Broadcast Writer

By Victoria W. Kipp
Site Management & Technology magazine, Mar 4 2002

When tower contractors are in high demand, there never seems to be enough qualified tower technicians. Tower companies are sometimes forced to turn away work when they are understaffed.

When the labor pool is tight, the tower industry faces an additional challenge because of the nature of the job. It is risky and physically demanding. It requires travel and work in extreme weather conditions. Look at some of the requirements taken from tower technician job descriptions:

• Ability to climb towers and work efficiently at great heights.
• Skilled in proper methods of raising scaffolding.
• Knowledge of broadcast and communications antenna systems and equipment.
• Up-to-date on federal and state regulations pertaining to the lighting and painting of towers.
• Skilled in paint application.
• Ability to read and follow detailed structural drawings of towers and schematic drawings of electrical circuits.

It takes physical strength and courage to perform this job, along with an expertise in electronics, maintenance and equipment installation.

Soaring growth in the industry over the past few years has fueled a strong demand for tower technicians. Even tower companies whose construction has slowed in the economic recession will be seeking new employees with wireless skills before long.

Finding new employees

Tower companies must find inventive ways to attract qualified employees. Jeff Emerson, personnel manager for Wave Communications/Skyline in Sun Prairie, WI, uses several methods of recruiting, including advertising and referrals from current employees. Emerson has recruited several people in a less than conventional manner. When he wears his company jacket in public, the tower logo often attracts interest from passersby who ask questions and express interest in working in the industry.

Paul Jensen, co-owner of National Tower Service in Madison, WI, finds that referrals from current employees are an effective way to hire new technicians. He said that current employees naturally want to work with people they get along with and whom they trust to do a quality job. Because the tower crew works together as a team, the established employees want new team members to be competent technicians they can depend on. Often, referrals will be friends or relatives of the employee.

Other companies that believe there are too few qualified employees available within the industry are looking to other industries for employees with transferable skills. Tower-related disciplines include site acquisition and zoning and construction management.

Profile of a technician

In the past, individuals who would want to be tower technicians were often young risk-takers. Sometimes, that description still fits. But the increased demand for competent climbers has caused wages to increase progressively. The increased wage and more stringent job qualification requirements have brought more mature individuals into the tower technician work force. When surveyed, Wave Communications/Skyline said that the average age range of their technicians was between 28 and 32 years old.

Although the image of a tower technician may be that of a young person, youth is less a requirement for the job than physical fitness and the ability to work outdoors. There are tower technicians in their 50s who have no problem performing this rugged work. When tower technicians decide that they want to move on to a different career, most of them continue to work in the tower industry in project management or supervisory roles.

To improve job satisfaction for tower technicians, some tower companies offer a career path for technicians. Companies are also offering attractive wages and a benefits packages.

Training

Only 20% of new hires at Wave Communications/Skyline have previous tower experience. This creates an imminent need for training. The company has an in-house training center where training begins with climbing skills and working safely at an elevated height, followed by guidelines and work practice principles from the National Association of Tower Erectors. Technicians receive connector training from vendors such as the Andrew Institute, Commscope and Radio Frequency Systems.

Once in the field, new technicians receive hands-on training from foremen and lead workers on antenna and line principles and installations, as well as steel erection. Lastly, technicians receive specialized training in broadcast systems, PCS and cellular systems, guyed tower erection with a gin pole, water tower and rooftop installations, lighting systems and inspection procedures.

National Tower Service also has an in-house training program for new hires that covers personal protective equipment, job duties and identifying potential hazards at the job site. They use reference books and tapes from NATE for classroom training. Their training program is about three months long, but the length of training ultimately depends on a new employee’s previous experience and skill level. Safety training is done on a continuous basis.

Angel Schwoerer, the company’s human resource director, said: “We feel the best way to help employees work safely is to provide them with the proper tools and equipment to do their job, and to allow the employee ample time in the field working with experienced co-workers to see and learn how to do the job safely and efficiently.”

Attending a professional school is another way to learn tower technician skills.

Ellis Fall Protection Institute in Wilmington, DE, offers on-site tower climbing classes. At the two-day course, participants learn basic fall protection and arrest, safe climbing procedures and rescue techniques.

Fall protection and arrest includes conceptions and misconceptions in the industrial setting, determination of suitable anchorage points, new standards and designs for connection, selecting body-holding devices, and standards and regulations affecting the industry.

For the topic of safe climbing, students learn about ropes and knots, lead climbing, anchors, belays and using mountain climber principles in an industrial tower setting. Rescue involves techniques and safe practices for a rescue operation with limited equipment or manpower, emergency packing of casualties, first aid consideration in rescue situations, casualty retrieval and preparation of a rescue kit.

ComTrain Institute in Monroe, WI, offers courses with titles such as Basic Tower Technology, Tower Climbing Safety and Rescue Training, and Instructor Training.

The Basic Tower Technology course gives an overview of constructing and maintaining wireless communications sites. It teaches the skills and regulations necessary to build turnkey sites: selection and construction of a site and maintenance and inspection of the finished site.

In the tower climbing safety and rescue training course, topics include all OSHA training requirements related to personal fall-arrest systems, site hazard assessment, personal protective equipment and emergency planning related to tower sites.

In the classroom, students learn about fall protection, site hazard assessment, tools and equipment including occupational protective equipment, climbing mechanics, non-standard structures and rescue equipment and techniques. Field practice tasks include hazard assessment, vertical and horizontal lifelines, rescue techniques, equipment selection and usage, ascending, descending and maneuvering on the structure. The ComTrain Institute has an 80-foot tower for students to practice climbing skills.

A day on the job

Working at any height above ground level involves risk, but working in the intense vertical environment of a tower involves more risk than most jobs. Weather conditions ranging from extreme heat to bitter cold can make the job even more treacherous. Although crews do not stop work just because weather is inclement, they stop for high winds, heavy rain or extreme cold. One year, Wave Communications/Skyline only had one day when conditions prevented them from working. During days when climbing is impossible, they try to work on the ground or inside.

The job duties of a tower technician may include assembling and erecting a tower; installation of a foundation, grounding system, feedlines and antennas; troubleshooting antenna system problems; inspecting and relamping a tower; and making structural modifications to towers to increase load capacity.

Tower technicians are sometimes referred to as “riggers.” Although the job titles “tower technician” and “rigger” may sound synonymous, they have different meanings. A rigger specializes in the lifting and hoisting of material. Rigging involves block and tackle principles, sling-angle principles, rated capacities of rope (wire and other), hoists and hooks. A tower technician needs to be a competent rigger, a qualified steel erector and a competent feedline and antenna technician.

Motivating factors

After considering the strenuous nature of the job, you may wonder what motivates people to become tower technicians. Jeff Emerson explained it best: “The new work practices limit the risks dramatically, which opens the door for folks to feel confident in performing in a unique profession. The motivation derived from erecting a tower, something that has obvious daily progress, is also a draw. This is similar to the satisfaction found, though on a much larger scale, in turning a stack of lumber into a piece of furniture, emptying the inbox folder on the computer or turning a downed tree into a neatly piled cord of split firewood.

Additionally, working in a high-tech, fast-paced profession has unique draws, as well as the obvious value of an interesting answer to the mundane question, ‘So what do you do for a living?’”

Kipp is a broadcast engineer.

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