5th Death of 2009

Article courtesy of WirelessEstimator.com

One dead following New York tower collapse 

UPDATE: December 15, 2009 - The Schuyler County Sheriff's Office has released the name of the tower erector who died when WRCE's 396-foot tower collapsed yesterday while a five-man tower crew was replacing guy wires in the town of Dix, NY.

Authorities say 46-year-old Dirk Remington of Clyde was attached to the tower while working on the guy wires at approximately 50-feet above ground level when the tower buckled and crashed to the ground. His four co-workers were not injured.
The tower crew was employed by Demand Communications Inc. of Owego.

On their web site, DCI says that all of their tower hands are certified by a leading national provider of climber training. They also state that they employ crew members that are certified in CPR and hazard communications.

DCI also conducts its own communications climbing program at a tower facility at their corporate headquarters.

The WRCE-AM tower, built in 1968, is owned by Backyard Broadcasting Elmira Licensee LLC, of Jacksonville, FL, according to FCC registration records. FCC records also indicate that at the identical latitude and longitude a 396-foot pole was constructed in 1975 and is owned by Northeastern Broadcasting, Inc. of Endicott, NY. Backyard Broadcasting is the parent company or WRCE-AM.

TIA 1019 to focus upon slippageSchuyler County Sheriff's investigator Sergeant Matt Maloney told WirelessEstimator.com that the crew was in the process of changing out a guy wire when the accident occurred, and the tower appeared to have buckled at the point where Remington was working.

It will not be known why the accident occurred until a complete investigation is performed by OSHA.
However, guy wire slippage is a too frequent industry occurence and the concern is being addressed in the new construction standard, TIA 1019, expected to be released in Q4 of 2010.

Many times during construction, guys are pulled out and temporarily connected until they can be adequately secured in their final connection devices, sometimes with unfortunate results.

Sometimes connections that can slip must be used for efficient construction methods. In the event this is the case, guidelines are provided in the Standard for the following:

-- Methods to analyze the structure for a slippage event including impact factors to apply for either continuous slippage or instantaneous release are provided;

-- In the event a structure cannot safely handle the potential of guy slippage or other unequal structure forces guidelines on how and where to provide temporary backup guys is fully covered;

-- Annex E of the Standard, entitled "Wire Rope End Connections," will provide specific data on connections typically used in our industry that have been known slip as well as non-slip type connections. Acceptable methods of end termination of connections are covered;

-- An option to the use of temporary guy lines is given by adding in a backup system if slippage, that can be detrimental to the tower, can occur during a construction procedure.

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December 14, 2009 - A tower technician died today after the tower he was tied off on collapsed in Schuyler County, NY.

Schuyler County Sheriff Bill Yessman said that there was a crew of five working on a guyed tower off County Route 16.

The sheriff's office got the call around 2:45 p.m., and at this point, details are limited.

WirelessEstimator.com will follow the tragedy of this year's fifth tower climber fatality.

One worker was tied off on the tower some distance up and the 396-foot-tall tower collapsed which resulted in a fatality at the scene, Yessman said.

The worker might have been in the process of changing out or performing maintenance on a guy wire at approximately the 60-foot level, authorities said.

Yessman says the first emergency unit responded within minutes, but there was nothing they could do. The Schuyler Hospital is less than a mile away from the broadcast tower site.
The tower was located about 100 yards off CR 16. The investigation is underway.  Officials are withholding the victim's name until the family is notified.
Sheriff's investigators will return to the scene tomorrow morning along with representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The Montour Falls Fire Department, Schuyler County Volunteer Ambulance, Watkins Glen Fire Department and Schuyler County Emergency Management Office assisted at the scene.

The tower broadcasts the news/talk station WRCE-AM's 400-watt signal. According to FCC records, the structure is owned by Northeastern Broadcasting Inc. of Endicott, NY.

The details of the accident are not known, but the industry will be looking into whether ambitious project completion dates are to blame.

NATE cautions companies about unrealistic deadlinesJim Coleman, Chairman of the National Association of Tower Erectors, recently said that demands are again being made to push crews to complete work, even if the pace requires a blind eye be turned to safety.
"At some point, this mode of operation will lead to tragedy. If you are involved in this industry, you know this to be true," Coleman said.
"The holiday season and the end of the year always seem to result in the imposition of unrealistic deadlines. They pose great potential for accidents for our employees. We must be diligent in enforcing safety practices and policies."
"Please take the needed steps to ensure that each of your employees understand that their safety must come first in all aspects of their job, and advise your customers that you will not endanger your crew for any reason, including being pressured to meet unrealistic deadlines," Coleman cautioned.

This year's total of five fatalities is the lowest since 2003 when WirelessEstimator.com began monitoring deaths within the industry.

