeps track of the maintenance? Aah, more negligence?

FUCK the managers and accountants who come up with that SHIT. Fuck them, Fuck their bonuses, Fuck their raises, Fuck their Jobs, Fuck their bosses.

Obligatory: Nobody likes ATT.

Re:We're from OSHA

[tibit]

Out of the dozen+ things that were done oh just so wrong, here's just one: The safety strap is never supposed to be carabineered to one of those L-shaped steel rod steps. It takes nothing much to either have the carabineer simply slide off, or for a corroded rod to be snapped off the structure. You're supposed to wrap it around the structural element (the vertical pipe), carabineer to itself, forming a loop. The steps should merely act as vertical supports, not lateral supports, with all of the lateral loads taken up by the vertical pipe.

What this video shows is the height of wholly unnecessary disregard for your own life. Courage, my ass.

Re:We're from OSHA

[Anonymous Coward]

They know Damn Well hiring some fucking kid and paying them $X per pole to climb a 1000ft pole is going to motivate them to climb safely and make $28,000 a year or climb unsafely and make $40,000+ a year.

It's an education problem. The 'fucking kids' can't do math:

$28,000 * alive > $40,000 * dead

Re:We're from OSHA

[jbengt]

AT&T in particular outsources many of it's jobs to small contracting companies, making sure none of them are more than 10-20 people. Why? They don't pay overtime. They are hourly positions with no time and a half.

Clients almost never pay overtime to any contractor, unless the contract includes requirements like "The Work shall be performed at nights and on weekends to avoid disruption to the Owner's operations." It is the contractor's responsibility to manage their work load vs work force as they need to avoid paying their workers any overtime that might otherwise be required. I suspect AT&T doesn't care whether the workers are paid overtime or not - once the contract went to the lowest bidder all AT&T would care about is that the work got done correctly and on time.

Re:We're from OSHA

[Anonymous Coward]

. Courage, my ass.

I agree. The GP is railing about managers and accountants but this individual had a proper safety device and was not using it effectively. Seriously, the only thing I think was missing was a second strap so at no time the climber needs to be disconnected from structure.

Re:We're from OSHA

[tompaulco]

The towers themselves suck mightily too. I remember a video where a guy was climbing a tower and after the ladder ran out, he was basically just climbing up the crossbeams. He had a belt and clips, but in most places there wasn't anything to clip onto, so he just freeclimbed with no backup.

Re: We're from OSHA

[Anonymous Coward]

training ... two safety straps are required, you must have two so that you are never unkooked. it is stupid to not be safe. i climbed towers for 15 years. it is not rocket science to stay safe.

Re: We're from OSHA

[tibit]

Agreed. There probably is a second strap, just not in use. It's just recklessness, cubed.

Re: We're from OSHA

[Anonymous Coward]

look, half the country wants to give illeegal aliens our jobs, the other half wants to get rid of them.

can't we just increase h1-b's and call it even?

Re:We're from OSHA

[DigiShaman]

Yes, safety should be paramount when doing manual labor. But assuming that's already in place (which it's not), the market is still way too saturated. Hell, you might even be able to charge 18 year olds for the "thrill" and "excitement" of help building the nations greatest cell network one summer at a time.

What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:What the fudge..

[amiga3D]

Because every life is precious.

Re:What the fudge..

[ericloewe]

Care to explain how a 9V battery can kill someone, other than by trying to ingest it?

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

it whooshes your neurons.

Re:What the fudge..

[qwijibo]

Probably gross stupidity. Could be people tried to swallow the 9V battery because it was tingly and it got lodged in their throat, or maybe they didn't understand the concept of a 9V battery and instead tested a 9mm handgun with their tongue. All things that have 9 in the name are the same, right? =)

Re:What the fudge..

[RobertLTux]

blood contact and getting current across the heart can do it (but in most cases your heart can be restarted)

the difference between a 9 volt source killing you and a 9K volt source killing you is how "crispy" your remains are

Re:What the fudge..

[compro01]

A 9V battery can (briefly) supply several amps of current if shorted. Even just a small fraction of that going along the wrong path can wreck your heart rhythm.

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah so we should have an outrage and do something every time someone does something stupid.

Most, if not all of these 10 deaths were because they hadn't taken proper care and precaution. I believe it's called Darwinism at it's best.

9V battery; in certain freak cases, the battery can make an almost direct connection to the nervous system where the nerves are close to the surface and the skin is wet, thus ionising the nerves so that they will not work correctly. Result is death.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/28/the_odd_body_death_by_battery/

He adds: "It cannot be entirely excluded however. If a person is very ill, for example, has heart problems, or has a heart pacemaker that could be disrupted, and so on, they could possibly die from testing the battery in this way. But normally it wouldn't happen."

NORMALLY.. but then NORMALLY you don't die during this type of work either.

Re:What the fudge..

[aitikin]

FTA:

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.

So every one in one thousand dies on the job. I'd say that's a pretty high mortality rate for the US.

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

Because every life is precious.

Mine isn't. I'm a waste of human flesh.

Re:What the fudge..

[Trimaxion]

Everybody knows that the value of a life depends on your monkeysphere: http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html

Re:What the fudge..

[jellomizer]

Because every news article that gets a clickable add is precious.

FTFY

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

blood contact and getting current across the heart can do it (but in most cases your heart can be restarted)

Given this discussion was about a 9V battery on your tongue, I think we need to have a long talk with you about basic human anatomy, RobertLTux.

By the way, remind me never to get lunch with you.

Re:What the fudge..

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

Because every life is precious.

Mine isn't. I'm a waste of human flesh.

You're an AC, so that's pretty much axiomatic.

Re:What the fudge..

[dkleinsc]

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

Because a person shouldn't have to take completely unnecessary risks in order to make a living, all so that a major publicly traded company can save a few bucks.

Re:What the fudge..

[operagost]

There's no reason why putting the 9V across your tongue, nowhere near your heart, would kill you. I couldn't find a single instance on the internet of someone being killed or seriously injured in this way. I tested a lot of batteries this way as a kid-- and several were indeed quite live-- and was never injured.

Re:What the fudge..

[operagost]

That would be a problem if you tested it by wetting your chest and placing the leads across your heart, I guess.

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, if you stupidly jammed electrodes through your chest, across your heart's AV node, then connected the ends of the electrodes to the 9V battery, you'd probably die.

Licking the top of the 9V isn't going to put any more electrons across your heart's nervous system.

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

10,000 workers. 10 die per year. That's 1 in 1,000. If you work the job for 25 years it's a 2.5% chance of dying on the job. That's too high for tower technicians.

Re:What the fudge..

[amiga3D]

The amazing thing is that it was pure sarcasm and got modded as insightful. Damn.

Re:What the fudge..

[hypergreatthing]

What exactly are you implying? Were they forced up a tower at gun point? Are you saying out of the thousand of workers who regularly climb towers and don't fall and injure themselves, these 10 workers were denied proper safety training and equipment?

It's a bit hard to determine why it happened, but please don't just assume it was just so that companies can make a few extra bucks, and i won't just assume it's because of gross negligence on the part of the worker.

Re:What the fudge..

[dywolf]

how do you die by putting a 9v on your tongue?

Re:What the fudge..

[dywolf]

still cant possibly see how the "shortest/least resistive" path could possibly be through the heart when both contacts are on the tongue.

Re:What the fudge..

[qwijibo]

We're not talking rocket surgeons here. It's simple, these people had alligator clips, swallowed one end, had it tear through the esophagus, got wedged near the heart, then the battery contacted the tongue on one side and the other alligator clip on the other side, making the heart part of the path of least resistance. It's Occam's razor here - the simplest, most obvious answer is probably correct.

Re:What the fudge..

[qwijibo]

Sorry, I forgot one other possible, obvious reason - the person licked a 9V battery instead of handing over their wallet during a mugging, and was shot. Cause of death is the gunshot wound, but how negligent would the coroner be if they did not conclude that licking the 9V battery was the proximate cause of death?

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

If im gonna ask, "how can you die of that", your answer cannot be "Darwin was shooting lightning bolts from the sky"...

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

Because, if the safety regulations where followed, they probably would not have died. Usually workers are not keen on climbing to a huge tower without safetly gear, but current business politics is basically "fuck you, do it in half the time you'd need with the gear, or we get a mexican to do it".

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

Blood conducts pretty well. Think 'down the veins, across the heart, up the arteries'.

Re:What the fudge..

[geek]

What exactly are you implying? Were they forced up a tower at gun point?

"Jackson! Head up that fucking pole and meet your god damned quota or I fire your ass and your kids starve next week!"

We saw this same shit with truck drivers driving while tired and killing people. Being fired from your job and facing financial hardships is far more traumatic than having a gun drawn on you.

Re:What the fudge..

