CORRECTION: 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 County officials. The incident occurred at around noon.
“Chapman’s wireless group has never experience a fatality and this was the first the company has incurred in more than 10 years and it immediately began assessing how this tragic accident occurred. Based on what the Company has learned, the crew was working on tightening bolts on the tower,” the company said in a press release. “The employee fell as he went to tighten a bolt on a brace. His fellow crew members and company EMS personnel immediately rendered aid, but the employee did not survive his fall.”
Emergency personnel transported Govea to Brownwood Regional Medical Center where he died later from internal injuries. OSHA is investigating the accident.
It baffles me that no one is putting there foot down and demanding that all tower climbers use some form of anit-fall protection. I spent less than 5 minutes thinking about how all these tower deaths could be avoided and came up with half a dozen systems that would be inexpensive to put in place, not slow the climber or interfere with their work, and most of all save their lives should they lose their footing. The equipment is out there, easily accessible. Why aren’t we using it?
The problem is usually two fold Dan. Employers have unrealistic time frames to complete jobs which forces employee’s to not tie off properly and even free climb in certain areas. Additionally training in many cases is non existent and when you do have money for training everyone is too busy to train and when everyone is available for training there are no jobs pending so they’re afraid to invest in it. In many cases they are counting on odds and hoping nothing happens. You are correct however all of the solutions to many if not most of these scenarios are available and accidents happen either through lack of education or negligence by the climber…..either way preventable.
Simple.. The government won’t mandate tower owners put the money into their structure to make it safer, all responsibility is on climber, and thus on his or her small employer if an accident occurs. Too many big companies with alot of steel in the air would complain if they had to actually put money into a tower to make it safe. Maybe someone from a government entity should try climbing a 1500′ tower with no safety climb and do it according to OSHA rules and see how far they will get..let alone try to bill a tower owner for the extra hours it takes to do it, see if they will call you again. My 2 cents worth ain’t worth a penny. Be safe.
people like you piss me off i am a tower hand and what happened was a step bolt broke and he was wearing a harness and the safety climb (a 3/8ths steel solid diameter cable that goes straight up the tower) actually snapped as he rode the safety climb down wich is a manuafacture defect wich caused a life because people do not do there job right anymore these days so before you open your mouth about something why dont you look into before you go pointing fingers
The companies I have worked for have a 100% tie-in policy. In other words, if you are on a tower you have to be secured to the tower with some sort of anti-fall device. Also all climbers have to be certified from a fall prevention class.
Tower climbers are rebellious by nature and often ignore the rules, moving around the tower without properly securing themselves to the structure. Then when they have arrived at the work spot they will properly secure themselves. This behavior is the result of poor leadership from the Forman or lead towerhand. This is also a failure by OSHA for lax enforcement of federal safety rules (another federal agency that does not work).
You’re correct in many of your assertions Roland; however I have learned that in many cases tower hands once “properly” trained learn to respect the work at height and lose the “hot dog” mentality. OSHA is just like any other government agency which is over extended and under budgeted. In many cases the private industry leads the safety concerns and changes in the industry such as the American Society of Safety Engineers and the ANSI Fall Protection Code. These codes are updated regularly with new testing methodology and training requirements to ensure proper training methods.
You have no idea what you are talking about. It is mandatory that we all have Fall protection. It is the simple fact that the individule is not securing his fall protection or he is free climbing.
As an industry we go to great lenghts to ensure the safety of all our climbers and do not want to see this happen.
Tower climbers are what make this industry.
You are correct “Tower Climber” you are required to be tied off; however if the employer does not have a properly trained Competent Person on site that can perform proper equipment checks and ensure that everyone is using ANSI approved equipment accidents can and will happen. The tower climber is relying on his employer for direction and training. In many cases these are young kids with no proper knowledge on how to work at heights and are just given an 8hr course on how to properly tie off and then sent to climb a 200ft tower. We spend more time learning on how to drive a car or getting a scuba license than what many employers have their employee’s spend on learning how to work safetely at heights.
“when a brace gave way” Sounds like he was tied off and the tower brace failed.
New tower. New steel brace. failure unlikely unless the brace was being installed and had not been bolted in place at all tie points. before He tried to use it as support. His age was listed as 52. So youth and lack of knowledge should not have been a factor unless He was among the millions of unemployed. so desperate for a good pay check they will do anything.
All cell towers / poles should be required to have a full climbing ladder attatched to the tower and not require the climber to straddle the pole or leg brace to climb the tower the climbing pegs so common in the Industry should not be allowed.
Jim
Impossible to tell from the article whether the climber was careless or the tower was faulty. However, too many towers are just not MADE to be climbed easily and safely. Many lack safety cables, ergonomic ladders, tie-off points, work platforms, good footholds for traversing tower faces. And what’s this about a failed brace? Manufacturer or erector may be responsible for death.