4th Death of 2009

Article courtesy of WirelessEstimator.com

Oklahoma tower technician falls to death in Missouri

September 14, 2009 - An Okla. tower technician died this morning when he reportedly fell from the top of a 325-foot guyed tower in Oregon County, Mo. as he was transitioning without being tied off.
Oregon County Deputy Coroner Robert Clary said that Justin Stamps, 26, of Wagoner fell from the structure and died immediately from blunt force trauma.

Stamps was employed by S&S Communication Specialists Inc. The Hurlbert, Okla. tower erector recently completed installation of the U.S. Cellular structure located about two miles west of the junction of US Hwy. 160 and Hwy. 99 at Thomasville.

The Rover Volunteer Fire Department provided an immediate response to the tower site, and was preparing for a helicopter lift (audio), but Clary pronounced Stamps dead at the scene at 9:06 a.m.

Reports indicate that the experienced rigger was not attached to a safe anchorage point when he fell. OSHA is investigating.

S&S Communications is owned by brothers Kenneth and Randall Shankle who have 55 years of experience between them. The company is one of U.S. Cellular's primary contractors.

Kenneth Shankle said that Stamps had been with his company for less than a year, but had experience with a number of companies prior to his employment. He said that until such time that OSHA has completed their investigation he would not want to speculate as to how the accident occurred.

Stamps is the fourth fatality this year of a tower technician falling from an elevated structure.

Stamps was “moving up” on the tower when he fell more than 300 feet to his death, his mother, Tina Stamps.

“They were finished where they were working and getting ready to move up the tower,” Stamps said she was told by an S&S Communications Specialist official. “He went to hook up, and he missed.”

Besides his job, Stamps loved bull riding and anything western, but most of all he loved people, his friends and family said.

That love of people was evidenced today as dozens of cars and pickups lined the long driveway to the home of his parents, Randy and Tina Stamps. Another dozen cars that couldn’t get into the driveway lined the county road in front of the house, according to the Muscogee Phoenix.

Funeral services for Stamps are being planned with Hersman-Nichols Funeral Home of Wagoner.

Justin is survived by his parents, Randy and Tina Stamps of  Wagoner and Alan Cook of Porter; his sisters, Amber Stamps of Wagoner and Christy Warren and husband Robert of Muskogee; his brothers, Ronnie Stamps and wife Jessica and Chouteau and Teddy Cook of Porter; grandparents, Grady and Jane Lawhorn of Wagoner and Tommy Stamps of Pryor.

3rd Death of 2009

Article courtesy of WirelessEstimator.com

Tower tech succumbs in Texas following fall
 
UPDATE July 20, 2009 -Visitation services for Lucas Tucker will be held Tuesday, July 21, from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the Baumgardner Funeral Home, 212 N. Tarrant St., Crowley, TX.
A funeral service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 22 at the Crowley Cemetery located on the 100 block of N. Hampton St., Crowley.
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July 18, 2009 - A tower technician working in De Kalb, TX was killed this afternoon after falling from a communications tower owned by AT&T Mobility at 640 Route 82.

Lucas Tucker, 28, of Crowley, had been running transmission lines in snap-in hangers at approximately the100-foot level on the 337-foot guyed tower when he fell, reportedly hitting the structure's ice bridge.

A fellow worker on the three-man crew was approximately 20 feet below Tucker, but reportedly did not hear him raise his voice in distress as he brushed him on the way down.

The accident happened at approximately 2:30 p.m. and De Kalb's emergency medical personnel were at the tower site within minutes. Tucker was pronounced dead at the scene.

He was employed by Lariat Communications, a subcontractor that was hired to install a Metro PCS co-location. The Burleson, TX company is owned by Ralph Hines.

Tucker, who had more than ten years of experience in climbing, is survived by his parents as well as two brothers who also work in the industry.

Tucker was the third worker killed this year after falling from a communications structure while performing professional services for a client.

Services are expected to be announced on Monday. OSHA is investigating the fatality.

De Kalb is a small Texas community of less than 1,800 people located 35 miles west of Texarkana.

2nd Death of 2009

Article courtesy of WirelessEstimator.com

Arkansas climber dies after falling from Mississippi self-supporter after reported equipment failure
 
Update: June 8, 2009 - According to Shane Duschen's wife, Shanon, her husband was not careless on the tower when he fell on June 3, but his safety equipment failed, causing his death.
"Let this be a lesson to all of you in this profession. Do not take for granted that you are 100% safe as there is never a guarantee. Please do routine inspections of your belts and harnesses," the distraught mother of three young girls said.

A number of people knowledgeable about the incident said that Duschen's lanyard is still attached to the tower this morning and he had his relatively new harness on when he was pronounced dead at the base of the 250-foot self supporting tower.

