I too saw the show and a couple of comments:
1) Hard Hats are required by OSHA - no way around that.
2) $14/hr is common for non-union climbers. Double that for Union. Also, these
small contractors (and most of them are ) do not provide health insurance and
often they don't even keep up with the required workers comp payments. They are
"fly-by-night" for the most part. Of course, there are many legitimate
operators - one needs to find the right one!
3) Prevailing wage rates (government jobs) are the ones the big operators
usually get beause they play by all the rules.
4) Many companies that act as prime contractors for these jobs don't have any
crews at all - they sub all the work out to the little operators.
5) There are several thousand cell phone type towers for each broadcast type
tower. Trying to find one that needds work would be a realistic impossibility.
6) 100% tie-off is the only way I allow tower workers to work on any tower I
deal with. One infraction and the job is over.
7) In my 6 years of practicing as the Senior Safety Manager for a large
cellular company, we experienced 3 deaths and 2 major injuries. This is
considered a very low death and accident rate for tower work. 100% tie-off
would have prevented the deaths and injuries. No question about that.
Enforcement is nearly impossible though. I have not seen a death or injury that
was not caused directly by the affected individual. (BTW - we had around 35,000
cell sites).
8) NATE, as an organization (IMHO) is a joke. They charge for everything they
provide, and the costs are very, very high. They seem more interested in acting
like a private sector company that provides training rather than a place that
promotes safety standards. We would not join due to the rediculous rates for
membership. You have to be a member to get the materials. It is clearly aimed
at the small operators - the ones that usually won't do the training anyway.
That is why 100% tie-off isn't the rule of the land (OSHA).
9) As to fluff - what did you expect? it is a commercial TV show and if they
really got into detail, most of the viewers would be lost.
10) The amount of drinking that goes on is unusually high for most folks, but
normal among people that deal with these trades and live on the road all the
time. personally, I feel this contributes to the fatilities! Sad byt very real.
Have a safe day
Doug
KC0SDQ
