Slashdot Mirror
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."
Cellphones ARE deadly after all! /s
Help I am stuck in a signature factory!
Faster _and_ less deadly.
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.
Rule 1. If you are climbing anything, you fucking tie off.
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/
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.
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.
So apparently spate == 10.
Good to know!
Solving Unix problems since 1989...
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.
...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.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
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.
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
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.
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.
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.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Why not state regulators? Not everything is a federal responsibility.
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...
Abuse my rationalization of rhetoric as either metaphor or monotomy.
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.
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.
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.
The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican.
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.
this is one of the reasons Linemen have a union...im certain at the boom era of electricity the problems were similar.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Electrical Utility workers are union and they don't have big safety issues or cowboy subs doing unsafe work.
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)
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
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.
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.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Solution? Don't contract for AT&T. Can't survive otherwise? Maybe you shouldn't be in that business, then.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Reminds me of a YT vid that still scares the shit out of me.
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!)
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
Which is exactly what the article said...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
"Can you hear me now? Goooooddddddd!........"
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
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.
Free Martian Whores!
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?
I am serious; such towers are major killers of rare migratory birds such as warblers.
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).
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
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.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
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.
"Lame" - Galaxar
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.
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.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
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...
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.
"Lame" - Galaxar
As I write this, I just sent a three man screw...
I don't want to think about it.
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.
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.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
They really should wear parachutes by default. It's just takes one tiny slip and....
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
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.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
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...
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.
"Lame" - Galaxar
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.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
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
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
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.
Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde. - Voltaire
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.
Agreed. There probably is a second strap, just not in use. It's just recklessness, cubed.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
wish I had known - thought that was weird.
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.
Life is not for the lazy.
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!
For hire.
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.
For hire.
People die sitting on the beach, people die eating chocolate ice cream. Why shouldn't anyone die while testing 9V batteries? ...." There's no because in that sentence. .
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
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.
It turns out Verizon's "Can You Beer Me Now?" employee morale program wasn't such a bright idea.
*ducks
Monstar L