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When a worker assembling cellphones in a
plant in China
hurls him/herself out of a window, it makes headlines. Like the human
cost of extracting the minerals that go into making cellphone components, people
yawn and write it off as the cost of progress. Among the many other dimensions of
that cost is one that, until recently, received little attention - cell tower worker
falls. According to a joint investigation by
Frontline
and ProPublica that was aired
in May 2012, there is a well-established record of ill-equipped and ill-trained
climbers who fall [pun intended] victim to low budget operations... and, to be honest,
sometimes their own stupidity.
Cell tower climbers experience 10x more on-the-job deaths as the average construction
worker. That might seem logical and even expected given that you normally think
of a construction worker as the guy banging nails in that new housing development
down the road. However, many construction projects are multi-story commercial and
industrial buildings with heavy equipment and mammoth components being installed
in often precarious situations. We have seen the vertigo-inducing photos of guys
nonchalantly walking across steel beams suspended hundreds or even thousands of
feet in the air. The difference with the cell tower crews is apparently lack of
supervision, accountability, and most importantly, lack of self discipline.
As is standard operating procedure for the network investigative reporting crews,
they seek out and use the toothless and the back-woods-hick-looking biker crowd
(the ones they wouldn't be caught dead with publically otherwise) to help make their
story. Central to the plot is a poor guy who was a pizza delivery guy who needed
to make more money when his second out-of-wedlock child was born. He answered an
advertisement looking for cell tower climbers. Personally, I give him credit for
wanting to take responsibility for his family and wanting to advance his career
rather than rely on Welfare, but the focus is on how the "turf vendors" - companies
at the bottom of the contract food chain that actually do the work - exploit the
workers in order to make money. With little or no training on climbing technique,
safety equipment usage, electrical and RF hazards, or proper installation procedures
to assuring longevity of cable connections, transceiver assemblies, antenna mounts,
etc., guys with little experience are sent up towers to replace or repair components
for which the sub contractors get paid as little as $40-50 for doing. According
to one interviewee, the initial contract from the prime contractor
might be $125, but by the time it trickles down to the sub-sub-sub-contractor who
actually performs the task, it's pennies on the dollar. Many go out of business
because they cannot afford workman's compensation and/or worksite insurance.
Per the video, the incidences of death and severe injury are coincident with
every time the next generation (3G, 4G, 5G, etc.) system ramps up. Companies scramble
to be the first to have the new services and the rest scramble to get onboard to
take customers from early adopters who are dissatisfied with crappy cell service.
OSHA, the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration, gets involved in the reported incidents but, according to
top officials there, it is difficult for them to cite the prime contractor or, ultimately,
the carriers because there are so many layers built into the flow of work. Courts
have declined to hold anyone other than the final layer of contractor liable for
the safety of tower climbers. The Frontline reporter presses a top OSHA
guy on why they have not had more success in prosecuting top-tier players and his
response is that the paperwork necessary to establish a complete line of provenance
is prohibitive. I can believe it after watching the video.
The real issue here is who is ultimately responsible for tower climbers who shun
well-established safety procedures and end up getting injured or killed. Don't the
climbers themselves have an obligation to their employer, if not to themselves and
their families, to observe proper practices? If a climber decides to not clip a
safety lanyard to the tower as he climbs (aka free climbing - strictly forbidden),
or decides to horseplay and repel down the side of a tower rather than climbing
the provided steps, or to be drunk or high on the job, is that the sub-contractor's
fault? Often the only person on the job site is the solitary climber who has agreed
to perform the task at the prevailing wage, so there is nobody else to decide whether
a person is qualified at the moment to do the job. Yes, there is a degree of outrage
that corporate titans sitting in their corner offices are pulling down 7- and 8-figure
compensation packages while Bubba replaces a burned-out amplifier 1,000 feet up,
but that's the way the world turns. For better or for worse, the wireless gadget-using
public is not concerned enough about it to force Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility,
Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, TracFone Wireless, MetroPCS, U.S. Cellular, Cricket Wireless,
et al, to police their subcontractors and assure the safety of those keeping wireless
devices communicating.
So, the next time you complain about having a dropped call, just remember that
your call might not be the only thing that dropped at the moment.
Here is a cool video of a cell technician atop a 1,500-foot tower - take by a drone!
Posted April 19, 2023
(updated from original post on 6/11/2012)
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