Climbing a Transmission Tower

[MichaelEmouse]

What’s the minimum safe altitude to use a parachute? Would it be safer?

[Bricker]

@rachelellogram

From the brief reading I’ve done, this job pays from 12-25 an hour. NOT FUCKING ENOUGH

It’s also absolutely in direct violation of OSHA regs to free-climb. They have 2 safety lines and one must always be connected. But it’s generally cheaper and faster for companies to ignore OSHA and pay the fines the few times they’re discovered breaking rules.

The voice-over claims that OSHA regs permit free climbing.

[ducati]

As an active Ham in my community, I get to go replace antennas and equipment on occasion.

Stone Mountain is about 800’ high, and has a 450’ tower on top of it.
I have a couple of pix from up the tower, but I’ll have to find them.

You can see some of the tower from the picture above, but it really doesn’t do it justice.

[LouisB]

I don’t believe there was ever a time in my life when I would have been capable of making such a climb and if I had, my skeleton might still be up there. I’d rather box with a grizzly bear. Or Mike Tyson in a bad mood.

[Valgard]

@Bricker

The voice-over claims that OSHA regs permit free climbing.

There was a previous thread on this which linked to a tower safety site full of photos and stories regarding blatant disregard of safety regulations. There was a quote from someone at OSHA who said the idea that OSHA allows free climbing a structure like that is incorrect.

[Crotalus]

I didn’t think a video without any sudden motion could make me feel queasy, but that one did it.

[Bricker]

@Valgard

There was a previous thread on this which linked to a tower safety site full of photos and stories regarding blatant disregard of safety regulations. There was a quote from someone at OSHA who said the idea that OSHA allows free climbing a structure like that is incorrect.

A search doesn’t find that thread. I find this thread and Climbing a Transmission Tower - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

@MichaelEmouse

What’s the minimum safe altitude to use a parachute? Would it be safer?

Possibly but you also run the risk of getting hung up/injured/killed by the structure itself or the guy wires…

[Bricker]

http://www.wirelessestimator.com/t_content.cfm?pagename=Tower%20Worker%20Video

That’s a link to a commentator who says:

Unfortunately, the tower technicians were free climbing and the narrator had no knowledge about fall protection standards, stating that in regards to free climbing, “…it’s easier, faster and most tower workers climb this way. Free climbing is more dangerous, of course, but OSHA rules do allow for it.”

Jim Coleman, Chairman of the National Association of Tower Erectors viewed the video this morning on YouTube and was troubled by the comments concerning free climbing. He was also concerned that it was entitled as a tutorial.

“I’m unaware of any guidance by OSHA that allows for free climbing as an acceptable method of accessing elevated work,” Coleman said.

That’s not really a cite, and it turns the issue from a positive into a negative. Presumably (and I welcome correction on this point) OSHA must have a specific rule forbidding it, or it’s permitted - yes?

[Duke_of_Rat]

@Rilchiam

How strong these guys must be. Just the stamina they need for a climb that far, and straight up, is remarkable.

I think they said there was an elevator to 1,600 feet, then they have to climb the last 100+ feet. Still a decent climb starting from ground level, I can’t imagine being that high and climbing that thing.

[Bricker]

In this thread, a commentators says at post #7:

I will try to clear things up as to what OSHA is doing and not doing.

First, OSHA is working on the revision of both the construction and maintenance regulations for Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution (1926 Subpart V and 1910.269). OSHA’s website states they will be published this month, the regulatory agenda was amended and states they will be published in April 2008. Both of those are incorrect, because OSHA does not know when they will be published. One post stated around the fall of this year, but I doubt that will happen either - sometime in 2009 may be possible, we will just have to wait and see. The process takes time because of the many levels of approval they must complete. What we do know is that once the final draft goes to OMB (Office of Management and Budget), they will release it within 90 days of their receipt - usually on the 90th day - and then it will be official. So until we know for sure that the draft has been released to OMB, we will not have a clue as to the release date.
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I will throw in one more thing on climbing poles and structures. OSHA did not propose to prohibit free climbing. They did ask some questions as to the safety of free climbing and whether or not it should be allowed to be continued or not. If you read submitted comments and testimony that was offered at the public hearings on the proposed regulations, most supported free climbing. There was some discussion that described the difference between wood poles, steel poles and lattice towers, but again, OSHA has not proposed to prohibit any free climbing. That is not to say however that OSHA will not publish the new rules prohibiting free climbing anything, but in my opinion that will not happen.

