A New Spate of Deaths In the Wireless Industry 247
onehitwonder writes "The race to build out advanced cellphone networks in the U.S. has contributed to a spike in deaths among tower workers, making this one of the industry's deadliest years and drawing fresh scrutiny from federal regulators, according to The Wall Street Journal. At least 10 workers have died in falls from communication towers so far this year, and three more were seriously injured. The accidents, nine of which were related to cellphone network work, come during one of the biggest building booms in years, as Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. ramp up major network upgrades in an attempt to catch up with Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc."
So (Score:5, Funny)
Cellphones ARE deadly after all! /s
What the fudge.. (Score:2, Informative)
10 died this year, that's nothing. In the UK 3 people die each year testing if a 9v battery works on their tongue. 19 people have died in the last 3 years believing that Christmas decorations were chocolate.
It's not exactly a huge shockwave out of the 313 Million people in America.. wondering why this story even made it here.
Re:What the fudge.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Because every life is precious.
Re:What the fudge.. (Score:4, Funny)
Because every news article that gets a clickable add is precious.
FTFY
Re: (Score:2)
You're an AC, so that's pretty much axiomatic.
Re: (Score:2)
The amazing thing is that it was pure sarcasm and got modded as insightful. Damn.
Re: (Score:2)
Care to explain how a 9V battery can kill someone, other than by trying to ingest it?
Re:What the fudge.. (Score:4, Funny)
Probably gross stupidity. Could be people tried to swallow the 9V battery because it was tingly and it got lodged in their throat, or maybe they didn't understand the concept of a 9V battery and instead tested a 9mm handgun with their tongue. All things that have 9 in the name are the same, right? =)
Re: (Score:2)
blood contact and getting current across the heart can do it (but in most cases your heart can be restarted)
the difference between a 9 volt source killing you and a 9K volt source killing you is how "crispy" your remains are
Re: (Score:2)
A 9V battery can (briefly) supply several amps of current if shorted. Even just a small fraction of that going along the wrong path can wreck your heart rhythm.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
still cant possibly see how the "shortest/least resistive" path could possibly be through the heart when both contacts are on the tongue.
Re: (Score:2)
We're not talking rocket surgeons here. It's simple, these people had alligator clips, swallowed one end, had it tear through the esophagus, got wedged near the heart, then the battery contacted the tongue on one side and the other alligator clip on the other side, making the heart part of the path of least resistance. It's Occam's razor here - the simplest, most obvious answer is probably correct.
Re: (Score:2)
Sorry, I forgot one other possible, obvious reason - the person licked a 9V battery instead of handing over their wallet during a mugging, and was shot. Cause of death is the gunshot wound, but how negligent would the coroner be if they did not conclude that licking the 9V battery was the proximate cause of death?
Re:What the fudge.. (Score:4, Insightful)
So every one in one thousand dies on the job. I'd say that's a pretty high mortality rate for the US.
Re:What the fudge.. (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not exactly a huge shockwave out of the 313 Million people in America.. wondering why this story even made it here.
Because a person shouldn't have to take completely unnecessary risks in order to make a living, all so that a major publicly traded company can save a few bucks.
Re: (Score:2)
What exactly are you implying? Were they forced up a tower at gun point? Are you saying out of the thousand of workers who regularly climb towers and don't fall and injure themselves, these 10 workers were denied proper safety training and equipment?
It's a bit hard to determine why it happened, but please don't just assume it was just so that companies can make a few extra bucks, and i won't just assume it's because of gross negligence on the part of the worker.
Re: (Score:2)
What exactly are you implying? Were they forced up a tower at gun point?
"Jackson! Head up that fucking pole and meet your god damned quota or I fire your ass and your kids starve next week!"
We saw this same shit with truck drivers driving while tired and killing people. Being fired from your job and facing financial hardships is far more traumatic than having a gun drawn on you.
Re: (Score:2)
so then unionize.
Or have they been too demonized that even though they fight for working conditions, safety and pay by grouping everyone together, you'd rather go solo and leave it up to the company you work for who's sole interest is making the most money?
Hmm, choices...
Re: (Score:2)
how do you die by putting a 9v on your tongue?
