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A New Spate of Deaths In the Wireless Industry
onehitwonder writes "The race to build out advanced cellphone networks in the U.S. has contributed to a spike in deaths among tower workers, making this one of the industry's deadliest years and drawing fresh scrutiny from federal regulators, according to The Wall Street Journal. At least 10 workers have died in falls from communication towers so far this year, and three more were seriously injured. The accidents, nine of which were related to cellphone network work, come during one of the biggest building booms in years, as Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. ramp up major network upgrades in an attempt to catch up with Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc."
Cellphones ARE deadly after all! /s
Help I am stuck in a signature factory!
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.
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.
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.
What about Hubble? I heard Hubble is dead.
You seem pretty secure on your high horse.
rewriting history since 2109
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.
How many people have died crashing into a telephone pole?
I think more then 10.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
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.
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.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Electrical Utility workers are union and they don't have big safety issues or cowboy subs doing unsafe work.
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.
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
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.
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.
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
If those damned telephone poles would quit getting drunk and jumping into the middle of the road, it wouldn't be a problem.
In the electrical industry those guys are not only fired, but fired with the union's blessing.
Free Martian Whores!
Third world countries -- like New England.
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...
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.
> 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.
> 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/
I'm not repeating myself
I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
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?
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
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.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
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
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).