[hypergreatthing]

so then unionize.
Or have they been too demonized that even though they fight for working conditions, safety and pay by grouping everyone together, you'd rather go solo and leave it up to the company you work for who's sole interest is making the most money?
Hmm, choices...

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

Any person using FTFY or fixing my postings will receive a US$50.00 reward

FTFY.

Re:What the fudge..

[tompaulco]

So every one in one thousand dies on the job. I'd say that's a pretty high mortality rate for the US.

Yes, it would make this job the third most dangerous after fishing and logging, although for some reason, tower worker didn't make the list. Of course last year, there was only one death according to the article. 10,000 workers is not a very high number and the numbers of deaths bouncing from 1 one year to 18 another year means that, as expected for such a small ratio, the standard deviation is going to be huge and one cannot cite on particular years statistics as a meaningful indicator.

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

Considering that there are like, 18 jobs in the US (despite claims that unemployment is down), this is actually a big deal.

But seriously, those guys are allowed to free-climb at over 1,000 feet. See here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A_h2AjJaMw

Warning*** Watching this may make your hands clammy.

Re:What the fudge..

[dkleinsc]

"Jackson! If you even think of forming a union, we're going to lock everyone out and your kids starve next week!"

Sure, firing someone for considering unionizing is illegal, but Congress has been doing everything it can to prevent the government body responsible for enforcing that law (the NLRB) from being able to function, thus rendering the law toothless.

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

I fire your ass and your kids starve next week!

This is about the US, where we provide food stamps so the agricultural corps' income doesn't go down when people have less income.

Re:What the fudge..

[evilviper]

Care to explain how a 9V battery can kill someone, other than by trying to ingest it?

If you have you tongue on one contact, and the other side touches your lip, you've got a much longer circuit than just across your tongue. Your circulatory system being what it is, the shortest path in that instance may go right through your brain... dead.

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

how do you die by putting a 9v on your tongue?

Are you looking for a murder or a suicide howto ?

Re:What the fudge..

[pspahn]

That is, until the US corporation is bought out by an overseas corporation. See: InBev and hops farmers.

Re:What the fudge..

[couchslug]

"Because every life is precious."

In a nation of over 300 million people, 10 deaths isn't even background noise.

The ONLY reason it's here is towery falls are DRAMATIC.

If we rank by fucking "preciousness", where's the publicity about the hundreds of thousands killed by medical mistakes? Not dramatic, so not news.

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

Because every life is precious.

Mine isn't. I'm a waste of human flesh.

You're an AC, so that's pretty much axiomatic.

Fear not, I'm fixing the problem. I'm going to rig a bulldozer to start and move forward on a timer. The 'dozer will then push the mound of dirt that I've created by digging my own grave, into the hole, thus filling it up over my dead body (after digging the hole and setting the timer, I will of course climb back in the hole and shoot myself). The grave will be near a cliff, so the dozer will continue on plowing over the cliff, harmlessly tumbling down into the unpopulated canyon. This way I will dispose of myself without having to inconvenience anyone else.

Unless anyone has a better system for filling in your own grave after you've killed yourself?

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

They have harnesses, but usually choose to operate without attaching them.

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

Well there are some arteries running right up under your lower molars. It's why those teeth are particularly prone to infection. Pretty sure a blood stream is a more conductive path than soft tissue.

Re:What the fudge..

[pnutjam]

Put the fill dirt on a large tarp secured to the edge of the hole at one side. Attach the other side to a series of pulley's that allow your body weight to lift said amount of dirt. Attach rope to stretcher, stand in front of stretcher and shoot yourself falling back onto said stretcher (more of a backboard). Body will sink on backboard into the hole and pull up the tarp dumping dirt over your body and filling in the grave.

gotta be cheaper then a dozer

Re:What the fudge..

[Anonymous Coward]

Because every life is precious.

As long as they aren't brownish foreigners. Those lives come pretty cheap.

Local white children, well, there's no action too aggressive or too socially damaging if it saves even one local white child from the mildest sort of distress. Zero tolerance to the max!

And here's where that ends up... old men in dresses protecting the youngest, whitest, most local children of all... Thanks, folks, be sure to try the cheese dip.

Tie off

[Anonymous Coward]

Rule 1. If you are climbing anything, you fucking tie off.

Re:Tie off

[JustOK]

You seem pretty secure on your high horse.

Re:Tie off

[Anonymous Coward]

That's because he's tied off.

Re:Tie off

[jellomizer]

I am willing to bet even with all the rules and regulations in the world, there will be 10 deaths a year due to 10 guys who think they are super men, and doesn't need that safety equipment and will do their job without it, no matter how much it is enforced.

Re:Tie off

[LordEntropy444]

That's because he's tied off.

And the Wichita lineman, is still on the line... Wait , maybe not!

Re:Tie off

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd be more interested to know if any of these deaths were from safety equipment malfunction or misuse. The article seems to imply all of the deaths were from non-use. You can train someone to use equipment but it's up to the worker to use it. If it's malfunction and in some cases of misuse, the company training these people need to revisit what they're training.

Re:Tie off

[mcgrew]

In the electrical industry those guys are not only fired, but fired with the union's blessing.

Re:Tie off

[sjames]

At the same time, if the job will take an hour when proper safety measures are followed but if you take more than 45 minutes, you're fired, the fault lies with management. It's not uncommon for employers to pay lip service to safety but then structure things to assure it will be ignored.

If we had a real social safety net that eliminated desperation at the bottom, the market MIGHT take care of this, but we don't so it can't.

Re:Tie off

[linuxbert]

Why is this Modded 0?? its true.
if you fall off a tower, its because you didn't protect yourself properly. Most often people dont clip onto the proper thing, or they are unclipped, or their harness is too loose. falls are completely preventable.

Yes the employer has a responsibility to train employees, and ensure equipment is up to snuff and used properly. A fall protection harness, and lanyard is $160 its not an excessive cost.
39$ for Harness http://www.globalindustrial.ca/p/safety/protection/harnesses/safelight-fall-protection-harness-10910-universal-size
118 for a climbing lanyard http://www.globalindustrial.ca/p/safety/protection/lanyards/safeabsorb-dual-leg-elast-combo-lanyard-fall-protection-safety-equipment

Re:Tie off

[fredklein]

At the same time, if the job will take an hour when proper safety measures are followed but if you take more than 45 minutes, you're fired, the fault lies with management. It's not uncommon for employers to pay lip service to safety but then structure things to assure it will be ignored.

A simple letter/email to your boss with pointing this out ("safe practices take one hour, minimum, you say it must be done in 45minutes- are you telling me to be unsafe?"), and requesting a (written) response usually sort these matters out. None but the stupidest manager will put their job on the line by stating in writing that you must not follow standard safety practices. And the ones that do... you sue.

Re:Tie off

[Anonymous Coward]

We can tell your joke is still meant to be taken seriously. Honestly, you're a moron. Either you climb up that tower and attach yourself securely, and don't fall, or your employer is forcing you not to do so and you should leave and find a new one.

Re:Tie off

[sjames]

Of course the manager won't state it in writing. He'll just misplace your letter and notice that the crew is one man larger than needed. Guess who has to go?

Re:Tie off

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually it is a matter of opinion/definition whose responsibility it is that the equipment is used.
In Sweden for example it is considered the companies responsibility to ensure safety equipment is used - by instructing and if necessary by firing people.
As a result, if workers haven't been using safety equipment, the company will be fined.
Removes any kind of incentive for workers to skip it (or managers to encourage it) "for the job" or "for the company", since they know it most likely will cost the company and lose their job.
All the those benefits only for the cost of a few "unfair" fines.

Re:Tie off

[evilviper]

even with all the rules and regulations in the world, there will be 10 deaths a year due to 10 guys who think they are super men, and doesn't need that safety equipment and will do their job without it, no matter how much it is enforced.

Except one of the ten had his harness clipped on, but to a weak part of the structure that broke when he slipped... Inadequate training killed him.

And installing proper safety gear on the towers could completely eliminate any slowdowns, so there'd be no reason NOT to be secured:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4117967&cid=44647495

Re:Tie off

[Anonymous Coward]

But they'll never say "do it in 45 or you're fired", they'll simply say "do it faster, your production metrics are lower than Jimbo (who doesn't ever follow safety rules)".

Frontline covered this

[Anonymous Coward]

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/

Re:Frontline covered this

[amiga3D]

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.

Re:Frontline covered this

[Anonymous Coward]

When PBS showed the Frontline on cell tower deaths in my area, it was advertised as cell tower deaths and listed as such in the guide; but then aired as the 30 min of cell tower deaths immediately followed by a Frontline documentary on another facet of the financial meltdown that I was little aware:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/mf-global-six-billion-dollar-bet/

Weird, since the listings for PBS are usually spot on and all the Frontlines I have watched were an hour long.