Frontline covered this (Score:5, Informative)
This isn't anything new. If you have worked in the industry, you know about it. The pressure and competition from cell providers to lower the cost of erecting and maintaining towers has pushed the safety margins to very thin levels. Guys climb with gear far beyond their service life and are asked to work lots of hours.
Frontline covered this last summer, I think it provides a good summary if you don't know about the topic:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/cell-tower-deaths/ [pbs.org]
Re:Frontline covered this (Score:4, Informative)
I agree that happens but in my experience the number one problem is people get complacent. I've come close a couple of times to falling off stands and both times it was simply complacency. You do something long enough and you loose respect for how quickly you can get hurt or die. I've seen people do some of the stupidest stuff too. Many are just plain careless. If anything I'm shocked the number isn't higher.
I really don't get it (Score:4, Insightful)
How do you forget to clip on? Even after a decade working in the job how could you possibly forget? It's like forgetting to wait for the cross signal and just walking out into traffic.
Re: (Score:3)
And you think people don't do that too?
Re:I really don't get it (Score:5, Insightful)
How do you forget to clip on?.
"working 12- or 16-hour days"
"haven't taken days off in weeks"
Exhaustion results in errors.
Won't someone think of the profits? (Score:3)
How do you forget to clip on?.
"working 12- or 16-hour days"
"haven't taken days off in weeks"
Exhaustion results in errors.
All reasonable sacrifices to leave no profits behind.
Re:I really don't get it (Score:4, Informative)
How do you forget to clip on? Even after a decade working in the job how could you possibly forget? It's like forgetting to wait for the cross signal and just walking out into traffic.
Apparently, it is accepted not to clip on at all [youtube.com].
Re: (Score:2)
Simple,
After many decades of doing your job, your fear of heights goes down to near 0. So you just don't think of it as a major thing to remember or forget.
I sometimes forget my glasses, or something else I do every day, just because I don't rate it as a high priority thing.
Re: (Score:3)
People don't forget this ... usually they decide it's too inconvenient and don't bother. People just get complacent over time.
But, I believe there are some exceptions where you don't need to be clipped in because there are other risks involved. Something about moving yourself and your tools making situations in which people are allowed to not be clipped in. And I'm pretty sure this kind of tower might be one of those.
Re: (Score:2)
I know an injection molding machine operator that likes to change heater band fuses with the heaters still on (220Volts).
He is an _idiot_, but it's not like he doesn't know not to do that. It's not like we haven't yelled at him/threatened to fire him. If I see that again he's gone and he knows it.
I asked his kids to talk to him about it. Maybe they will get through to him. All that means is he will find something else stupid to do.
Lots of dangerous things really have low odds of killing you. Doesn't
And the carriers duck responsibility... (Score:5, Interesting)
A Frontline documentary [pbs.org] last year noted that tower work is done by small contracting companies that allow the big carriers to duck all responsibility, while pushing the firms to build so fast that safety gets shortcutted. Worth watching.
Re: (Score:2)
Around here most, but not all, of the towers aren't even owned by the cell companies. They are owned by private companies and then are leased to the cell companies. While the need for the non-cellco owned tower is created by the cell phone company, they don't operate the tower, they didn't finance it, so how exactly are they responsible for it?
Re: (Score:2)
Gee, I wonder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart [wikipedia.org] where they got that idea?
Spate. Who knew? (Score:2)
Good to know!
Acrophobia? Don't watch. (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWxOx2eSqdo [youtube.com] Free climbing is allowed by OSHA rules - per comments around 2:00.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I'm ok till 1:40. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWxOx2eSqdo [youtube.com] Free climbing is allowed by OSHA rules - per comments around 2:00.
Don't be silly. Of course it doesn't [safetynewsalert.com].
Re: (Score:2)
Free climbing is not allowed, but the penalties issued for violating those rules don't even amount to a weregild, so they get freely ignored.
Safety harness... (Score:5, Interesting)
...there for a reason.
From TFA: "Constantly attaching and reattaching a safety harness as climbers move about the tower can cut into speed." and "One project manager said crews are working 12- or 16-hour days and, when they get tired, forget to clip on safety lines or clip them on improperly."
