Life as a Tower Climber

What if you had the kind of job where you had to climb 1000 foot structures on a daily basis for employers that care more about money than they do about your wellbeing?

The life of a tower climber is not one for everyone.

Tower climbers are well aware of the choice they make to climb towers. These brave workers climb on a daily basis, so they are very confident doing their job. This could lead to serious lack of judgment that could result in death. When you get comfortable doing something, anything, there is a chance that you find ways to get results even when the most favorable conditions do not exist. The difference between people who don’t climb towers and those who do, is that any error made in doing their job could be fatal.

Risks and Challenges

All this risk exists without adequate insurance. It is yet unclear just exactly what insurance is required by the employers across the board. Insurance reports show that there is hardly any accountability or regulations when it comes to standard requirements for the tower climbing wireless communication industry.

There are so many factors involved. I think time is the worst factor because it wears down the mind in an insidious manner. The work environments vary and all are quite extreme. Because of the race to be competitive in the marketplace, cell companies put the pressure on to get the lion share of the cell phone business. This puts pressure on the wireless professionals to perform. Sometimes over worked, tower climbers are moved around from job to job without consideration of the physical requirements.

Another factor is location which determines weather conditions which is another factor. Tower professionals usually go out to the middle of no where to work. The bad thing about that is if there is an accident on the work site it could take longer for help to arrive on the scene. When every minute saved or lost can make the difference between life and death, tower climbers should have the security and some comfort knowing that if required everything will be done by the employer to help you.

If you are climbing towers outside of a warm climate, the time of the year matters. There are some places where it snows or rains weekly. There are many factors at play that when all combined if the necessary precautions are not take, could result in a catastrophic injury. It’s a hard cold fact but the reality is that In the event of a death, employers are thinking of how fast they can replace the worker because in these times tower dogs are expendable.

Driving Factor – Technology

Communications tower construction and cell companies are more cognizant and driven by the thinking that regardless of the conditions, these towers have to be climbed because the need for cell phones and high speed wireless networks are growing daily. Combine that with the smart grid and 5G technology, this is a career that will be in demand for a long time.