Re:Frontline covered this

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot has been showering me with mod points for some reason. Posting anonymously again. :/

> If you have worked in the industry, you know about it.

As I write this, I just sent a three man screw to replace the beacons on a 700' tower for one of our 100,000 watt FMs here in Birmingham. I told them, "I want the work done quickly and correctly, but I will not kill anyone for it." Before I send anyone up on my towers, I personally check to make sure they know what they're doing and that they have good equipment. I've never lost anyone, not even when we were strengthening a 1300' tower up in Cullman, AL about 10 years ago (that's EXTREMELY dangerous work, as you probably know -- you remove the old horizontals, then replace them with new, stronger ones; one slip up and down she comes).

(And for the curious, replacing the three old incandescent flashing beacons with new LED units is costing us about $4,000 in labor. The lights were another $5800.)

OSHA is useless. It boils down to money: make it to where it costs these wireless companies more to have someone get hurt or killed on a tower, and they'll suddenly become very interested in safety. :)

I once called the owner of the company that does most of our work and flatly told him that one of his guys wasn't going to climb my tower because he was acting spaced and weird. Turns out the guy's wife had left him and he was messed up in the head. I didn't want his death on my conscience.

(If you work for a tower company, you know that this is a big problem, too. Spouses complain -- and cheat -- when their husbands are gone for weeks at a time. That does NOT help their mental attitude when they're climbing straight up several hundred feet.)

Re:Frontline covered this

[Anonymous Coward]

But you're blaming individuals, not corporations. How did you get modded up?

Re:Frontline covered this

[amiga3D]

Corporations sometimes deserve the blame. They don't do enough to train employees is the number one problem with companies. Often they don't demand compliance by employees. Supervisors are under pressure to produce so if they notice employees taking chances to speed things up they often ignore violations. Still most companies are sensitive to workman's comp. claims and OSHA fines. It's cheaper to do things right than to have to clean up accidents and pay medical bills. Most management has been brought to understand the real bottom line. I do know that many of my coworkers get annoyed by what they consider unnecessary safety regs that hinder them from performing tasks and moving on quickly. To have to climb to the ground and take the time to shut off equipment is annoying when you're in a hurry and just want to get finished with an annoying problem. It's important to have the kind of safety climate in place to get people to go the extra distance to be safe.

Re: Frontline covered this

[Anonymous Coward]

What Frontline showed was
1. Workers not using safety equipment and safe procedures - in violation of subs rules and foreman instructions.
2. A sub that had a fatality due to #1 going out of business
3. AT&T monitoring their subs for safety and when AT&T had safety concerns, ordering a one day stand down to reinforce the importance of safety, using safety equipment, and using safe procedures. This was spun by Frontline as a sham.
4. AT&T putting strong language in contracts in regards to safety expectations - and terminating contractors with poor safety records.

So the "greedy corporate bastards" theme is handy for making cliched movies and TV shows. But what Frontline showed, in spite of the constant negative and cynical tone, was a corporation that was pro-active in establishing safety expectations - and following through to insure safe procedures were implemented and obeyed.

I really don't get it

[Russ1642]

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.

Re:I really don't get it

[Chris Mattern]

It's like forgetting to wait for the cross signal and just walking out into traffic.

And you think people don't do that too?

Re:I really don't get it

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe they were texting?

Re:I really don't get it

[compro01]

How do you forget to clip on?.

"working 12- or 16-hour days"
"haven't taken days off in weeks"

Exhaustion results in errors.

Re:I really don't get it

[EvanED]

...and you think people don't do that? :-)

Anyway, it's not a new phenomenon in some sense. A lot of rock climbing gyms have systems called auto-belays, which are systems that let a single person just walk up to the wall, clip a carabiner from it into their harness, and climb.

And people forget to do that. They just go up to the wall, don't clip in, climb to the top of the wall, let go as if they were on autobelay, and then get to take a medevac ride.

A gym somewhat near me has posters around the gym with x-rays of someone who did that there saying "be sure that you clip in!!!"

Re:I really don't get it

[the_other_chewey]

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.

Re:I really don't get it

[jellomizer]

Simple,
After many decades of doing your job, your fear of heights goes down to near 0. So you just don't think of it as a major thing to remember or forget.
I sometimes forget my glasses, or something else I do every day, just because I don't rate it as a high priority thing.

Re:I really don't get it

[gstoddart]

How do you forget to clip on?

People don't forget this ... usually they decide it's too inconvenient and don't bother. People just get complacent over time.

But, I believe there are some exceptions where you don't need to be clipped in because there are other risks involved. Something about moving yourself and your tools making situations in which people are allowed to not be clipped in. And I'm pretty sure this kind of tower might be one of those.

Re:I really don't get it

[HornWumpus]

I know an injection molding machine operator that likes to change heater band fuses with the heaters still on (220Volts).

He is an _idiot_, but it's not like he doesn't know not to do that. It's not like we haven't yelled at him/threatened to fire him. If I see that again he's gone and he knows it.

I asked his kids to talk to him about it. Maybe they will get through to him. All that means is he will find something else stupid to do.

Lots of dangerous things really have low odds of killing you. Doesn't mean you should play.

Re:I really don't get it

[Anonymous Coward]

They're all union riggers. They killed themselves. Sorry.

Re:I really don't get it

[ppanon]

Yep. You zone out thinking about something else for 20-30 secs while waiting for the light to change. You look up to see if the light's changed yet, but look at the wrong light (because your brain is still partially occupied with what it was thinking about) and start going when you shouldn't. This is even more likely if you're at a complex intersection with multiple signals (i.e. for left advance turns).

Re:I really don't get it

[nbauman]

How do you forget to clip on? Even after a decade working in the job how could you possibly forget? I

They don't forget. They don't bother, because it takes longer, and they're being pushed to get as much work done as possible. To prevent people from getting killed, you need a safety system. That requires government regulators, unions, and employers that are all committed to safety. We don't have those any more.

If an employer cared about their employees' lives, they would require them to clip on and fire them if they didn't. It's the employer's choice.

There's a similar situation with trench collapses, which is one of the major causes of workplace deaths.

If you do it right, you dig a trench with a back hoe, and reinforce the sides of the trenches with sheets of plywood and lumber.

If you don't do it right, and you don't reinforce the sides, you can save a lot of time and money. So many contractors don't do it.

But if you don't reinforce the sides, the trenches can collapse and kill the workers inside.

If you hire the lowest-bidding contractors, they're under pressure to work fast and skip the reinforcement.

In fact, if a contractor doesn't work fast and skip the reinforcement, they'll lose the bid to somebody who does, and they'll go out of business.

That's one of the problems with the unregulated free market. They're under a darwinian pressure to work unsafely and let workers die.

The only way to stop workers from dying is to have strong outside regulation forcing contractors to work in a safer, slower, and more expensive way.

You need strong state and federal workplace safety inspectors enforcing the safety rules. We don't have that any more. The states and federal governments cut back on workplace safety regulations since the 1970s. One of the leaders in cutting budgets for workplace safety was Ronald Reagan, who as governor cut back on the budget for CalOSHA, which was doing some of the best safety research in the country. I used to read their studies of workplace electrical accidents.

How often does an OSHA inspector show up at a job site? There are 2,200 OSHA inspectors and 8 million worksites. https://www.osha.gov/oshstats/commonstats.html You do the math. (BTW, falls and electrocutions are almost totally preventable.)

Shrink the government, get more workplace deaths.

You also need a strong union. Workers can't do things the slow, safe way if they'll get fired for it.

These wireless workers aren't even employees. The subcontractors hire them as "independent contractors," so they're not responsible for worker's compensation or liability. It's like the newspapers that hired teenagers to deliver their newspapers by bicycle. The newspapers weren't responsible if the "little merchant" got hit by a truck.

You also need employers who care about their workers, invest in their workers, and are willing to spend more to prevent their workers from being injured. Fat chance finding a company like that today. That also went out in the '70s. The old unionized monopolies were inefficient, but they could afford to spend money on employee safety.

So that's why those wireless workers are dying. It's because of the way our economic system is structured.

Re:I really don't get it

[nbauman]

I used to go rock climbing in the Shawangunks, and sometimes I would climb some with some guys from the MIT outing club.

Once I was starting on a climb, and the MIT leader looked at my waist. He said, "Your rope isn't tied right." I thought it was tied safely, with several extra hitches, but it wasn't tied exactly the way it should be. He made me retie it, and made sure I understood how it was supposed to be tied.

One weekend a guy from Switzerland was climbing. Some of the Europeans were cavalier about safety. He just tied a bowline around his waist, and didn't bother with any safety hitches. He was climbing about 150 feet up, slipped, the rope came off, and he fell to his death.

