According to NIOSH, workers who construct and maintain telecommunication towers sustain fatal occupational injuries, mostly from falls, at a substantially greater rate than employees in all U.S. industry.

Because the industry has grown rapidly to meet increasing demand for additional towers, many new employers, supervisors, and workers may be unaware of the injury risk and unfamiliar with safety requirements.

To protect them, NIOSH recommends taking the following fall protection measures: Employers should comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Compliance Directive 2-1.29, which describes safe practices in tower access and egress, the proper use of hoists and training of hoist operators, and the use of proper fall protection equipment.

Employers should ensure that workers follow these practices. Employers should ensure that tower erectors are adequately trained in proper climbing techniques.

When employees are working 25 feet or more above the ground or a working surface, employers should provide and ensure the use of 100 percent fall protection. This applies to ascent, descent, moving from point to point, or any other work activity at those heights.

Employers should provide workers with an adequate “work-positioning device system” rigged to allow a worker to be supported on an elevated vertical surface while working with both hands free. Connectors on these systems must be compatible with the tower components to which they are attached.

Employers should ensure that gin poles are installed and used according to the specifications of the manufacturer or a professional engineer. Unique to the telecommunication tower industry, a gin pole is a component of a temporary lifting system used to raise workers, equipment or successive sections of tower into place.

Employers should know and comply with child labor laws, which prohibit hazardous work by young people under 18, including work in any occupations involved in the operation of power-driven hoisting equipment.

Tower owners should ensure that OSHA safety measures, including provisions of Compliance Directive 2-1.29, are followed.

Manufacturers and tower owners should consider installing fixtures on tower components during fabrication or erection that would facilitate the use of fall protection systems.

Estimates of risk for fatal injuries among telecommunications tower workers range from 49 injury-related deaths per 100,000 employees to 468 deaths per 100,000, compared with about five deaths per 100,000 in all U.S. industry.

These estimates rates vary because of difficulty in identifying the numbers of workers involved in the construction and maintenance of telecommunication towers. These workers are categorized in multiple industries and occupations among other workers who do other types of work. FSM