OSHA Needs Your Help

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The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a request for information about how it can prevent worker injuries and fatalities on communication towers. OSHA is asking the public for information about worker safety hazards in regards to communication towers. “In the past 30 years, the increased demand for wireless and broadcast communications has spurred dramatic growth in communication tower construction and maintenance. In order to erect or maintain communication towers, employees regularly climb anywhere from 100 to 2,000 feet. Communication tower workers face the risk of falls from great heights, structural collapses, electrical hazards, and hazards associated with inclement weather. OSHA recorded 13 communication tower worker deaths in 2013 — the deadliest year for these workers since 2006. In 2014, 12 workers were killed which was double the number of deaths in 2011 and six times the total number in 2012,” the agency’s statement explained. 

OSHA is requesting information from tower workers, wireless carrier, engineering and and construction management firms, tower owners, and tower construction and maintenance companies about the causes of employee injuries and fatalities, and to share best practices used by workers and employers in the industry to address these hazards. The deadline for submitting comments is 60 days after the publication is published in the Federal Register. Anyone can submit comments here. The information requested could help OSHA develop future rulemaking. “We understand the importance of this industry, but workers’ lives should not be sacrificed for a better cell phone signal. OSHA is inviting the public to tell us what we can do to better protect these workers,” said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary for occupational safety and health.

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