Deadliest Job in America May Comes as a Surprise
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
Yahoo! recently posted a teaser line in the featured section revealing “The Deadliest Job in America.”
I was curious so I clicked the link. As I was waiting for the page to load, I was thinking of all the possibilities: Alaskan crab fisherman, construction workers, high-rise window cleaners or even firefighters. I was surprised to find out that the deadliest job in America: working on cell phone towers.
The numbers don’t lie. RCR Wireless quoted in their article (the original piece that Yahoo! quoted from) the fatality rate at currently 183.6 deaths per 100,000 workers. Stating that “because of the relatively small number of employees in the business compared to other industry sectors, tower climbing — which suffered five fatalities during a 12-day span this spring and seven deaths overall this year so far — may also be the most overlooked, deadliest job in the country.”
RCR Wireless also noted that National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) “estimated at that time the risk for fatal injuries among telecom tower workers ranges from 49 to 468 injury-related deaths per 100,000 employees, compared with about five deaths per 100,000 employees in all other U.S. industries.” It’s hard to imagine going to work every day with numbers like that haunting you.
The problem? Most blame the lack of safe anchorage as well as relying on faulty personal protection equipment. To put it quite simply: careless working practices. And the reason for such careless work? The rush to get expanding networks raised and updated. And while it’s understandable that networks want to continue rapid growth, it shouldn’t be at the cost of a human life.
Currently OSHA is working to improve workplace safety and keep awareness of the increasing death toll among wireless providers, while workers and their unions are also pushing for passage of federal regulations. And since President Bush has even gone as far as to publicly recognize the problem, I’m anxious to see what new regulations come out in the near future. One thing is for sure: they need to come out sooner than later before more tower casualties occur.
So the next time you have to ask “Can you hear me NOW?” try not to get too miffed. There are folks out there risking their lives (literally) to make that possible for you.
