The technician who was injured while building a cell tower in the Navajo Nation reservation is now in fair condition, according to San Juan Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Kathryn Pettijohn. Sammy Pacheco, 51, was airlifted to the hospital after the 60-foot section of a cell tower he was working on fell over on top of [...]
View Article L&B Telecommunications, OSHA, Sammy PachecoCORRECTION: The death of a construction worker in central Texas was not from a fall from a cell tower as we previously reported, but from a transmission tower. Jesus Govea, 52, fell 50 feet from the tower when a brace gave way. He was working for a local construction company, Chapman Construction, according to Mills [...]
View Article tower climberTragedy struck in rural Minnesota, June 27, when a 19-year-old tower climber fell 153 feet to his death from a cell site. The man, identified as Jeremy Jo Froemke of Lisbon, N.D., was wearing a safety harness at the time of the accident, according to the Associated Press. He worked at Midwest Steeplejacks, based in [...]
View Article fatality, safety, tower climberJust days after the airing of “Cell Tower Deaths” on Front Line, a PBS program, another climber fell while working on a cell tower. Only this one, 31-year-old Shad Lierley, lived to tell about it. On May 16 in Austin, Texas, Lierley, who is employed by Platinum Communications, fell 100 feet while he and another [...]
View ArticlePublic safety is an issue for all large venues. Everyone agrees that access to wireless coverage for public safety first responders inside of buildings will save lives. Not everyone agrees, however, on how to get there. As an answer to this dilemma, members of the in-building wireless industry are forming the Safer Buildings Coalition to [...]
View Article DASA crop duster hit a cell tower and slammed to the ground April 9 in western Kansas, according to the Hutchinson News. The wing of the plane clipped the guy wire of the 305-foot cell tower, sending it quickly to the ground. The plane was destroyed and the pilot, David Burr, 58, of Montrose, Colo., [...]
View ArticleWith climbers doing their best to cling to towers every day, it is hard to understand why exactly some people choose to jump off the same towers. A man was seriously injured after attempting to parachute from a television tower at 2 a.m., Dec. 22, in Crownsville, Md., according to a report on the Washington [...]
View Article cell tower, tower safety, TowersA man working on a cell tower fell more than 80 feet was seriously injured on Dec. 23 in Marcy, N.Y. He was rescued by members of the Maynard Fire Department and transported to St. Elizabeth Medical Center, according to The Utica Observer-Dispatch, and later moved to Strong Hospital in Rochester. The man, who has [...]
View Article cell tower, tower safety, TowersNick Rouskey, president, Broadcast Services Tower and Antennas, died tragically Dec. 26 when he was electrocuted while working on a cell tower in Bonita Springs, Fla. Rouskey, who had 20 years of experience repairing towers, was on the tower to replace a light, and was being assisted by his grandson, who was at the base. [...]
View Article cell tower, tower safety, Towers