So then the important question is whether the company is inducing this, or are the workers bringing on themselves? What I mean is, what are the comapnies policies? Are they good policies? Are they being ignored by workers trying to get more hours (for a bigger paycheck)? Do the companies even adress such things as maximum hours worked for fear of fatigue/safety? Is there pressure from the company to work more hours with fewer people?
I bring up the workers cause at my company there are people who wouldn't hesitate to work 16 hours days for the bigger check, and have actively fought agaisnt hiring more people because it would cut into their overtime as it is. luckily fatigue here isnt really going to be fatal; just cuts into profits.
Personally, if it's my life on the line, I got no interest in meeting the big guy this early in my existence. My debts arent so bad that I need to risk my life to pay them off. And when I interviewed for a job working on wind turbines (that I ended up turning down the offer for when it came) one of my first questions was about their safety policies, along the lines of the questions i posed above.
Re: (Score:2)
When it comes to something like this the workers are ultimately responsible. If your boss was pressuring you so much that you felt like not tying off was the best solution then you're an idiot. If your boss actually tells you not to tie off to save time, and you do it, then you're an idiot and he's a criminal.
Re: (Score:2)
my concern wasnt along those lines. as you say, thats blatantly illegal.i cant really think a company would be so stupid (but then ive been surprised before) as to pressure people to simply ignore best safety practices. the penalties are simply too huge.
my thinking was more along what the article was saying, where workers are working long hours and from fatigue either forgetting to clip on, or clipping on improperly. i mean i understand contracts and deadlines, and the realities therein. so im kinda thinkin
Re:Safety harness... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm a ham, so I spend a lot of time climbing my own towers. (You couldn't pay me enough to do it for a living.) In my experience, when planning a job, I figure anything that takes one hour on the ground takes four hours in the air, at least for me. I also am careful to "do the same thing the same way every time". for example, when repositioning my work positioning belt, I use my right hand to unclip and move the left belt clip. Repeating a motion drives it into muscle memory so that mistakes are less likely to happen. I can tell you that I still goof once in a while (there are certain operations, like moving my positing belt, that I always double check.) Occasionally, I work with another man on the tower, which would be common for pros. The added distraction of having another person with you can cause you to forget steps. If you add some time pressure, its easy to forget to double check steps.
I've met pro tower riggers. I hire pros for work that is outside my comfort zone. They free climb much more than I would, but I'm a chicken and rig a 100% contact lifeline for most jobs. I suspect most accidents don't come from the free climbing phase of the work, because there your mind is focused on just climbing. I'd guess that accidents happen when you think you are solidly positioned with work belt, and actually are mis-rigged. I always lean into a work belt before letting go with my hands just to make sure there isn't any surprise slack. Sometimes there is....
So, nobody is perfect -- everybody forgets steps for things they've done many times. Tell me you've never started your coffee maker without coffee in it, at least once. That's a good rule to remember in the air, especially if there are any distractions or unusual circumstances. Time pressure works against doing all those double checks.
One tool I have that I've never seen a pro use is a temporary life line. I have a line that I rig to the top of the tower on the first trip up, and tie off at the bottom. A trailing clutch grip that follows me up, but requires being gripped to slide down is always attached. Once in that rig, I'm never disconnected from the tower. It's not good for work positioning, and if I ever slip I'm still a yo-yo swinging on a 3 foot string, so I'll collect a nice set of bruises from banging into the tower, but the trip to the ground will be deferred. The pros that have seen that usually comment to the effect that it must slow me down a lot. I. Don't. Care.
Re: (Score:2)
I did it for a living and, like you, I had a policy of 100% contact. I have kids, and I'd much rather them see me die of old age.
Re: (Score:2)
see, i'm with you guys. im too young to go yet. but ive also not yet done it for a living (like said, turned done that wind turbine job in the end)
the GP mention being a ham, my grandfather is too. he's got an ~80' tower. i once climbed it as a teen, but stupidly was just for thrills and to see from the top. he caught me at it, chewed me out, then taught me what he knew bout climbing (he was a lineman for Ma Bell for >30 years). and then put me to work that summer working on it. but i got a real good app
Re:Safety harness... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Having spent 7 years climbing towers, I can say that the first requirement to tower climbing should be a fear of heights. More specifically, fear of falling to an ooey-gooey death. Anyone not sufficiently afraid to climb will not be sufficiently diligent in maintaining safe conditions.
