Most California residents have a cell phone these days. In order to handle all of the cell phone traffic, the industry spends a great deal of time and money either updating and adding to its network of communication towers. The towers are needed to accommodate the volume and consumer demand for better and faster service. This requires men and women to put themselves at risk of being injured or killed in a workplace accident while working on the high towers.
In 2013, 13 people died working on communication towers across the country. That number is more than were killed in 2011 and 2012 combined. Alarmingly, four people died after falling from one of these towers since the beginning of 2014, prompting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue a warning to the communication tower industry to better provide for employees’ safety.
Since the majority of the deaths occurred due to falls, OSHA urged employers to provide adequate safety equipment to employees. Of course, simply providing the equipment is not enough. Workers need to be provided the proper training and oversight to ensure they know how to use the equipment correctly.
Unfortunately, even when employers and employees do everything right, a deadly workplace accident can still happen. For injured workers and their families here in California, the workers’ compensation insurance program is available to provide state regulated insurance coverage when these tragedies occur. The program offers benefits to injured workers to help with expenses such as medical costs and lost wages. Benefits are also available to the families of workers who die as the result of an on-the-job accident.
Source: ehstoday.com, OSHA Urges Tower Employers to Protect Workers After Recent Spate of Fatalities, Josh Cable, Feb. 18, 2014