Doug Dickinson wrote: > 1) Hard Hats are required by OSHA - no way around that.
And rightly so. For reasons other folks have mentioned. Hitting your head on something above you is the common "thunk" I hear on mine, especially on a tower that's badly managed and things are in bad places for climbers. (I'm going to beat the next guy I see who hangs their antenna in the climbing path senseless with a Wouff Hong, I swear.) Someone dropping something by accident from above will also ruin your whole day with or without a hard-hat, but without one you'll likely be dead or unconscious hanging from your safety gear. (Which can also kill you due to various blood-flow issues.) I couldn't believe it when we went to do some ham work that people who were TOLD to show up with a hard hat or don't come... showed up without them anyway. (Mostly ground crew.) I always bring four additional hard-hats (at a whopping cost of what... about $25 at the local home store?) for tower work. Don't put the hard-hat on, feel free to leave -- is my safety rule for our work crews. I'm not calling your significant other and telling them Bob dropped a wrench through your skull and you're dead because of lack of a $7.50 hard-hat, no matter whether you're climbing or on the ground. (Note about hard-hats... ones without side/round-brims are best for climbing -- less sticking out for you to catch it on things. Ones with brims will possibly deflect falling objects more away from your collar-bone/shoulder area after they hit you, if you're working on the ground. Buy one of each. They're cheap insurance. Hand your extra to any moron not wearing one.) > 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! From talking to friends in the biz -- different areas of the country vary wildly. Prices are much higher here, than in the south, for example. Less towers, higher sites, less competition. Flatland has a lot more cell towers and a lot more companies in the climbing biz, usually. > 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. Amen. It should be noted in this forum that the traditional climbing belts are NOT standard practice by anyone doing climbing professionally anymore for various reasons. Hams still use them quite a bit, and while they're better than nothing -- investigate and buy real harnesses if you're going to be doing tower work as a ham. Learn about shock-absorbing fall-protection and fall-arresters. Tie off properly. Get someone to show you the latest techniques and gear. Have them teach you about how hanging in a harness or belt can kill you while your buddies work to lower you down after an incident. The industry has some very good things they've learned and I've seen very little of it documented and/or presented to hams. Unfortunately I'm not a pro and wouldn't feel comfortable writing it up, but perhaps some pros could. (I'm betting that most of them are nervous about doing so for liability reasons, these days.) Nate WY0X