When getting started, I was petrified to climb - to the point of - literally - quaking in my boots. A gust of wind would make me clutch the tower for dear life. When I was finished with a climb, my hands hurt and I could b
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I made 60k/year doing it, and I felt under paid. Try spending hours and hours hanging 300+ feet in the air - worrying about dropping thousands of dollars worth of equipment (done that), a tool (many times), yourself (thankfully, never). Worrying about killing a co-worker by dropping something on him, or hanging yourself on the cables or lanyards you're working with. Staring at a storm coming your way, hurrying a job so you can avoid being struck by lightning. Climbing a tower where the 1 inch rungs have
Re: (Score:2)
It's a stressful, physically demanding, and dangerous job.
So is mine, and we top out at under 50k a year. Working around and with heavy machinery, risk of 20-30 foot falls, always the possibility of being ingested by a jumbo jet engine or getting hit with blast. Out in the elements, )30-45 minutes to load thousands of pounds of cargo in a compartment you can barely kneel down in. I would gladly trade the increased dangers if I could make twice as much as I am now.
Whodathunkit... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
But these incidents all involve death, so the rate doesn't matter. One is too many.
Safety in NEVER a concern in construction (Score:2)
This is just how it is. Any company that does any kind of "construction" ignore all the safety rules they can. Safety takes time, and costs money. Insurance will pay out on the off chance that someone gets hurt or killed.
The guys working these towers are almost certainly told by their bosses that they need to work faster, and if that means skipping safety measures, then they need to skip safety measures.
Re: (Score:2)
Any company that does any kind of "construction" ignore all the safety rules they can.
My dad was an electrical lineman for 40 years, 15 or more of that constructing and stringing the high voltage towers, and I can tell you that those guys DO follow all the safety rules (I've seen them working). Of course, the IBEW is a pretty strong union. Maybe your construction friends should unionize?
Why federal regulators? (Score:4, Interesting)
Why not state regulators? Not everything is a federal responsibility.
Re: (Score:2)
Because the states are busy trying to outdo all the others in being "Pro-business".
It's a sad mess out there for the crews... (Score:5, Insightful)
As a former tower climber / tower climbing instructor and engineering manager in the wireless internet and cellular industries I can tell you that the big cellular companies do push hard to crank out new sites or upgrades to existing sites, but it's ultimately up to the climbers / installers and site foreman to insure that safety standards are followed and gear is inspected and used properly. It's hard to read about all these deaths and injuries knowing that - as with many things - these things can be avoided. When properly trained and equipped, tower climbing is remarkably safe, there are systems and backup systems to keep you on the tower should something go wrong. More often than not climbers will free climb or not utilize a 100% tie-off system, meaning even while moving, you're clipped in 100% of the time, even if it slows you down to move from one part of a tower to another. I was climbing up until September of last year and my climbing partner and I inspected everything we used and all the safety gear on the tower as we ascended. We also checked each other front and back to make sure we were not forgetting a strap or a ring or something before climbing.
One of the amazing things about the cellular industry that I noticed (I did cell networks for about 9 years all over the USA and 2 years of wireless business internet in the PacNW) is that the cell companies will outfit a million dollar site with radio gear and amplifiers and the latest and greatest connectivity they can get there, and then 6-12 months later come out and rip it all out and upgrade it again. They then resell the old gear to other providers here in the US or abroad, ie third world countries etc. This breakneck pace puts a lot of pressure on tower crews to crank out sites fast, adding to the safety issues. All to make a buck, the good ol' American way...
contractors and subcontractors (Score:3)
The gov needs to crack down on the over use of contractors and subcontractors. It goes to far in letting safety get pushed back and takes away worker rights. The worker should have the right to say I don't feel safe doing this with the tools that the contractor gives them and make so they can't say we will find some who will do it.
also get rid of pay per job that leads to rushing to fit more jobs into a day make it pay by hour. Also one thing that useing contractors and subcontractors is that some subcontractor can say our workers have safety training with out much to back it up.
