The Serious Health and Safety Issues For Workers Posed by Cell Towers and Electromagnetic Fields
Tower climbing is inherently more dangerous job than your average nine-to-five. But in 2012, research from ProPublica and PBS Frontline found that cell tower technicians were 10 times more likely to die on the job than other construction workers. It was even reported as the most dangerous job in the country at the time by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
-‘Nobody knows we exist’ – The overlooked workers impacted by cell tower safety failures
NATE released a video entitled “Small Cells: Here, There and Everywhere” designed to showcase the prominent role next generation technologies and the Association’s member companies are playing to densify networks on the road to 5G. The fast-paced video was unveiled at the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) Safety 2019 Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.
According to the US Labor Department, the rate of cell tower worker accidents has sharply risen over the last few years as towers are being built at a rapid pace with minimal regulations and worker safeguards in place . The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is currently investigating the “alarming increase in preventable injuries and fatalities at communication tower work sites.”
In 2020 the Tree Care Association published an article Beware the Dangers from AM Radio and 5G Transmission Sites on injuries to tree workers from nearby cell antennas.
“The latest threat is the proliferation of the so-called 5G, or Fifth Generation,
cellular-phone networking that promises faster data speeds and greater reliability using multiple technologies, including mini-cell sites at the neighborhood level on utility poles. But working too closely or too long near one of these mini installations or near a high-power radio transmitter can be dangerous in several ways, specifically resulting in burns or, in some rare circumstances, electric shock.”
In 2013 the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers wrote the FCC in 2013 that “ensuring compliance with existing FCC RF human exposure limits by the FCC licensee is not effective and cannot/is not being enforced.” Concerned about the health of their workers they state “When there is a hazard, the hazard creator has a duty to warn others against the hazard.”
Corporate Cell Tower Awareness and Reports
- Verizon RF Safety & Information Brochure.pdf
- Georgia Tech 2015: An RF Awareness Guide for Personnel Working Near Radiofrequency Transmitting Antennas at Rooftop Locations
- Example of Verizons RF safety report: Radio Frequency Exposure Pre-Installation with Visit FCC Compliance Assessment Per Verizon Policy for facility
The EM Radiation Policy Institute wrote the FCC in 2013 with documentation of Failure to Regulate Antennas and the Lack of FCC Monitoring of Compliance with FCC RF Safety Policies stating that “the FCC does not monitor compliance and does not take any effective enforcement action against violators.”
Quotes From Submissions to the FCC on RF Safety for Workers of note
“We continue to be concerned about the thousands of construction workers who are put at risk daily of being exposed to harmful levels of radio frequency (RF) radiation generated by wireless antenna systems across the country. “
Read the North America’s Building Trade Union 11/2015 FCC Submission
“RF antennas are often intentionally disguised as building features making it impossible for a construction worker to know the hazard even exists.”
“The association is concerned that mechanical service technicians may at times be unwittingly overexposed to radiofrequency (RF) radiation because their employers are rarely informed about the presence of and the potential hazards associated with telecommunications antennas.”
Mechanical Contractors Union Letter to the FCC
RESOURCES
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
“5 Terrifying Realities Of My Job As A Cell Tower Climber” A news article on falling objects, radiation concerns lax regulation and how pressure to work fast results in accidents by a cell tower climber.
2/2014 Letter to Communication Tower Industry Employers on “alarming increase in worker deaths”
OSHA New Webpage on Protecting Workers in Communications Work
Radiofrequency Radiation Awareness Program For The Cell Tower Construction Industry
The Center for Construction Research and Training together with the Roofing r2p Partnership and the RF Radiation Work Group, have developed the Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation Awareness Program for the Construction Industry, intended to raise construction contractors’ and workers’ awareness of the potential risk, how to identify the hazard, and steps to work safely.
Hazard Alert Card: RF Radiation – An invisible danger (available in Spanish)
Tree Care Industry Magazine Warns of Cell Tower Radiation
Beware the Dangers from AM Radio and 5G Transmission Sites (PDF),Tree Care Industry Magazine January 2021: article on the hazards faced by tree care workers in increasing proximity to the ever-expanding universe of antennas, both regular radio and 5G/wireless.
FCC
Communication Tower Best Practices The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and
The Federal Communications Commission 2014
2/11/2016 FCC and DOL Workshop on Tower Climber Safety and Apprenticeship Program
Download 2016 PPT Comment_Excerpts_from Workers on Safety Issues
Remarks Prepared for Delivery by Kathy Pierce Hubble Foundation, Son Died From Tower Incident
FCC 10/2014 Hearing: Tower Climber Safety and Injury Protection Workshop
Letters to the FCC
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 2013 Letter to the FCC
North America’s Building Trade Union 2015 Letter to the FCC
Mechanical Contractors Union 2015 Letter to the FCC
PBS
PBS 30 Minute Video Frontline Cell Tower Deaths
PBS News Report: “Labor Dept. Warns of “Alarming” Rise in Cell Tower Deaths”
Video: FRONTLINE INVESTIGATES – Cell Tower Deaths Investigated
Video: Youtube PBS Frontline – Cell Tower Deaths
Frontline: Anatomy of a Cell Tower Death
Videos
FCC Hearing: Tower Climber Safety and Injury Protection Workshop
2/11/2016 FCC Workshop on Tower Climber Safety and Apprenticeship Program Youtube Link
News Articles
‘Nobody knows we exist’ – The overlooked workers impacted by cell tower safety failures, 2024
Safety and Health Magazine
OSHA, FCC workshop focuses on keeping communications tower workers safe
‘You can’t subcontract safety’
OSHA, FCC to host workshop on preventing tower-worker deaths
OSHA, FCC collaborate on guide for communication tower workers
Video urges tower climbers to inspect fall protection gear daily
Below is a video about a telecommunications worker who was injured and rammed a tower with a bulldozer.
Experts of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have been involved in several research studies and have issues multiple statements in regards to electromagnetic radiation. Please see a list of resources below.
- Turner 2014 looked at cases of adult primary glioma and meningioma in seven countries between 2000 and 2004 and estimated cumulative exposur to ELF-EMF. they found positive associations between cumulative ELF 1 to 4 years before diagnosis/reference date and glioma and concludes that “occupational ELF exposure may play a role in the later stages (promotion and progression) of brain tumorigenesis.”
- Vila 2018 examined the relation between occupational RF and intermediate frequency (IF) EMF exposure and brain tumor (glioma and meningioma) risk in the INTEROCC multinational population-based case-control study and although “no clear associations were identified” “the results obtained for recent exposure to RF electric and magnetic fields are suggestive of a potential role in brain tumor promotion/progression and should be further investigated.”
2016: Precautionary Strategies to Reduce Worker Exposures to Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) Magnetic Fields, a Possible Carcinogen
by Joseph D. Bowman, PhD, of the Engineering and Physical Hazards Branch at the National Institute for Occupational Safety (NIOSH)
Slide presentation to the Collaborative on Health and the Environment
