I know there are several here installing towers.

Please read the threads it is a sad day and don't want to see this happen to someone I know on ARFCOM.
http://lists.contesting.com/archives//html/Towertalk/2014-09/threads.html

Also following the news article is an article about tower liability for towers under 200 feet. This could have an impact on us.

too young and an awful way to watch someone die.

Up a tower is no place to take shortcuts.

Jim Abercrombie N4JA, author of

http://www.hamuniverse.com/n4jaantennabook.pdf

"Understanding Antennas For The Non-Technical Ham"

probably the best practical antenna book around, fell from his tower a few months ago and is SK also.



Guys, be careful.  Check your gear, harness and climbing belt.  Tie off correctly.  Just take your time
and do it right.  No shortcuts.

I've seemed to notice something these days…guys using harnesses won't tie of while ascending (or descending) because it takes too long or is too much effort. It's very easy to see how a simple lapse in attention could mean someone forgetting to hook on and reaching up with both hands to grab something.

I rarely free climb…in fact I won't do it if I'm more than 20 feet off the ground (too much to go wrong). I looked at using a harness once…it left off a major aspect of safety that I grew to like climbing the way I like.

Double Gorilla hooks where at least one is always attached or the Safe Climb from Tuf Tug type cable system.

http://www.tuf-tug.com/sc1.htm

We're supposed to use this type of cable system at work on all fixed vertical ladders over 10' tall.  They're bypassed frequently just because it's a PITA to harness up, but it sure beats what could happen if you don't.  Noted for future.

Sucks.

I used the hell out of my pelican hook and then tied off with a 6' lanyard.

Don't use a safety belt either. Get a harness with dual pelican hooks. Thousands of dollars in tower equipment you can afford a couple hundred in safety gear.

Something else that is overlooked IMO is tool lanyards. Some 550 cord and a clip could save people or property below you. I was saw a spray paint can fall from ~80ft and hit a truck, it wasn't pretty.

Here I am in the middle of my 50 ft tower build. I am at only 15 feet and I'm using a harness.
I'm scared of heights.

Just be thankful you don't have to climb with a harness with a double yoyo on the back. Nothing like climbing with another 20 pounds of gear attached up high so that everywhere you walk you feel like you're about to fall over. I talked to the safety engineer on one site and he acted like it was news to him. I asked when the last time he wore one and he said "never". I draw for a living and have to wear them quite often and the safety engineer didn't even know how to put one on.



It always amazes me what people will tie off to. We have minimum specs and it varies by each plant. But I still see guys walking a piperack 40' up attached to a piece of 3/4" mechanical conduit.

I dropped my calculator off a 200 foot tower earlier this year. Nout our kind of tower, but a 200' pressure vessel with platforms all the way up - we call it a tower. Calculator actually would come on but certain keys no longer functioned lol. We have someone on the ground that keeps everyone out from under anybody who goes up. A week later they condemed all the platforms and the ladders to get to them. Nice to know. I did get to use a new piece of equipment after that. A base station laser scanner to scan the entire structure from the ground. Scanned 1.5 million points.
 

Can't ever be too careful. I use an Elk River harness with aluminum seat and stays, very comfortable to wear for hours on end. I have a double hooked shock strap for climbing towers with no safety cable and use a rope positioning lanyard. I also use some rock climbing quickdraws for upper body positioning or hanging gear from. I always clip in with two different pieces of gear.

I also try not to do any headlamp climbing at night anymore........

My wife shits a brick or two every time I climb on the roof.  I can't imagine what she would do if I had a tower!

What brand and model is your harness? I'm  looking to buy one for my new 80 ft tower.

I really like my Miller harness. Here I am at 100' putting two beams up. I only used the top lanyard when I had to raise the mast. It slid up the mast with me since the 6' lanyards weren't long enough to give me the room I needed. That's why I'm not connected to it in the pic.









Putting it up...

Nope nope nope nope nope nope

Dunno about that one, I use a Petzl Navaho which is nice for tower work since it has the side rings as does that one.

The last time I climbed before I got sick it was at the top of a 200' pressure vessel. The refractory inside the vessel had cracked (still in service) and on the spots where it had fallen off the outside shell was glowing red hot. They couldn't put water on it to cool it off because it would crack. So they had a steam lance aimed at each spot, there was about 20 of them in different places. It really got toasty in a hurry lol. All that to climb up there and take one measurement. Guy in charge of the turn around told me it was costing them about $100k a week in steam to keep it in service. I told him it was probably a lot cheaper than if that thing let go with 40 of us standing around looking at it.



Climbing an antenna tower would be a welcome relief.

I'm surprised the crane setup that close to those power lines.



 

This was a great install. Taking them down could be a lot more interesting, though. I got one down to about 40-50' and removed the last guy wires so it was freestanding. The owner had bolted it to the house. Well, it'd been up for 30 years and when the wires came off I got the feeling that the world was spinning. I ended up going for quite a ride while it rocked back and forth after the bolts pulled right through the rotten wood. Guess we didn't inspect as well as we should have.


In hindsight you've got a point. I guess he figured he was moving in the opposite direction but after seeing how that fire truck got energized just by proximity during the ice bucket challenge it's a bit concerning to see how close it was.

That operator was awesome, though. Best and fastest install I ever did. It was incredibly impressive to get to the top and see that he'd threaded the needle and slipped the u-bolts around the mast and I just had to bolt it into position. The other antenna took more maneuvering but he did it like it was nothing. It's so much nicer having a crane hold it in place than you or the guys on the ground.

For those that don't like heights.
Puts a new meaning on trust Christ.
2BbsZXgXgZE

An update from the tower owner. I didn't want to quote the message here out of respect for the family and those involved in the accident.
http://lists.contesting.com/archives//html/Towertalk/2014-09/msg00336.html