In the cable tv area the same thing happens with background checks they say we do them but some times they do not to save cash.
Re: (Score:2)
yes, the government should only use one contractor, there are absolutely no problems with that kind of policy.
Only fraction of deaths vs texting while driving (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I wonder if there is a movement to force cellphone makers to disable texting when car-speed motions are detected...similar to how in-dash DVD players are disabled via the parking brake sensor.
That wouldn't fly, for several reasons.
That said, I agree that we have a huge problem with text messages being sent while driving. I support a zero tolerance policy that would take someone's li
Re: (Score:2)
I agree that texting while driving is criminally stupid, but why shouldn't the passengers be allowed to text? I'm responsible and don't even answer the phone while driving, why should I have to pay for the equipment to stop me from doing something I'm not going to do anyway? You're for DUI interlocks on all cars on the road? Save the "anti-text" gear for those who've been ticketed a few times, or have caused a crash while texting.
Re: (Score:3)
There's even a growing movement of text-and-drive danger denialism. They deny that texting while driving is dangerous and think that the push to stop it is some kind of conspiracy. It would be a beautiful thing if they were only putting themselves in danger.
Re: (Score:2)
Time for an union? (Score:3)
Electrical Utility workers are union and they don't have big safety issues or cowboy subs doing unsafe work.
could UAVs help with this?? (Score:2)
i don't think that there are UAVs in the right weight/price class to actually enable a worker to fall at less than 9.8mps^2 but couldn't a UAV fly the safety line to tie points a bit faster??
(also could be used when person A is doing something and Person B is running the checklist)
Re: (Score:3)
Good idea. If a UAV could clip a safety line to the railing at the top (a hexacopter or octocopter should have enough payload capacity), and then the worker could tie their harness to a ratcheting fitting on the safety line, that could allow the worker to safely climb straight to the top without having to move tie points.
Reminds me of a video (Score:5, Interesting)
Declare war on cell towers! (Score:3)
Approximate odds of dying of terrorism as an American in 2001: 3000/300,000,000 = 0.00001
Screw OSHA involvement, we need to declare war on something right away and get the NSA spying on everyone in the telecommunications industry! (Okay, that last part may be redundant, but we need to find some way to give up some more freedoms to prove we're taking this seriously!)
Possibly related news (Score:2)
New ad in the works (Score:2)
"Can you hear me now? Goooooddddddd!........"
Personal Responsibility (Score:2)
If you are climbing a tower in an unsafe manner that is your fault, not your employer's. If your employer tries to make you do something unsafe, what is more important, your job or your life?
This does not count the bird deaths (Score:2)
A simple law (Score:2)
No more firewalls, corporate assholes.
Hang glider pilots have this problem too (Score:3)
This may sound stupidly, blindingly, mind-numbingly obvious, yet: Hang Glider pilots have a specific "hook check" procedure to prevent them from jumping off a cliff without their glider attached. When performing a complex operation, humans are very good at forgetting easy steps irrespective of importance. Most commonly, you are supposed to announce when you hook in, and one of your wire crew should tug on the primary and backup lines to make sure both are attached. Google for hang gliding hook check [google.com] and you will find instances where people forget.
Pick up glider. Proper grip. Wings level. Wind is smooth. Wind speed good. Wait! Lemme go get my water bottle! Unhook. Fumble around for water bottle. "Hey Joe, Bob is on deck to launch next, are you ready?" "Be right there!" Come back. Pick up glider. Proper grip. Wings level. Wind is smooth...
Re:We're from OSHA (Score:5, Interesting)
From what I understand, the problem is that OSHA cannot easily enforce existing safety standards because of the way the business of Cell phone tower work is structured.
The parent company, say AT&T, hires a contracting house to oversee all tower related projects which, in turn, hires hundreds of small contractors, many of which are less than 10 employees, to do the actual tower climbing.
The small companies are often the lowest bidders and, as a result, operate with a very thin profit margin and cut corners on safety in order to maximize profit. Couple this with the heavy pressure to complete projects in a very fast time frame and you have a recipe for disaster that regulators cannot really get a handle on.
