Tower Climbing: An Introduction

By Wade Sarver

Are you thinking of becoming a Tower Climber? This book will give you an introduction to the job and the industry. You will learn what you will be doing on the job and what tools you will use on the job. You will learn about the tasks required to be successful. You will not learn rescue just yet, that should be up to your employer and it’s more than just a chapter. The value of this book lies in you, your desire to be ready to work. Your desire to perform. You will go into the business with an overview of the job and the industry. This only touches the surface, but it’s enough that information to help you understand the basics. I put this together so you add value from day one.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wade Sarver
• Release date: Mar 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310606908

Wade Sarver

I want to help the wireless communications worker. I created my blog at www.wade4wireless.com to throw some opinions and good ideas out to you. You will know that I think it has to be a team effort. We need to work together from tower owner to end customer to climber. We all need to make the world a safer place! I have worked for many customers that claim safety is the number one priority, unless it would cost more money. I have seen many customers hire poorly equipped crews because they were so much cheaper. When I say customers, I mean carriers, governments, WISPs, and many more. It is not like we only have one industry to blame except our own. A climber’s life is precious, just go to their house and ask their family what they think. I started my blog because I want to help, I wrote this because I think I can help make your world a better place. The rest is up to you.

Book preview

Tower Climbing: An Introduction

Wade4wireless

Wade Sarver

Copyright by Wade Sarver

Smashwords Edition

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold

or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person,

please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did

not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your

favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard

work of this author.

First Edition © 2014 by Wade Sarver. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the author.

I am not a lawyer or an active certified safety expert. This book is completed based on research and my experiences. Safety processes and procedures are constantly updated and improved over time. The material contained is for reference only and may include products, information, or services by third parties. I do not assume responsibility for any third party material referenced in this book.

This is a guide to help people and not a guarantee that you will do everything properly. By reading this you agree that myself and my company is not responsible for the success or failure of your business decisions relating to the information presented in this guide.

www.wade4wireless.com

Cover and design by Wade Sarver

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 – Tower Climbing: Career or Passion?

Chapter 2 – What is Tower Climber?

Chapter 3 – Why Safety?

Chapter 4 – Personal Protective Equipment

Chapter 5 – Additional Climber Tools

Chapter 6 – Safety is a Team Effort

Chapter 7 – Hazard Assessment

Chapter 8 – Training

Chapter 9 – Evolution of the Climber

Chapter 10 – The Safety Plan

Chapter 11 – Types of Towers

Chapter 12 – Rope

Chapter 13 – Climbing and Rigging Accessories

Chapter 14 – What Does 100% Tie Off Mean?

Chapter 15 – Documentation Overview

Chapter 16 – Site Specific Documentation

Chapter 17 – Safety Documentation Breakdown

Chapter 18 – Attitude

Chapter 19 – Habit and Work Culture

Chapter 20 – Simple Questions

Chapter 21 – Your Health and Care

Chapter 22 – Tower Climbing is a Business

Accreditation

Thank You

About Wade

Introduction

Hello all. Are you thinking of becoming a Tower Climber? This book will give you an introduction to the job and the industry. You will learn what you will be doing on the job and what tools you will use on the job. You will learn about the tasks required to be successful. You will not learn rescue just yet, that should be up to your employer and it’s more than just a chapter. The value of this book lies in you, your desire to be ready to work. Your desire to perform. You will go into the business with an overview of the job and the industry. This only touches the surface, but it’s enough that information to help you understand the basics. I put this together so you add value from day one.

I wrote this book for anyone who might be thinking about becoming a tower climber. So many climbers just jump into it without putting any thought into the actual job. I am hoping to put this together for people to get familiar with some of the terms, hardware, and risks involved in this job. It is not for the faint of heart but for someone who can work in all weather conditions at great heights with just your safety harness, a lanyard, and a piece of steel holding you high up in the air.

I wrote this to prepare you, the reader, for this career. I don’t want to scare you but to point out the risks. If it is too dangerous for you to go, then don’t enter this line of work. You need to understand what it takes to do this and what the risks are. I am writing this so you can be educated before getting in too deep. You will gain the knowledge to know what job it going to be.

I would like to give you, the greenhorn, a chance to look at the job prior to going out on a site. This is a guide for the person who may not have had a chance to learn anything except maybe looking at a new career.

If you want to get into tower climbing as a profession, I want you to be armed with the knowledge of the profession. It can be a great career and it can guide you into other parts of the industry. You may want to specialize or you may want to branch out into a vertical field like being a technician, an engineer, a project manager, or maybe someday you will own your own tower installation company or your own towers. To get there you will need to know that climbing can be more than just a physical job. I want the people who read this book to know that climbing is only part of the job. You also have to know safety, rescue, tools of the trade, and of course the paperwork. As you do more work you will have a great appreciation for the paperwork because it will help you keep organized and get paid. That is the other lesson at the end of this book, the business. It is a business and I would like to think that everyone out there will get paid. I want you to have the mindset to do the job and do it right.

Remember that this is only an introduction so I am trying to expose you to the trade. I am not going to say you’re ready to climb because that should involve training from your company. They will have rules, processes, and guidelines for you to follow. You will need to go through proper training by a certified instructor. All prerequisite for being a successful climber.

I am hoping this helps you and when you get your formal training remember how important it is.

One of my jobs full time is a solution architect and I think that what we need in this industry is a team of safety architects. I think a safety architect would look at safety from end to end, beginning to end, from structure design to the climber climbing. I am not talking about someone who teaches safety or sets an individual program. I would like to take the lead and start looking at it from beginning to end. I get tired of the climber having it all put on them, although it is the climber’s say in the end, they need the support of the company, the customer, and the tower owner. I understand it when people say it starts with them and ends with them. They said that to the steel workers in the 1920s and the steel industry came a long way since then.

Let’s look at accidents from a different perspective. Automobile accidents are very common. There were 25,580 fatal car crashes in