I have ALL the certs, climbing, RF, Hazcom, CPR, First Aid, really F---ing expensive climbing cert, more expensive harness, grand total at last count gear just to climb, over $3000 and needs regular replacement and upkeep due to UV and burns, not to mention my burns. You can subcontract BUT you must meet all of the requirements which is extremely expensive, more expensive than some of the welding machines I've seen on trucks. Think your old fancy SA200 cost a bunch at $5000-7000, that's a good start.
36 deaths between 2011-2015. I knew two guys personally and a friend was recently electrocuted and lost his arm. The welding end of it is sometime sketchy. Depends on the contractor and the project manager back in the office and the foreman onsite to verify any and all qualifications needed when hiring a subcontractor. I have worked for many that have never asked to see my climbing credentials. So, in short any wanker with a $200 harness and enough leads and desire to go up and weld can if they find the right contractor that has a pencil that is not so sharp. Officially however ALL tower owners require ANYBODY stepping one foot on their towers to be climber certified and all of the top tier contractors will require this. Somewhere along the line it gets lost in translation sort of speak as you progress further down the contractor tiers. This is where the lower contractors need to be watched I suppose, the shady ones at least.
Crown Castle was mentioned in this article and as much as I didn't care for their plan to test all welders with their own inspection company, a requirement and ONLY their inspectors can test you, witness test, destructive test, costs a ton, I am now a fan of it. Why? Because Crown will now keep a record of your jobs as a welder. You do good work on their sites and all is well, your record will reflect this. You screw up a job and then they have to call in another contractor who then calls me to go out and fix it then you get the black mark on your file at Crown, weeding out the hacks. I'm all for it.
I for one am all for the proper credentials being required and checked. It's not because I'm going to cry, "you're charging as much as me but don't have all of the same stuff I have" kind of thing but more of a "if somebody needs to be rescued or you don't know what the F.... your doing then you do not belong at this location" type of thing. I have met with personnel from actual tower companies, meaning the actual owner of the site and have NEVER been asked for my climber certs. A simple way to clean things up in my opinion, pre-con meetings with the site owner should have that verified. I've done work for a lot of different companies and one of the best ones I work for called me on one job because the local chap they found was not climber certified. Lucky for me and them because the foreman on the job said he saw him weld on the ground and knew this guy couldn't weld. His words, "He couldn't even weld standing on his feet so I was worried about what would happen when he actually was hanging in a harness". Luckily they booted him off the job because of his lack of credentials.
We'll weed out the bad eggs slowly but surely. It's going that way really quick. The tower owners, cell site owners and everybody else involved is tired of the publicity and the deaths. It's not a very good thing when you are listed as being in top ten most deadly jobs in the world and then make it to number one. That is just for the climbers, they never mention the climber who is also welding at 400 feet hanging from a 5/8" rope.
Knowing how to climb and move around as the article was talking about. Agreed. I have worked towers where 2 out of the 3 faces were COMPLETELY covered with coax cable stacked 3 deep. Talk about hard to tie off, move around and weld at 300-350 feet. Personally, if you're an amateur climber or wanna be, have not been climbing trees and other things since you were 8 years old I'd prefer you're not on the tower, especially with me. Every crew I work with we are friends, brothers. We understand that our actions can endanger others and that is something that is on our minds when we think safety. You screw up where we work there is no standing up and brushing it off, twisted ankle, broken fingers, you die. Free climbing, none of the contractors I work with condone this nor do the foreman I work with. Slip + Oops = Dead
It's a niche field because when you wake up in the morning and head to the jobsite to climb all day working, this is one job where you go there and you could end up dead. Everyday working at heights means you could die today. It's not like welding on a stopper fitting on a gas main for one day then doing butt joints for the remainder of the job. The danger is there while you weld on your stopper, "don't blow thru" but then once it is over, for the most part so is the danger element. On towers, everyday is welding on a stopper fitting. In West Virginia some guys were replacing diagonals on a tower, pulled out one to many and the only one that went home was the foreman because he was on the ground. All it takes is one little mistake. There is no running out of the way, ducking under a building or hiding behind a vehicle. You ride the tower to the ground or free fall.
If you can suppress the fact that you might die today, work hanging from a 5/8" rope with nothing below you but open air anywhere from 20 feet to over 400 feet, weld in the vicinity of flammable coax cable, can deal with some serious burns on your body due to how you have to weld then hey, maybe you can be a tower welder. Me personally, I love it up there. Nothing better in my opinion. Crank up the music, breeze blowing, birds flying around checking you out, great office views, the restroom is a bit of a problem but at least one of natures callings can be remedied without removing oneself from the tower, depending on wind direction, crew and vehicle locations......