People don't go rock climbing alone. It's the responsibility of the leader, and everybody else on the team, to make sure that everybody follows the safety rules.

It's simple. If you have one more person checking the rope, fewer people die.

And I would ask all those "individual responsibility" blowhards: Have you ever had to tell parents that their son died?

Re:I really don't get it

[cusco]

It's like forgetting to wait for the cross signal

I grew up in a tourist town. Almost twice as many people got killed there crossing with the light as jaywalking, because jaywalkers look at the traffic and don't assume that they'll be fine because the light says that things are all hunky dory. To this day the only time that I actually wait for the light is when my wife is with me and insists.

The herd instinct is strong in people, though. Crossed the street against the light a couple of weeks ago and the whole group of 10 or so who had been waiting followed me. Suddenly I heard a rather plaintive voice saying, "What are we doing? The light's still red!" Rather amusingly a few days later the entire street was completely closed to traffic because of a crime scene investigation, and still all day the herds of people waited at the corner for the light to change.

Re:I really don't get it

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup. One of the most noticeable effects exhaustion has on me, is routine muscle-memory actions (like locking the door, grabbing my keys, etc) blurr into the past and I think I've done something when I haven't because I've done it so many times before.

I am not close to the tower climbing industry, but I could easily see someone who is very tired not forgetting to clip in but rather, because he is tired, thinking he already did.

Re: I really don't get it

[Anonymous Coward]

And today I drove by a trench dug to repair a water line. They had a steel safety box dropped into it by a backhoe.

Re:I really don't get it

[antdude]

Try it when you haven't had any days off for weeks, working OT, etc.

And the carriers duck responsibility...

[jddj]

A Frontline documentary last year noted that tower work is done by small contracting companies that allow the big carriers to duck all responsibility, while pushing the firms to build so fast that safety gets shortcutted. Worth watching.

Re:And the carriers duck responsibility...

[Threni]

They're not ducking responsibility, they're simply not responsible.

Re:And the carriers duck responsibility...

[cdrudge]

Around here most, but not all, of the towers aren't even owned by the cell companies. They are owned by private companies and then are leased to the cell companies. While the need for the non-cellco owned tower is created by the cell phone company, they don't operate the tower, they didn't finance it, so how exactly are they responsible for it?

Re:And the carriers duck responsibility...

[operagost]

Correct. I, myself, think it's immoral if you absolutely know your sub is compromising safety in order to meet your requirements. But if you submit a proposal and they accept, it's expected that they should deliver. It's their responsibility to determine what they can handle.

Re:And the carriers duck responsibility...

[ThatsNotPudding]

A Frontline documentary [pbs.org] last year noted that tower work is done by small contracting companies that allow the big carriers to duck all responsibility, while pushing the firms to build so fast that safety gets shortcutted. Worth watching.

Gee, I wonder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart where they got that idea?

Spate. Who knew?

[DougOtto]

So apparently spate == 10.

Good to know!

More gov't intrusion then

[roman_mir]

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.

Re:More gov't intrusion then

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Indeed, comrade! Only when the proletariat rise up and overthrow the greedy capitalist masters will we see 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.

Preach on comrade! How DARE companies don't want to keep their workers. How DARE they want to make profits instead. I agree, comrade, in order for us to change things we need the power of the people to band together, into a collective as in collectivism. Only this time, it'll be REAL collectivism and it's going to work!

Re:More gov't intrusion then

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree, comrade, in order for us to change things we need the power of the people to band together, into a collective as in collectivism. Only this time, it'll be REAL collectivism and it's going to work!

Just imagine the size of the collective he could form just with his own sock puppets! The world will be his beluga caviar!

Re:More gov't intrusion then

[Ian A. Shill]

Pop quiz. I haven't taken one of these in years.

You think a welfare state, taxing, redistribution, regulating helps or prevents employment?

I'm gonna say... helps, with the caveat that I don't give a shit whether it helps or not. The employer in question can do business in somewherefuckinelse-istan if doesn't like the rules.

If the companies need more workers because the ones on the job are overworked, why do you think companies don't hire more people?

Because they don't wanna, and nobody makes them respect any sane hours of work rules? And people who are making low hourly wages are incentivized to work those hours because they need the money?

Counter-hypothetical: All hours over 40 per week or 10 a day are paid at double rate. Would that help or prevent employment?

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.

Hiring people costs money; film at eleven. If the employer can't do the work safely because they bid too low, well then, that's the kind of management behaviour that sooner or later, will cost you your company (and/or flatten a town: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-M%C3%A9gantic_derailment ).

If the tower can't be built and maintained safely, then there shouldn't be a tower. AT&T will either pay to have the work done safely, or they will have to figure out a way to magically create one somehow. They can change their name to Antarctic Telecom and Telecommunication and FRO if they don't like it. (I'm not American, and I don't presume how you run your country, but that's my attitude for any business they want to do in my country.)

You're an economist, aren't you? I am going to assume you are an American, and like a holier-than-thou eurocommie, I'm going to offer you a clue, and this may not sound nice. Here's what you need to do: Build your society and make your laws for ALL the people and in the interest of ALL the people first and foremost, not just the 1%, or the 47%, or the 53%, or even the 99%. If the wealth creators and the job creators and the %1 don't like it, the world's a big place with many other places for them to live and do their business. Perhaps they would be happier in a Randian paradise on the moon.

Consider alternatives.

Don't be scurred, homie. The 1% can't exist without the 99%.

The greatest Canadian: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Douglas

I'm not going to apologize either. Unless I hurt your feelings, in which case, I'm sorry. Go Leafs!

Acrophobia? Don't watch.

[drerwk]

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.

Re:Acrophobia? Don't watch.

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Acrophobia? Don't watch.

[compro01]

Free climbing is not allowed, but the penalties issued for violating those rules don't even amount to a weregild, so they get freely ignored.

Re:Acrophobia? Don't watch.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd hate to climb an old, rusty tower.

Re:Acrophobia? Don't watch.

[mythix]

You deserve the wage of you company's boss.

I got sweaty hands just from looking at 10 seconds of your video.... that's some crazy stuff

Re:Acrophobia? Don't watch.

[drerwk]

No, that is not my video. I can watch it till 1:40. When the guy goes outside the mast that's when my stomach feels like it is in free fall.

Safety harness...

[dywolf]

...there for a reason.

From TFA: "Constantly attaching and reattaching a safety harness as climbers move about the tower can cut into speed." and "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."

So then the important question is whether the company is inducing this, or are the workers bringing on themselves? What I mean is, what are the comapnies policies? Are they good policies? Are they being ignored by workers trying to get more hours (for a bigger paycheck)? Do the companies even adress such things as maximum hours worked for fear of fatigue/safety? Is there pressure from the company to work more hours with fewer people?

I bring up the workers cause at my company there are people who wouldn't hesitate to work 16 hours days for the bigger check, and have actively fought agaisnt hiring more people because it would cut into their overtime as it is. luckily fatigue here isnt really going to be fatal; just cuts into profits.

Personally, if it's my life on the line, I got no interest in meeting the big guy this early in my existence. My debts arent so bad that I need to risk my life to pay them off. And when I interviewed for a job working on wind turbines (that I ended up turning down the offer for when it came) one of my first questions was about their safety policies, along the lines of the questions i posed above.

Re:Safety harness...

[Russ1642]

When it comes to something like this the workers are ultimately responsible. If your boss was pressuring you so much that you felt like not tying off was the best solution then you're an idiot. If your boss actually tells you not to tie off to save time, and you do it, then you're an idiot and he's a criminal.

Re:Safety harness...

[dywolf]

my concern wasnt along those lines. as you say, thats blatantly illegal.i cant really think a company would be so stupid (but then ive been surprised before) as to pressure people to simply ignore best safety practices. the penalties are simply too huge.

my thinking was more along what the article was saying, where workers are working long hours and from fatigue either forgetting to clip on, or clipping on improperly. i mean i understand contracts and deadlines, and the realities therein. so im kinda thinking what are the companies policies about fatigue/hours worked? is there pressure to work longer hours? or are employees simply choosing themselves to work longer hours?

Re:Safety harness...

[TheNastyInThePasty]

Your boss will not tell you explicitly not to tie off. He'll tell you that if you don't work faster, they will fire you and find someone who can. Eventually you find people desperate enough for money that they're willing to risk life and limb for it.

Re:Safety harness...

[dbc]

I'm a ham, so I spend a lot of time climbing my own towers. (You couldn't pay me enough to do it for a living.) In my experience, when planning a job, I figure anything that takes one hour on the ground takes four hours in the air, at least for me. I also am careful to "do the same thing the same way every time". for example, when repositioning my work positioning belt, I use my right hand to unclip and move the left belt clip. Repeating a motion drives it into muscle memory so that mistakes are less likely to happen. I can tell you that I still goof once in a while (there are certain operations, like moving my positing belt, that I always double check.) Occasionally, I work with another man on the tower, which would be common for pros. The added distraction of having another person with you can cause you to forget steps. If you add some time pressure, its easy to forget to double check steps.

