[TowerTalk] Certification to climb towers?

[Jim Lux]

At 03:03 PM 2/6/2004 -0700, John Lloyd wrote:
>I went to a club meeting last night where the speaker was in the
>business of Tower and Antenna Installation. He said that the OSHA rules
>have changed over that past few years and that everyone who climbs
>towers needs to be certified to climb and and must use the proper body
>harness climbing belts and locking belt clips.
>
>He also said that if there is an accident, that OSHA WILL come and
>inspect the Tower accident. If the climber is not certified then the
>insurance companies won't pay any claims.


OSHA is "Occupational" safety and health administration, and only deals 
with workplace things.  You're perfectly free to do hideously dangerous 
things on your own, just not at work.  It's hard to say how OSHA could come 
look at your mangled body on your mangled tower, unless there was some 
"workplace" aspect to it.

Insurance is a different matter.. that's between you and the insurance 
company.  If you were a business, I'm sure that your insurance company 
would require that you have all your workers trained and appropriately 
qualified and equipped, or, at the very least, had procedures in place to 
do so (i.e. if an employee goes off and climbs the tower without the safety 
gear, contrary to training and instruction and your procedures, you might 
still be covered, at least for liability).


I can't imagine that your health or life insurance would deny the claim, 
unless you were engaging in a "uncovered activity" listed in the policy 
(e.g. many life insurance policies won't pay for death in an airplane not 
operated by a commercial carrier).  It's true that they may consider tower 
climbing as a "de facto" hazardous, un-covered activity like two-man 
chainsaw juggling, wing-walking, mountain climbing, etc., without 
explicitly listing it.


>I would like to know if someone could confirm this and let me know what
>one needs to go through to get certified to climb towers?  I've only
>been climbing towers for 37 years now and yes I have a body harness
>climbing belt. I climb towers to repair and maintain my ham radio
>antennas. I did not know that everyone needs to be certified to climb.
>
>Can someone direct me to some information on the web about
>certifications for tower climbers and the OSHA requirements?


When someone starts throwing "OSHA requires XYZ" around, I always go to the 
OSHA site, which has a very good search engine.
Try http://www.osha.gov/

Often times, what they're talking about is one way that someone has figured 
out to comply with the OSHA rules, rather than that OSHA has mandated a 
particular course of action.

Here's the blanket requirement for certification in Telecommunications 
industry (Construction, which might apply, might be different)

Employers shall provide training in the various precautions and safe 
practices described in this section and shall insure that employees do not 
engage in the activities to which this section applies until such employees 
have received proper training in the various precautions and safe practices 
required by this section. However, where the employer can demonstrate that 
an employee is already trained in the precautions and safe practices 
required by this section prior to his employment, training need not be 
provided to that employee in accordance with this section. Where training 
is required, it shall consist of on-the-job training or classroom-type 
training or a combination of both. The employer shall certify that 
employees have been trained by preparing a certification record which 
includes the identity of the person trained, the signature of the employer 
or the person who conducted the training, and the date the training was 
completed. The certification record shall be prepared at the completion of 
training and shall be maintained on file for the duration of the employee's 
employment. The certification record shall be made available upon request 
to the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health. Such 
training shall, where appropriate, include the following subjects:
(1) Recognition and avoidance of dangers relating to encounters with 
harmful substances and animal, insect, or plant life;
(2) Procedures to be followed in emergency situations; and,
(3) First aid training, including instruction in artificial respiration.


.

In general OSHA requires a "qualified employee":
Qualified employee. Any worker who by reason of his training and experience 
has demonstrated his ability to safely perform his duties.






>Thanks,
>
>John, K7JL
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>
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