For Harvey Reynolds, being “vertically challenged” does not mean he is short, it just means that he has a healthy respect for working at heights that terrify normal people. Having a degree in physics, he is well aware of the laws of gravity. His intrepid first climb up a tower was an apt metaphor for his 10-year climb up the ladder of success in the wireless industry. Reynolds, as Plant Manager at Shawnee Communications, now manages crews at the Illinois-based firm.
“I had never climbed before,” Reynolds told Inside Towers, “however, I have an extensive knowledge in the outside part of the telecom industry. I started my career in telecom as a dispatcher and over the years worked my way from dispatcher, inside plant engineering, technician supervisor to operations manager.”
Prior to that, Reynolds served eight years in the military, followed by various jobs in retail while attending and graduating from Illinois State University with a bachelor’s in physics. Harvey got his first chance to work in telecom in 2010, after being out of work for almost a year. Fast forward to May of this year where he was given the opportunity to work for Shawnee Communications maintaining the outside plant, while handling customer relations, supervision, and technician training.
His focus at the plant is safety, and having completed a 30-hour OSHA training, and instruction through Kathy Gill’s Tower Safety training facility in Phoenix, AZ, he continues to educate himself on all aspects of the business. He said even though throughout the telecom business everyone feels rushed to get the work done quickly, it should not come before the safety of the crew or yourself.
“About three to four years ago,” Reynolds said, “I had a technician who was badly injured on the job. They had a large gash on their forehead, and shattered their wrist. An investigation needed to be done and what we found was the technician was trying to work fast and not safe. While on the midspan of cable, the technician did not have their climbing gear on, they were not tied down to the ladder and when they went to cut the drop from the lashing they were on the wrong side of the cable, and they were thrown off. In this case, the technician was able to walk away, but from the height that they fell it could have been a graver situation. I am a firm believer that safety should never be cut short, ‘smooth is slow and slow is fast’ is a motto I picked up in the military and I try to apply that in when passing on safety meetings.”
Following his circuitous path into telecom, Reynolds said he can say for the first time in over a decade that he loves everything about his job and who he works for. “From working with the great team that I work with every day, the atmosphere, the comradery, and the fact that this is just a great company to work for,” he said.
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