I've met pro tower riggers. I hire pros for work that is outside my comfort zone. They free climb much more than I would, but I'm a chicken and rig a 100% contact lifeline for most jobs. I suspect most accidents don't come from the free climbing phase of the work, because there your mind is focused on just climbing. I'd guess that accidents happen when you think you are solidly positioned with work belt, and actually are mis-rigged. I always lean into a work belt before letting go with my hands just to make sure there isn't any surprise slack. Sometimes there is....

So, nobody is perfect -- everybody forgets steps for things they've done many times. Tell me you've never started your coffee maker without coffee in it, at least once. That's a good rule to remember in the air, especially if there are any distractions or unusual circumstances. Time pressure works against doing all those double checks.

One tool I have that I've never seen a pro use is a temporary life line. I have a line that I rig to the top of the tower on the first trip up, and tie off at the bottom. A trailing clutch grip that follows me up, but requires being gripped to slide down is always attached. Once in that rig, I'm never disconnected from the tower. It's not good for work positioning, and if I ever slip I'm still a yo-yo swinging on a 3 foot string, so I'll collect a nice set of bruises from banging into the tower, but the trip to the ground will be deferred. The pros that have seen that usually comment to the effect that it must slow me down a lot. I. Don't. Care.

Re:Safety harness...

[Crudely_Indecent]

Having spent 7 years climbing towers, I can say that the first requirement to tower climbing should be a fear of heights. More specifically, fear of falling to an ooey-gooey death. Anyone not sufficiently afraid to climb will not be sufficiently diligent in maintaining safe conditions.

When getting started, I was petrified to climb - to the point of - literally - quaking in my boots. A gust of wind would make me clutch the tower for dear life. When I was finished with a climb, my hands hurt and I could barely walk (from gripping tightly with my hands, and trying to do the same with my feet).

After a short time, I came to trust and eventually love my safety equipment. Eventually, I could climb without terror while maintaining my fear of heights as a catalyst to ensure safe conditions. When you trust your equipment, you can take very comfortable breaks by adjusting lanyards to create a sort of seat with your harness - hanging from the tower. I recall several occasions, just hanging from the tower for a half hour or so waiting for a phone call.

At no time was I ever on a tower without at least one safety line attached (lanyard or cable/pipe trolley). When I was working on something, I was usually tied to the tower by 2 lanyards and my tool bag had its own lanyard. On several occasions when I was required to climb a tower that lacked safety equipment (cable or pipe trolley system), the climb took 3 times as long because I had to "walk" 2 lanyards all the way up.

Back to my point. Any tech falling from a tower was not sufficiently afraid of heights to ensure his own safety. Employers might think they can make you climb without safety equipment, if you agree - it's your own fault.

Re:Safety harness...

[Crudely_Indecent]

I did it for a living and, like you, I had a policy of 100% contact. I have kids, and I'd much rather them see me die of old age.

Re:Safety harness...

[dywolf]

see, i'm with you guys. im too young to go yet. but ive also not yet done it for a living (like said, turned done that wind turbine job in the end)

the GP mention being a ham, my grandfather is too. he's got an ~80' tower. i once climbed it as a teen, but stupidly was just for thrills and to see from the top. he caught me at it, chewed me out, then taught me what he knew bout climbing (he was a lineman for Ma Bell for >30 years). and then put me to work that summer working on it. but i got a real good appreciation for the safety side and coming down the way I want to, not gravity's way.

Re:Safety harness...

[nbauman]

my concern wasnt along those lines. as you say, thats blatantly illegal.i cant really think a company would be so stupid (but then ive been surprised before) as to pressure people to simply ignore best safety practices. the penalties are simply too huge.

The penalties aren't that huge. How much are they? $100,000 at worst?

These are relatively small companies. When they do get hit with a huge penalty, or a big liability suit, the owners go bankrupt, and start again with a new business under another name.

Re:Safety harness...

[Garybaldy]

That is a big difference between tower climbers and climbers in other industries. You learn to be quick as possible vrs as safe as possible. I have seen the same thing. While never seeing it in rope access. While mistakes are made in every industry rope access always has a backup in place. When one fails the 2nd takes over Always work in pairs, with rescue being a big part of all training.

By the way, qsl from another ham.

Maths..

[Anonymous Coward]

If there is an unprecedented amount of work being conducted on cell phone towers, the number of cell phone tower work accidents is going to rise proportionally. Right?

Yeah.... so....

[Anonymous Coward]

That's what happens when you get rid of the long time well trained people to bring in some cheaper ones...

Bet all the companies this happened at... Have seen a high increase in employee turnover too.

Re:Yeah.... so....

[Nidi62]

Bet all the companies this happened at... Have seen a high increase in employee turnover too.

But why the high turnover rate? If the company is fostering an unsafe working environment or forcing long days on people, high turnover rate might be a symptom rather than a cause.

Re:Yeah.... so....

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe its a higher turnover rate because they keep getting their employees killed? ...i'll see myself out.

So...

[Anonymous Coward]

When more towers get built the likelihood of an accident increases.... yeah, how is this supposed to surprise anyone again? It's sad that anyone dies, but 10 people dying in an industry that is raising thousands of towers a year and maintaining tens of thousands of existing towers isn't exactly on the level of the 6,000 Chinese guys that died in coal mines last year.

Tell ya what: Once the NIMBY's win and no more towers get built, post a story about how worker deaths shoot through the roof then. It would actually be news at that point.

Whodathunkit...

[Bugler412]

An increase or boom in tower work results in a higher number of incidents during that work, no surprise. If the RATE of incidents per given amount of work changes then we have something to talk about.

Re:Whodathunkit...

[Russ1642]

But these incidents all involve death, so the rate doesn't matter. One is too many.

Safety in NEVER a concern in construction

[realmolo]

This is just how it is. Any company that does any kind of "construction" ignore all the safety rules they can. Safety takes time, and costs money. Insurance will pay out on the off chance that someone gets hurt or killed.

The guys working these towers are almost certainly told by their bosses that they need to work faster, and if that means skipping safety measures, then they need to skip safety measures.

Re:Safety in NEVER a concern in construction

[mcgrew]

Any company that does any kind of "construction" ignore all the safety rules they can.

My dad was an electrical lineman for 40 years, 15 or more of that constructing and stringing the high voltage towers, and I can tell you that those guys DO follow all the safety rules (I've seen them working). Of course, the IBEW is a pretty strong union. Maybe your construction friends should unionize?

Re:Safety in NEVER a concern in construction

[nbauman]

My dad was an electrical instrument mechanic on the airlines. It wasn't his life at stake, but the lives of 250 passengers. He did everything by the book. Nobody rushed him. Even if they had an airline full of passengers screaming to take off, and he had to fix something, nobody rushed him. Least of all the pilot.

He had a good union.

Why federal regulators?

[schwit1]

Why not state regulators? Not everything is a federal responsibility.

Re:Why federal regulators?

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately, the level of regulation will vary widely. An "easy to do business state", like Texas, will always have less stringent regulations than states like New York or California.

Re:Why federal regulators?

[compro01]

Because the states are busy trying to outdo all the others in being "Pro-business".

Re:Why federal regulators?

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed. Why do something once when you can do it 50 times at 100 times the cost!

Re:Why federal regulators?

[nbauman]

A lot of the state safety inspections were cut back. California had a model occupational safety administration, CalOSHA. They did studies monitoring workplace injuries, figured out how to stop them, and saved lives.

When Ronald Reagan was governor, he cut their budget.

GNU John Dearheart

[Anonymous Coward]

A man's not dead while his name is still spoken

roofing

[Anonymous Coward]

going to guess they have a loooong way to go to catch the danger of being a roofer.

Construction is a dangerous profession, no real way around that.

It's a sad mess out there for the crews...

[intensity]

As a former tower climber / tower climbing instructor and engineering manager in the wireless internet and cellular industries I can tell you that the big cellular companies do push hard to crank out new sites or upgrades to existing sites, but it's ultimately up to the climbers / installers and site foreman to insure that safety standards are followed and gear is inspected and used properly. It's hard to read about all these deaths and injuries knowing that - as with many things - these things can be avoided. When properly trained and equipped, tower climbing is remarkably safe, there are systems and backup systems to keep you on the tower should something go wrong. More often than not climbers will free climb or not utilize a 100% tie-off system, meaning even while moving, you're clipped in 100% of the time, even if it slows you down to move from one part of a tower to another. I was climbing up until September of last year and my climbing partner and I inspected everything we used and all the safety gear on the tower as we ascended. We also checked each other front and back to make sure we were not forgetting a strap or a ring or something before climbing.

