[TowerTalk] Tower accident,

[Ethan]

Cqtestk4xs at aol.com wrote:
> I subscribe to towerpro on yahoo groups.  There is seldom a week or  two that 
> goes by that a professional tower climber doesn't get killed in a  tower 
> accident.  These guys are trained and certified and they still  die....sometimes 
> because of equipment failure, but sometimes through  carelessness.
>  
> If these pros are not invincible, neither are we hams.  It's been  eighteen 
> months since I went up a tower and in a few weeks I will be spending  lots of 
> time up there.  The New Mexico ham's death is a wakeup call for  me.  I 
> definitely will be tied to the tower at all times.  Stay  safe!
>  
> Bill K4XS/KH7XS 
>   
It's because of the simple fact that even the professionals are not 
following all the proper safety procedures.  They may be trained and 
certified, but they then set all that aside and use unsafe procedures.  
I have done professional tower work, and I've had people get testy with 
me for not discarding my safety procedures when they saw that it was 
making the job take longer. I've heard of tower maintenance companies 
that insist on unsafe procedures to maximize production.  I know of one 
tower climber who erected and maintained countless towers, including 
television transmitter towers more than 1000 feet high.  He always 
free-climbed, and never hooked off unless he was stopped.  Now it never 
took his life, he died in his 70s of other causes... but I have to 
wonder just how many people saw him as an example and now climb the same 
way?

-- 
Ethan KC8HES