[TowerTalk] Another Commercial tower down

[Chuck Lewis]

3 Dead in Ala. TV Tower Collapse (see article at end).


This one was close to home. We live about a mile and a half from it here on
Monte Sano in Huntsville. On the way to run some errands at about 1:30PM
CDT, we passed by the Station/Tower and it was evident that the tower had
dropped less than 20 minutes earlier. There were several ambulances and the
police were just then running the yellow barrier tape around the site.

This tower is set on the slope of a mountain(hill) at roughly1600' ASL
(1000'AGL) and across a road from school and adjacent residential community.
Fortunately, it dropped downslope, away from the school and houses. It's
hard to tell from the road but the latest reports imply that the tower fell
pretty close to the base in "buckle" mode.

It's likely that we here in Huntsville will get more details than the
national press will propagate, so I (or one of the other locals) will try to
pass along pertinent details, especially anything we can learn from.

Ironically, just about the time this disaster was happening, I was mentally
composing a rejoinder to the NASA bashing (jesting acknowledged), and had
decided to throw in my nickel's worth later today, so here goes (there IS
relevance to Towertalk in the following):

As someone else pointed out after the recent History Channel program, the
Mission Control guys are a special breed. After 30 years with NASA, some of
it in Mission Control and some behind a desk, I can tell you that that's
where the rubber hits the road; where every upstream engineer's mistakes
puddle around your feet; where you gotta make it work in spite of everything
else. If you're not an adrenaline junkie, don't apply.   The designers and
program managers are no less dedicated...just different.

Now NASA has been told to change its culture; I think that is correct, and
this is the part that has meaning to us as towertalkians. IMO, NASA made a
huge mistake after the Challenger disaster by emphasizing the implementation
of processes and procedures that would "eliminate human error". As well
thought out as these checks and balances were, the result (without an
equally intense call for individual accountability) was an insidious
perception that the "SYSTEM" would catch the mistakes; if you had nagging
doubts about something, it was OK. Somewhere downstream the new process
would identify the problem, air it out and fix it. So you didn't have to
jeopardize yourself by raising the issue now. Garbage in...garbage out.

There ARE no error-free processes; there ARE no foolproof procedures.
Critical thinking and situational awareness are still required with even the
best checklists and procedures, which, followed blindly or numbly are gonna
getcha sooner or later.

It's possible that today's disaster was inevitable, but I'll bet not. I'll
bet there were OSHA approved procedures and equipment, and company policies
and penalties for non-adherence, but somewhere someone missed a step,
misapplied a procedure, took a shortcut, or daydreamed. You can add your own
to this list. I hope I'm wrong, but I bet this was a preventable failure.

Same old messages for us: Don't climb when you're tired, don't climb when
you're pi**ed off or otherwise distracted. Follow your procedures, but think
through each step and make sure it applies to your particular situation. In
short, don't substitute a generic process for constant critical thinking,
and don't blindly depend on the "System" to make you safe! It didn't work
for the good guys at NASA, and it won't work for us.

73,
Chuck, N4NM
(with a sadly blank spot on his landscape)

P.S. (6:08CDT): Tower was a G-7 class, owned by Spectrasite Corp.



By Associated Press

September 4, 2003, 4:19 PM EDT

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- A television tower undergoing repairs collapsed
Thursday, killing two men who were several hundred feet up. A third man was
critically injured.

Witnesses said the three workers were tied to positions on the 985-foot
tower and unable to escape.

The cause of the accident was under investigation. The weather was calm at
the time.

Police spokesman Wendell Johnson said the three men had been hired to
strengthen the tower on Monte Sano, a mountain overlooking Huntsville, and
were not employees of the station, WAAY.
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press