Sure, OSHA can shut down any number of the small contractors, but they will just be replaced. AT&T, at the same time, can pay lip service to safety all they want but their hands are clean since they can just point to the contracting agency they hired to oversee their towers.
Obviously, there needs to be some more political will to regulate things closer to the top of the chain, I just wonder how many people need to die in order to generate that will.
Re:We're from OSHA (Score:5, Interesting)
You're on the money, but it is worst than that.
These jobs used to be all in house (at AT&T and Verizon anyway). Too many people fell and died, and they paid out too much money. They laid off everyone doing this sort of work, and turned to outsourcers for the reasons you stated. Some of the contractors submitted proposals with references to safety standards and were told to take them out of the proposals, that was their problem and AT&T wanted to know nothing about it.
This problem is also wider than cell phone tower deaths. AT&T in particular outsources many of it's jobs to small contracting companies, making sure none of them are more than 10-20 people. Why? They don't pay overtime. They are hourly positions with no time and a half. The small contracting companies can't force that in their contracts with AT&T, but have to do what they are told if they want the business. Several have been sued by their employees and gone under. Mean time AT&T moves on to other contractors. It's effectively an easy way for AT&T to insure they never pay overtime to hourly workers by burning up small companies.
Re:We're from OSHA (Score:5, Insightful)
Solution? Don't contract for AT&T. Can't survive otherwise? Maybe you shouldn't be in that business, then.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Danger: "Magic of the market" thinking detected.
This is a bit like saying "Don't like Windows? Don't work with Microsoft". AKA, not an option in the vast majority of the business world.
To put it another way, you don't technically need a car. This is true on the face of it, but in reality, without a car you better live downtown if you want to not be late to work every day.
Re: (Score:2)
Obviously, there needs to be some more political will to regulate things closer to the top of the chain, I just wonder how many people need to die in order to generate that will.
But not having cheap disposable labor means less profit for the executives and board to hoard. The days of government taking care of the workers is well in the past.
Re:We're from OSHA (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Which is exactly what the article said...
Re: (Score:2)
Out of the dozen+ things that were done oh just so wrong, here's just one: The safety strap is never supposed to be carabineered to one of those L-shaped steel rod steps. It takes nothing much to either have the carabineer simply slide off, or for a corroded rod to be snapped off the structure. You're supposed to wrap it around the structural element (the vertical pipe), carabineer to itself, forming a loop. The steps should merely act as vertical supports, not lateral supports, with all of the lateral load
Re:That's why you should use wired networks (Score:5, Interesting)
How many people have died crashing into a telephone pole?
I think more then 10.
Re: (Score:3)
How many people have died crashing into a telephone pole?
I think more then 10.
No need to bet. First Google search results show a report from NJ state gov't with the number 50 -60 deaths per year in that state alone.
Re: (Score:2)
How many people have died crashing into a telephone pole? I think more then 10.
No need to bet. First Google search results show a report from NJ state gov't with the number 50-60 deaths per year in that state alone.
Many people just haven't learned that there are better ways to get out of NJ.
Re: (Score:3)
If those damned telephone poles would quit getting drunk and jumping into the middle of the road, it wouldn't be a problem.
Re: (Score:3)
> If those damned telephone poles would quit getting drunk and
> jumping into the middle of the road, it wouldn't be a problem.
You mean like so?
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/11/20/miscommunication-leads-to-hydro-pole-in-the-middle-of-a-quebec-roadway [torontosun.com]
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/11/19/dangerous-driving-power-pole-appears-smack-in-the-middle-of-quebec-highway/ [nationalpost.com]
Re: That's why you should use wired networks (Score:3, Funny)
Third world countries -- like New England.
Re:That's why you should use wired networks (Score:5, Insightful)
> where they were smart enough to do a cost-benefit analysis and realized that underground wiring only resulted in 50% fewer outages,
> while costing 4 to 6 times as much to install and repair.
As opposed to countries where they went a step further & decided that the higher cost of underground wiring was pocket change compared to the impact of service outages?