That was in 2008, and it seems to support my sense above that in the absence of an OSHA rule, free climbing is permitted.

So: can anyone point to an OSHA rule prohibiting free climbing?

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

Free climbing a structure of that height with its inherent fatal dangers one misstep away should be something OSHA would prohibit considering some of the other weird regs OSHA has, but I think even they realize that its pretty impractical (as the video narrator states) to have to keep tying off, untying, over and over again.

[Valgard]

@Bricker

http://www.wirelessestimator.com/t_content.cfm?pagename=Tower%20Worker%20Video

That’s a link to a commentator who says:

That’s not really a cite, and it turns the issue from a positive into a negative. Presumably (and I welcome correction on this point) OSHA must have a specific rule forbidding it, or it’s permitted - yes?

Hm, I must have misremembered then.

[Rilchiam]

@Duke_of_Rat

I think they said there was an elevator to 1,600 feet, then they have to climb the last 100+ feet. Still a decent climb starting from ground level, I can’t imagine being that high and climbing that thing.

Yeah, I got the bit about the elevator. Still, when they do start climbing, there’s no margin for error. And I know I, personally, would start getting fatigued hands and arms after a while…

[Boyo_Jim]

@Bricker

The voice-over claims that OSHA regs permit free climbing.

I’m looking around in OSHA publications. One says falls are the leading cause of death in the construction industry, though I’m not even sure tower maintenance is considered part of the construction industry.

So far what I’ve found are rules and standards about safety equipment, such as how much load they must bear. But I haven’t found any rules yet about under just where and when such equipment is mandatory or optional.

[Happy_Fun_Ball]

I am amazed at how disturbing I found that video. There is just no way in hell I could climb that thing!

It does make me wonder how they built that. Do they use helicopters?

[Sunspace]

@L. G. Butts

I am amazed at how disturbing I found that video. There is just no way in hell I could climb that thing!

It does make me wonder how they built that. Do they use helicopters?

They used a helicopter to put the top bits on the CN Tower, but consider this: someone had to be up there to guide each piece into place on the one below.

[Boyo_Jim]

@Bricker

http://www.wirelessestimator.com/t_content.cfm?pagename=Tower%20Worker%20Video

That’s a link to a commentator who says:

That’s not really a cite, and it turns the issue from a positive into a negative. Presumably (and I welcome correction on this point) OSHA must have a specific rule forbidding it, or it’s permitted - yes?

I found the original statement this link quotes from.

It is the trade association for tower builders, and though it rants on at some length against this specific video, and rails against free-climbing, it does not cite a single specific rule against it. I’m quite certain that if there was a specific rule, they would know about it and they would cite it.

It does say:

NATE is looking forward to OSHA’s statement clarifying this matter for the industry.

I did find another site from 2006 saying tower climbing is the single most dangerous job in America.

[Bootis]

Err, why wouldn’t there just be a a cable and pulley from the top of the antenna to where the elevator stops?

[Rachellelogram]

I apologize if I’m wrong about the OSHA regs. Lots of tower climbers were posting in the several threads I’ve seen about this and I took them at their word that these guys are breaking OSHA’s safety rules. It’s good safety, though, to always have at least two points of contact with the pole, one of which being your safety line. It gets so windy that high up that not using one verges on suicidal. Or a rung could break off in your hand… people are stupid.

Also this: Ultimate Guide To The Best Mobile Games To Cure Your Boredom (which seems to make a lot of assertions without any citations)

I do think it would be cool if they could combine this job with base-jumping and parachutes, though base-jumping has elements of illegality surrounding it so that’s not practical.