It is rare for anybody to die working on cell towers. In fact, from December 5 to April 11, there were no cell tower deaths recorded in the country, according to CNN's "Fortune" blog.
Six workers were killed, however, between April 12 to May 16, causing some to wonder what is behind the deaths. Is there a connection, insiders wonder, to AT&T's rush to complete the 3G network, part of Apple's new iPhone roll-out this summer?
"Fortune" reports:
Accidents like this often come in spurts, says [Wireless Estimator president Craig] Lekutis, an industry veteran with 27 years experience. There were 10 fatal falls from elevated structures of all kinds (including TV, electrical and water towers) in 2007, and a record 18 in 2006. But this year's concentrated run of cell tower accidents, he says, was extraordinary.
The toll, as recorded by Wireless Estimator:
- April 12: A 34-year-old cell tower technician from Oklahoma man died after falling 150 feet from monopole antenna in Wake Forest, NC. It was the nation's first death in 2008 of a communications worker falling from an elevated structure.
- April 14: A tower worker employed by Cornerstone Tower of Grand Island, Neb., fell to his death in Moorcroft, WY.
- April 15: A 38-year-old technician finished tightening the bolts on a guyed wireless tower in San Antonio, TX, "sort of lean[ed] back a little," according to witnesses, and fell 225 feet to his death.
- April 17: North Carolina suffered its second cell tower fatality in a week when a 46-year-old Chesapeake, VA, man fell from a communications antenna in Frisco, NC.
- April 23: A Griffin, GA, man died from extensive head and chest injuries after falling 100 feet from a communications tower near Natchez, MS. He was reportedly hanging boom gates to a Cell South antenna when he fell.
- May 16: Guilford was rappelling down a load line attached to a 200 foot monopole when he stopped abruptly 140 feet up and bounced as if on a bungee cord, disengaging the carabiner that was secured to the tower.
Citing industry documents reportedly show that at least three of the six deaths occurred on AT&T projects
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