It's like electricity. From the perspective of end users who need power during anything short of an extinction-level asteroid impact event, it's almost always going to be cheaper to pay the marginal cost of buried infrastructure and hardened generation sites than it is to personally build and maintain their own parallel on-site power generation capabilities. My normal electric bills are ~$180/month. If FPL charged me 2% month more to pay for amortizing the cost of burying the neighborhood power lines out over 25 years, my bills would increase by approximately $43/year. Compare that to the cost of buying even a shit generator that's big enough to wheeze and limp while powering an air conditioner & a few hundred watts of battery chargers & lights. Add in the $35-50/day worth of gasoline it takes to keep it running at 50% load all day during the outage, and even a 10% surcharge starts to look cheap, if only because the net reliability ends up being almost the same, with a lot less individual hassle.
And yes, I said $35-50/day. A typical 5600-watt generator has a 5 gallon tank, and can run for about 8-10 hours at 50% load. $3.50/gallon x 5 gallons/tank x 2.5 tanks/day = $43.75. Add up the total for 2 weeks without power after a hurricane, and you're looking at one HELL of an expensive power bill for the month ($612.50 for 14 days). Balance that against the likelihood of having about 4 weeks of cumulative power outages per decade against the relatively long service life of buried power lines, and buried infrastructure starts to look like an *incredibly* good bargain.
Re: (Score:3)
When pressed after Hurricane Andrew, FPL came up with a completely bogus estimate that was so outrageous, even they could barely deliver it with a straight face. The reason WHY it was completely outrageous was the fact that traditionally, the assumption has been that people want power lines buried for aesthetic reasons, so it's fair to make them pay the full cost of doing it in a way that makes FPL completely 100% happy.
When FPL semi-voluntarily buries lines, it demands a 20' dedicated easement adjacent to
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
What about Hubble? I heard Hubble is dead.
Re: (Score:2)
Guess where Felix Baumgartner is going next.
Re:Tie off (Score:5, Funny)
You seem pretty secure on your high horse.
Re:Tie off (Score:4, Insightful)
I am willing to bet even with all the rules and regulations in the world, there will be 10 deaths a year due to 10 guys who think they are super men, and doesn't need that safety equipment and will do their job without it, no matter how much it is enforced.
Re:Tie off (Score:4, Insightful)
In the electrical industry those guys are not only fired, but fired with the union's blessing.
Re: (Score:2)
At the same time, if the job will take an hour when proper safety measures are followed but if you take more than 45 minutes, you're fired, the fault lies with management. It's not uncommon for employers to pay lip service to safety but then structure things to assure it will be ignored.
If we had a real social safety net that eliminated desperation at the bottom, the market MIGHT take care of this, but we don't so it can't.
Re: (Score:3)
At the same time, if the job will take an hour when proper safety measures are followed but if you take more than 45 minutes, you're fired, the fault lies with management. It's not uncommon for employers to pay lip service to safety but then structure things to assure it will be ignored.
A simple letter/email to your boss with pointing this out ("safe practices take one hour, minimum, you say it must be done in 45minutes- are you telling me to be unsafe?"), and requesting a (written) response usually sort th
Re: (Score:3)
Of course the manager won't state it in writing. He'll just misplace your letter and notice that the crew is one man larger than needed. Guess who has to go?
Re: (Score:2)
Why is this Modded 0?? its true.
if you fall off a tower, its because you didn't protect yourself properly. Most often people dont clip onto the proper thing, or they are unclipped, or their harness is too loose. falls are completely preventable.
Yes the employer has a responsibility to train employees, and ensure equipment is up to snuff and used properly. A fall protection harness, and lanyard is $160 its not an excessive cost.
39$ for Harness http://www.globalindustrial.ca/p/safety/protection/harnesses/saf [globalindustrial.ca]
Re: (Score:3)
Bet all the companies this happened at... Have seen a high increase in employee turnover too.
But why the high turnover rate? If the company is fostering an unsafe working environment or forcing long days on people, high turnover rate might be a symptom rather than a cause.
Re: (Score:2)
Don't worry, his karma's so deep in the hole no amount of karma-whoring will get him out, and I don't think he's capable of effectively whoring, anyway.
The difference between him and Ethanol-Fueled is roman_mir is serious. The man has a few screws loose.