One of the amazing things about the cellular industry that I noticed (I did cell networks for about 9 years all over the USA and 2 years of wireless business internet in the PacNW) is that the cell companies will outfit a million dollar site with radio gear and amplifiers and the latest and greatest connectivity they can get there, and then 6-12 months later come out and rip it all out and upgrade it again. They then resell the old gear to other providers here in the US or abroad, ie third world countries etc. This breakneck pace puts a lot of pressure on tower crews to crank out sites fast, adding to the safety issues. All to make a buck, the good ol' American way...

Re:It's a sad mess out there for the crews...

[Garybaldy]

Well you sound just like a manager. Saying exactly what the carriers say. They wash their hands of it. Saying its all the workers fault. Odd how in order to do the work safely would double the amount of time required to do the job. Which leaves no profit. Carriers always manage to never have a supervisor on site making sure the work is done properly. Allows the carrier to say we did not know they were not working safe.

mo towers mo problems

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes as the number of towers increases there is an increased probability of accidents... Why is the surprising?

Blaming the victim...

[Anonymous Coward]

If they are desperate enough to risk their lives for overtime, maybe (just maybe) they are underpaid? Telcos have the money to build out safely and fast - they have been recording record profits for years. Blaming the workers is retarded.

And don't anyone even fucking try the anti-union argument. These guys make a very average salary -- close to the US median income, (which is hard to live on depending on where you live, and very hard to raise a family on).

The median salary for telecommunications equipment installers and repairers was $53,960, according to the BLS. Telecom line installers and repairers earned a median of $51,720.

Source: http://jobs.monster.com/v-telecommunications.aspx

Re:Blaming the victim...

[Nidi62]

Since when is 50k a year underpaid? And if 50k is the median, then half of all installers are making over that. For a job that does not require a college degree that is what most people consider an amazing salary. 50k is $26 an hour. If they get time and a half, overtime would be $39 an hour. Those extra 4 hours a day gets you an extra $150. Hell, I would work 16 hours a day too if it meant I made $350 for the whole day. 3 days would cover my apartment, cable, and utilities, leaving the other 17 days for that month as profit. Maybe (just maybe) they work a lot of overtime because they make so much money doing it. Where I live, in a major suburban area, a single person can live off half that. Living downtown takes about 30k. 50k a year might be hard to raise a family on single-income, but then you are assuming they are a single-income family. If you assume the workers spouse makes 30k (easily attainable for someone without a degree), that brings the family income up to 80k. You can easily raise a family off of that. I have a hard time buying your argument that these guys are underpaid.

Re:Blaming the victim...

[Crudely_Indecent]

I made 60k/year doing it, and I felt under paid. Try spending hours and hours hanging 300+ feet in the air - worrying about dropping thousands of dollars worth of equipment (done that), a tool (many times), yourself (thankfully, never). Worrying about killing a co-worker by dropping something on him, or hanging yourself on the cables or lanyards you're working with. Staring at a storm coming your way, hurrying a job so you can avoid being struck by lightning. Climbing a tower where the 1 inch rungs have 2 inches of ice on them and you have to break the ice off every inch of the cable trolley system just to climb up. Getting calls from suits back at the office asking "why aren't you done yet?", all the time wanting to ask "how fast can a fat old man do it?" Seeing the damage a tornado caused when it tore down a tower you climbed days earlier, asking yourself - how much warning would I have if a tornado happened while I was on a tower.

It's a stressful, physically demanding, and dangerous job.

Re:Blaming the victim...

[Nidi62]

It's a stressful, physically demanding, and dangerous job.

So is mine, and we top out at under 50k a year. Working around and with heavy machinery, risk of 20-30 foot falls, always the possibility of being ingested by a jumbo jet engine or getting hit with blast. Out in the elements, )30-45 minutes to load thousands of pounds of cargo in a compartment you can barely kneel down in. I would gladly trade the increased dangers if I could make twice as much as I am now.

Re:Blaming the victim...

[Crudely_Indecent]

20-30 foot fall is survivable. TFA is about people falling from radio towers, 200 feet, 300 feet, and higher. At those heights - death is certain.

Re:Blaming the victim...

[tlhIngan]

I made 60k/year doing it, and I felt under paid. ...

It's a stressful, physically demanding, and dangerous job.

That's the thing, though. It's an unskilled job for the most part, and you're making $60K, which is more than what a lot of skilled jobs pay.

Of course, the catch is your last line - if you look at people who graduate with basically high school education (or not even that - most of these don't require a diploma) that pull in big bucks like that, it's gonna be a hazardous and physically demanding job - whether it's a fisherman, tower rigger, oilman, whatever.

That's the nature of the work - unskilled labor pays typically a LOT less money and the only ones with decent pay are the dangerous and physically demanding ones. And yes, there's a bit of turnover because people see the pay, get googly-eyed and sign up for the job - hey, it beats 4 more years of school and the pay's pretty much the same, why not?

If you dropped out of high school, these jobs are pretty much the only way to not make a pittance. You can always get the GED later on...

Re:Blaming the victim...

[Crudely_Indecent]

Unskilled...

I often not only installed the equipment (climbing the tower), but I also programmed it - and the router it attached to, and the equipment on the other towers it connected to (if it was part of the backhaul network), and the routers at the main tower, and the edge routers.

Of course, I would rather have not climbed towers - but that was part of the job.

The things we do to gain experience... I make much more than that now.

Re:Blaming the victim...

[Ian A. Shill]

50k is 9.81 an hour if you're doing 16 hour days. Righteous bucks.

That's all the effort you get, as I'm afraid that interacting too much with you might give me cancer. It will most certainly make me stupider.

Since when is 50k a year underpaid? And if 50k is the median, then half of all installers are making over that. For a job that does not require a college degree that is what most people consider an amazing salary. 50k is $26 an hour. If they get time and a half, overtime would be $39 an hour. Those extra 4 hours a day gets you an extra $150. Hell, I would work 16 hours a day too if it meant I made $350 for the whole day. 3 days would cover my apartment, cable, and utilities, leaving the other 17 days for that month as profit. Maybe (just maybe) they work a lot of overtime because they make so much money doing it. Where I live, in a major suburban area, a single person can live off half that. Living downtown takes about 30k. 50k a year might be hard to raise a family on single-income, but then you are assuming they are a single-income family. If you assume the workers spouse makes 30k (easily attainable for someone without a degree), that brings the family income up to 80k. You can easily raise a family off of that. I have a hard time buying your argument that these guys are underpaid.

contractors and subcontractors

[Joe_Dragon]

The gov needs to crack down on the over use of contractors and subcontractors. It goes to far in letting safety get pushed back and takes away worker rights. The worker should have the right to say I don't feel safe doing this with the tools that the contractor gives them and make so they can't say we will find some who will do it.

also get rid of pay per job that leads to rushing to fit more jobs into a day make it pay by hour. Also one thing that useing contractors and subcontractors is that some subcontractor can say our workers have safety training with out much to back it up.

In the cable tv area the same thing happens with background checks they say we do them but some times they do not to save cash.

Re:contractors and subcontractors

[TheSkepticalOptimist]

yes, the government should only use one contractor, there are absolutely no problems with that kind of policy.

Re:contractors and subcontractors

[operagost]

I'd like to know what you believe is inherently wrong with subcontractors that requires having an already oppressive government intervene.

The worker should have the right to say I don't feel safe doing this with the tools that the contractor gives them

The OSHA hotline is 1-800-321-OSHA.

also get rid of pay per job that leads to rushing to fit more jobs into a day make it pay by hour.

The workers are already paid by the hour, and again I ask you: what makes you think this is a job for government? Adults should make safe decisions.

Re:contractors and subcontractors

[nbauman]

I'd like to know what you believe is inherently wrong with subcontractors that requires having an already oppressive government intervene.

The thing that's inherently wrong with subcontractors is "the curse of the lowest bidder." The one who bids the lowest is the one who wins the contract. And the easiest way to bid lower is to have workers who skip safety rules.

If you believe in the free market, that's what you would predict, and that's what happens.

The worker should have the right to say I don't feel safe doing this with the tools that the contractor gives them

The OSHA hotline is 1-800-321-OSHA.

I see you are not familiar with reality. Have you ever called that number? There are 2,200 OSHA inspectors and 8 million workplaces. How fast do you think an OSHA inspector is going to show up, and what do you think is going to happen when they do show up?

also get rid of pay per job that leads to rushing to fit more jobs into a day make it pay by hour.

The workers are already paid by the hour, and again I ask you: what makes you think this is a job for government? Adults should make safe decisions.