Officials have prohibited anyone from climbing the tower to retrieve it until a representative of OSHA is on site later today to receive the equipment to further assess what could have caused the accident.
The coroner's report identified that Duschen and co-worker Richard Rippee just finished lunch before he fell, but according to others close to the accident, the two tower technicians were up near the 217-foot level mounting frame preparing to receive transmission lines.
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Update: June 6, 2009 - Visitation for family and friends of Shane Duschen will be on Sunday, June 7 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Mid Town Baptist Church, 4037 Boone Rd., Benton, AR. Services will start at 2:00 p.m.

A memorial fund has been set up for his family and contributions can be made to:

Shane Duschen Memorial Fund, c/o Simmons First National Bank, Account #10836514, L/R Geyer Springs Branch, 8500 Geyer Springs Rd., Little Rock, AR 72209. For additional information, contact the bank at 501-570-0800.
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June 4, 2009 - Shane Duschen, 28, of Alexander, AR, died yesterday afternoon after he fell 215 feet from a 250' self-supporting tower he was working on in Leland, MS.

He leaves his wife, Shanon, and their three daughters, age 7, 5 and 2.

Duschen was working with a four-man crew on a Crown Castle International tower off of Highway 61.

His employer, Diamond K Tower Co., Inc. of Greenville, was working directly for T- Mobile to install additional transmission lines.
Duschen, who began his employment with Diamond K Tower in 2002, was pronounced dead at the scene.
A 911 call was made by coworker Richard Rippee immediately after Duschen fell, according to Washington County Coroner Methel Johnson. The estimated time of Duschen's death was about 3:00 p.m.
Rippee said that he and Duschen had just finished eating lunch and were talking when Dushen simply fell from the tower, according to the coroner's report.
Johnson said Duschen was wearing a harness when he fell.
OSHA is on site investigating the fatality.

In addition to T-Mobile, the tower is co-located by Sprint PCS and AT&T Mobility.

Duschen's death is the second fatality  this year of a communications technician falling from an elevated structure. A tower technician wearing a harness fell off a monopole on March 17 and died in Lake Worth, FL.
Owned by Mike Kuhn, who has 31 years of experience in the tower business, Diamond K Tower has specialized in cellular tower construction for the past 16 years.

1st Death of 2009

Article courtesy of WirelessEstimator.com  

Florida cell tech fatality is country's first in 2009

March 17, 2009 - Updated March 19, 2009  - A tower technician wearing a harness fell off a monopole and died about noon today on Heritage Farms Road and U.S. 441, in Lake Worth, Fl.,  authorities said.

The man who died, 36-year-old Clinton Waters of Lake Wales, worked for Skyhawk Wireless Staffing, a specialized temp agency hired by Andrew Construction Services to work on the monopalm.

It is unclear how the accident occurred because the worker was wearing safety gear, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said, but they could not identify if the worker was tied off to the structure at the time that he fell or if it was an equipment failure.

The height of the tower was 120 feet, according to Captain Don Delucia with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue.

The man and his co-worker were both on the new structure being built for T-Mobile. They were part of a five-member crew.

Representatives of Andrew Construction Services and OSHA are expected to be on site tomorrow to identify what might have caused Waters' death.

Bulletin board posts and a news blog said the incident might have occurred when Waters was transitioning from a man basket to the monopalm.

However, according to a number of people knowledgeable about the accident, Waters had been working on the monopalm for almost three hours prior to his sudden fall.

Although there was a man basket on the job, in a picture taken immediately after the accident, the basket is sitting on the bed of the crane, detached from any rigging.

Other news pictures show what appears to be two safety lines on the structure. It also appears that the fronds were stored at the tower site and were not being installed at the time of the worker's fall.

He was the first industry fatality in 2009.

Waters began his career in Florida in 1996 with Atlantic Tower Construction, Inc., managed by Brian and Ann Silk. The Silks later founded United Telecom of Central Florida, Inc. and Waters worked there a number of times. He moved on to other companies during the past 12 years, including Andrew Systems Inc., and his most recent position was as a subcontracted technician with the Skyhawk staffing firm.

"Clint was a very hard worker and was always trying to better himself. He was quick witted and was sure to make you laugh with his humor," said Brian Silk who was taken back by the tragic news.

Many people described waters as a good family man who befriended countless tower workers.

"I think that all of us who have known him can say it has been a great loss for a close circle of friends that through the years have had to part our own ways. I'm sorry for his wife and children who have to deal with his loss," said former co-worker and friend Scott Bartle.

Waters was married and had a son and daughter.

Last May, a tower maintenance worker died when he fell from a TV tower in Miami. The broadcast tower is adjacent to where WirelessEstimator.com is currently following the construction of a 1,000-foot tall digital tower.

Following Texas, Florida appears to have more tower companies and crews than any other state in the country.