Workers are competing with each other. The worker who does the job fastest -- and least safely -- keeps the job. The worker who does the job slower -- and safer -- gets fired. This results in everybody speeding up, and people getting unnecessarily killed.

As the Wall Street Journal has reported, in most construction industries (like coal mining), you have safe operators and unsafe operators. The safe operators are just as profitable (or more profitable). Individual workers aren't able to force operators to be safe, unless they have a union.

If the government didn't intervene, more workers would get killed.

That's why it's a job for the government.

Only fraction of deaths vs texting while driving

[JoeyRox]

Texting while driving is deadly and likely not going to be helped much by recent states' laws that outlaw non-handsfree use of phones while driving. I wonder if there is a movement to force cellphone makers to disable texting when car-speed motions are detected...similar to how in-dash DVD players are disabled via the parking brake sensor.

industrial protection

[nimbius]

this is one of the reasons Linemen have a union...im certain at the boom era of electricity the problems were similar.

Time for an union?

[Joe_Dragon]

Electrical Utility workers are union and they don't have big safety issues or cowboy subs doing unsafe work.

Re:Time for an union?

[Anonymous Coward]

Riggers are unionized. I've yet to see a tower crew that isn't union.

could UAVs help with this??

[RobertLTux]

i don't think that there are UAVs in the right weight/price class to actually enable a worker to fall at less than 9.8mps^2 but couldn't a UAV fly the safety line to tie points a bit faster??

(also could be used when person A is doing something and Person B is running the checklist)

Re:could UAVs help with this??

[GameboyRMH]

Good idea. If a UAV could clip a safety line to the railing at the top (a hexacopter or octocopter should have enough payload capacity), and then the worker could tie their harness to a ratcheting fitting on the safety line, that could allow the worker to safely climb straight to the top without having to move tie points.

Re:could UAVs help with this??

[Garybaldy]

No, just need properly trained workers with rules followed. Which the tower industry is famous for not doing.

I am only a climber/rigger/rope access worker with almost two decades of experience. Who would not touch that industry nor would any of his coworkers.

Re:could UAVs help with this??

[GameboyRMH]

Aw come on you know how we geeks love technological workarounds to institutional problems...party pooper :-P

On the bright side

[cellocgw]

Hey, at least they weren't killed by terrorists. The DHS+TSA+NSA has succeeded!

Reminds me of a video

[WillgasM]

Reminds me of a YT vid that still scares the shit out of me.

Declare war on cell towers!

[Daetrin]

Approximate odds of dying from occupational hazard as a tower worker in 2013 (so far): 10/10,000 = 0.001

Approximate odds of dying of terrorism as an American in 2001: 3000/300,000,000 = 0.00001

Screw OSHA involvement, we need to declare war on something right away and get the NSA spying on everyone in the telecommunications industry! (Okay, that last part may be redundant, but we need to find some way to give up some more freedoms to prove we're taking this seriously!)

Possibly related news

[FlatEric521]

Workers managed to set a cell tower on fire while welding in Florida. I do wonder if those 12-16 hour work days contributed to that mistake.

liar, liar, pantalones del fuego

[fascismforthepeople]

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.

That statement makes no sense in regards to the topic of worker deaths. You just put one of your religious mantras at the top so you can come back later and say "that's what I already said" as if it somehow relates.

Workers don't want to die

How would you know? You've shown many times before that you don't give a shit if workers live or die. If you had an employee who died working for you, I expect you'd throw the body in your neighbor's trash and disavow ever having known him as anything else could get in the way of your god-given right to pursue profit.

companies don't want to have a hand in more deaths

The only thing you are concerned about is profit. If losing an employee costs a company money, then you care. Otherwise you don't. Trying to pretend otherwise is a futile effort, roman.

However all of the existing regulations, taxes, etc., all that burden prevents companies from growing, from hiring.

They haven't had much trouble replacing the dead guys and bringing more guys in as well. In other words as usual your statement doesn't hold water.

If government was interested in actually lowering unemployment

Why do you give a shit if the government wants lower unemployment? You have said dozens of times here that you support higher unemployment. You're trying to play both sides here to get your karma back out of the shitter.

Stop karma-whoring, roman. It doesn't look any better on you than it does on anyone else. Just try using direct and non-offensive statements to voice your opinion and your fellow cult members (there are plenty of them here on slashdot, even if we exclude your sock puppets) will bring your karma back up for you over time. If you instead insist on lies and insults you will continue to drive away the people who would otherwise chorus back your beliefs.

In other words, you can get your karma back, you just need to be kind to both those who want and those who do not want fascism for the people.

Re:liar, liar, pantalones del fuego

[mcgrew]

Don't worry, his karma's so deep in the hole no amount of karma-whoring will get him out, and I don't think he's capable of effectively whoring, anyway.

The difference between him and Ethanol-Fueled is roman_mir is serious. The man has a few screws loose.

Re:liar, liar, pantalones del fuego

[operagost]

Ah, the fascism trope. Holy hyperbole, Batman!

Re:liar, liar, pantalones del fuego

[fascismforthepeople]

Don't worry, his karma's so deep in the hole no amount of karma-whoring will get him out, and I don't think he's capable of effectively whoring, anyway.

Look back through his comment history and you'll see he has pulled it off before. Look far enough back and you'll also see what he's capable of doing when his karma makes it out of the shitter; I think this guy probably wears out keyboards in a hurry just writing slashdot comments for his church.

The difference between him and Ethanol-Fueled is roman_mir is serious. The man has a few screws loose.

I'm pretty sure he sold all his screws to raise money for his religious movement. If you're not careful he'll remove yours to sell as well.

Re:liar, liar, pantalones del fuego

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, the fascism trope. Holy hyperbole, Batman!

You tell him comrade! Those dirty slimy liberals do not deserve an intelligent response. It's just so obvious that the leftie is wrong. We do not need to quote anything they said, we don't need to explain anything, we just need to generalize and mock them!

And make pop culture references! Yes, that makes our position more correct, doublepluscorrect, by being just so hip and cool to reference a 1960's show... a wonderful show that promotes socialism, where the rich man Batman works closely with the government of Gotham, including giving government a direct line to him via the bat phone. That later interpretations of Batman being a lone wolf that keeps his distance from government is a travesty!

Re:liar, liar, pantalones del fuego

[mcgrew]

I'm pretty sure he sold all his screws to raise money for his religious movement. If you're not careful he'll remove yours to sell as well.

I see you haven't read my journals, I can handle crazy people. Especially on the internet, I've had lots of practice.

Re:liar, liar, pantalones del fuego

[rhodium_mir]

companies don't want to have a hand in more deaths

The only thing you are concerned about is profit. If losing an employee costs a company money, then you care. Otherwise you don't. Trying to pretend otherwise is a futile effort, roman.

If employees are valuable, companies will want to protect them; otherwise, they won't. Do you not understand how free markets work?

Re:liar, liar, pantalones del fuego

[fascismforthepeople]

I can handle crazy people

Roman_mir is not just crazy, he's crazed. Even more so, he is a devout crazed cult member. He is certain that his mission with his remaining time on earth is to convert the entire world* to his religion, no matter what the cost.

* well, at least enough to the point where his cult can take control of the world by force and sell all the nonbelievers into slavery.

Re:liar, liar, pantalones del fuego

[fascismforthepeople]

companies don't want to have a hand in more deaths

The only thing you are concerned about is profit. If losing an employee costs a company money, then you care. Otherwise you don't. Trying to pretend otherwise is a futile effort, roman.

If employees are valuable, companies will want to protect them; otherwise, they won't. Do you not understand how free markets work?

In the current labor market employees have very little value. In roman_mir's fascist fantasy world they have none whatsoever. Hence employers will treat employees with less regard than they afford empty toner cartridges.

Re:liar, liar, pantalones del fuego

[mcgrew]

Yep, you nailed him. But there's little difference between crazed and crazy. There are a couple of guys at a bar I go to that follow roman's religion, and a guy who thinks I'm a space alien in disguise. They're a lot alike.

Re:liar, liar, pantalones del fuego

[fascismforthepeople]

Yep, you nailed him. But there's little difference between crazed and crazy

Crazy people generally can enjoy their craziness without insisting everyone else needs to have it. Crazed people take their craziness as their mission, and that they need to convert the rest of the world to their mindset. It's somewhat the difference between any politician named Bush we've ever known, and Michele Bachmann.

There are a couple of guys at a bar I go to that follow roman's religion, and a guy who thinks I'm a space alien in disguise. They're a lot alike.

Indeed I'm sure they could have an interesting discussion betwixt the lot of them. I am surprised though that any adherent to roman's religion would be willing to drink beer from a bar, I would expect they would find it to be counter to their belief system to consume something that the government has regulated for safety.

Finally however we can see already that we shouldn't count roman out regarding his karma. He has already pulled up his karma to to the point where he can post at least 6 times per day - he was previously capped at once or twice - and he managed that through karma whoring. He still posts at -1 but he can't be far from achieving zero again soon.

Re:Only fraction of deaths vs texting while drivin

[damn_registrars]

I wonder if there is a movement to force cellphone makers to disable texting when car-speed motions are detected...similar to how in-dash DVD players are disabled via the parking brake sensor.

That wouldn't fly, for several reasons.

• Cell phone companies make way too much money off text messaging to embrace anything that slows down that profit
• It would also prevent passengers from sending messages
• Anything that increases the cost of a phone and doesn't add games, sounds, or other non-phone functionality will never gain acceptance on the market

That said, I agree that we have a huge problem with text messages being sent while driving. I support a zero tolerance policy that would take someone's license away for at least a year the first time they are caught, but of course the problem is enforcement more than anything - catching someone in the act is quite difficult. Unfortunately we need a different solution, and I'm not sure what that will be. Until then the rest of us have to watch out and hope that we don't get run down by some blithering fuckhead who can't wait until they park their failmobile shitwagen to send their goddamned message about their stupid cat to their BFF.

New ad in the works

[Hoi Polloi]

"Can you hear me now? Goooooddddddd!........"

Re:Only fraction of deaths vs texting while drivin

[mcgrew]

I agree that texting while driving is criminally stupid, but why shouldn't the passengers be allowed to text? I'm responsible and don't even answer the phone while driving, why should I have to pay for the equipment to stop me from doing something I'm not going to do anyway? You're for DUI interlocks on all cars on the road? Save the "anti-text" gear for those who've been ticketed a few times, or have caused a crash while texting.

Personal Responsibility

[Control-Z]

If you are climbing a tower in an unsafe manner that is your fault, not your employer's. If your employer tries to make you do something unsafe, what is more important, your job or your life?

Re:Personal Responsibility

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Or, maybe they are properly trained, and it's more like coal miners who slide their masks aside when nobody's looking because it's more irritating than it's worth...so they think.

I wanna see death rates mapped vs. # of towers put up per year to see if the trend is going down per tower, which it should be.

Re:Personal Responsibility

[nbauman]

Do you have a family to support?

This does not count the bird deaths

[Squidlips]

I am serious; such towers are major killers of rare migratory birds such as warblers.

Re:We're from Consumer Reports.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure the consumer will show their displeasure by going with a carrier that doesn't do these things.

Impatient consumers.

[Anonymous Coward]

And how many times have we heard on Slashdot complaints about cell companies not moving fast enough with upgrades to the latest and speediest tech? The consumer's desires and impatience play a role too, not just "someone elses" desire for profit.

Falls in VA and MD

[Anonymous Coward]

A man fell from a cell phone tower in Vienna, Maryland. :(
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/07/27/man-dies-after-fall-from-md-radio-cell-phone-tower/

Another worker died in Waynesboro, Virginia
http://www.wboc.com/story/23083539/worker-dies-after-falling-from-cell-tower-in-va

16 hour days?

[Anonymous Coward]

... should be regulated like OTR Truckers.

Re:16 hour days?

[ppanon]

Not likely. Truckers that fall asleep at the wheel often cause nasty collateral damage and innocent deaths, provoking voter ire and hence legislative action. If these guys were carrying pounds of explosives that exploded when it fell with them, then you might see some political movement. But these poor slobs are the only ones who die so the Republican "Live and Let Die" attitude wins the day.

A simple law

[ThatsNotPudding]

If a job stands an actuarial risk of being deadly and you contract / subcontract /subsubcontract it out, you have just hired *all* those in harms way as full time employees with all the inherent responsibilities and liabilities on your head until the contract is fully and completely fulfilled.

No more firewalls, corporate assholes.

Re: A simple law

[Ian A. Shill]

Thank you for your post. I wanted to say much the same thing, but I got too frustrated to use my words. I will remove words two through eleven when I plagiarize it.

If a job stands an actuarial risk of being deadly and you contract / subcontract /subsubcontract it out, you have just hired *all* those in harms way as full time employees with all the inherent responsibilities and liabilities on your head until the contract is fully and completely fulfilled. No more firewalls, corporate assholes.

Hang glider pilots have this problem too

[MobyDisk]

This may sound stupidly, blindingly, mind-numbingly obvious, yet: Hang Glider pilots have a specific "hook check" procedure to prevent them from jumping off a cliff without their glider attached. When performing a complex operation, humans are very good at forgetting easy steps irrespective of importance. Most commonly, you are supposed to announce when you hook in, and one of your wire crew should tug on the primary and backup lines to make sure both are attached. Google for hang gliding hook check and you will find instances where people forget.

Pick up glider. Proper grip. Wings level. Wind is smooth. Wind speed good. Wait! Lemme go get my water bottle! Unhook. Fumble around for water bottle. "Hey Joe, Bob is on deck to launch next, are you ready?" "Be right there!" Come back. Pick up glider. Proper grip. Wings level. Wind is smooth...

Re:Hang glider pilots have this problem too

[evilviper]

Most commonly, you are supposed to announce when you hook in, and one of your wire crew should tug on the primary and backup lines to make sure both are attached

Of course that wouldn't work with a tower, because you have to reconnect your harness several times through the climb and decent.

IMHO, it's a pretty simple problem to fix. There are sliding rail systems that would eliminate the time, hassle, and DANGER of ever having to disconnect your safety line:

http://www.saferack.com/ladder-fall-protection.cfm

Or ladders can be installed with cages, and landing platforms every 30 feet as required by OSHA:

http://www.aclindustries.com/construction/cage-ladders/roof-int-platform.html

But sadly, they are making the towers as cheap as possible, sacrificing obvious safety rather than a fairly minor expense that would obviously save MANY lives.

Re:Hang glider pilots have this problem too

[ppanon]

And yet despite those precautions and hook checks, hang glider pilots and sometimes their passengers still die.

More reading...

[Anonymous Coward]

wirelessestimator.com has a bunch more information on this, for the curious.

A three man screw?

[dtmos]

As I write this, I just sent a three man screw...

I don't want to think about it.

Re:A three man screw?

[Anonymous Coward]

There. I just modded you "funny" for catching my stupid typo. :)

-- Stephen

That's just nuts

[bogie]

They really should wear parachutes by default. It's just takes one tiny slip and....

Re:Only fraction of deaths vs texting while drivin

[GameboyRMH]

There's even a growing movement of text-and-drive danger denialism. They deny that texting while driving is dangerous and think that the push to stop it is some kind of conspiracy. It would be a beautiful thing if they were only putting themselves in danger.

Won't someone think of the profits?

[rsborg]

How do you forget to clip on?.

"working 12- or 16-hour days"
"haven't taken days off in weeks"

Exhaustion results in errors.

All reasonable sacrifices to leave no profits behind.

Problem: Cell companies don't have to care

[rsborg]

I can tell you that the big cellular companies do push hard to crank out new sites or upgrades to existing sites, but it's ultimately up to the climbers / installers and site foreman to insure that safety standards are followed and gear is inspected and used properly

And therein lies the problem. I can bet you dollars to donuts that the cell companies reward the companies that cut corners because they don't have to care about the consequences.

The solution is to push some of the cost of the problem (wasted lives due to rushed timelines and scarce safety inspections) back onto the cell companies. Either force the companies to suffer a penalty (and thus work to avoid) each death or injury [1], or just improve regulations (and enforcement, which requires public funds and thus could be offset as a tax against the cell companies).

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weregild

What de fork?

[Anonymous Coward]

add = addition

Compared to those stringing old wired connections?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder how this compares to the number of folks who died working on telephone lines suspended with power lines? I'm willing to bet, wireless has a lower cost on society than suspended lines.

lowest common denominator.

[Garybaldy]

I have worked in the climbing/rigging/rope access industry for almost two decades.

Everyone who wanted to keep a standard of living and their life has left the tower industry. Very little money in it any more or safety. Any climbers that are quick learners and responsible leave the cell tower industry. So the tower industry is often left with the desperate and unqualified.

Mod up please

[drerwk]

wish I had known - thought that was weird.

Gosh..

[formfeed]

People die sitting on the beach, people die eating chocolate ice cream. Why shouldn't anyone die while testing 9V batteries?
AC didn't say that a 9V battery can kill someone, just stated that "In the UK 3 people die each year testing if a 9v battery works ...." There's no because in that sentence. .

Most likely while testing the 9V battery on their tongue they got hit by a 20 ton weight, stood next to an exploding bush or fell off the edge at Dover.
Stuff like that happens in the UK all the times.

Obligatory tasteless joke

[antifoidulus]

It turns out Verizon's "Can You Beer Me Now?" employee morale program wasn't such a bright idea.

*ducks