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05/01/2005
Chairman’s Message
There have been interesting happenings at NATE the past couple months. It causes one to pause and evaluate just how important it is to have an association like NATE fighting for the rights of tower contractors.
In March the North Carolina Department of Labor submitted their new tower standard for publication. NATE had worked closely with NCDOL in the previous months to affect changes that we felt were vital to common sense safety within our industry. On most counts we were able to convince them of the correctness of our points, but in one point they were not in agreement. NATE was forced to work with North Carolina state law makers to introduce legislation to stop a portion of the standard in order to have our contentions properly heard. At this writing the matter sits before the legislature with the outcome of our disagreements uncertain. We will keep you posted as we learn more.
In April NATE sent a delegation to Washington DC to sit in on a meeting held by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. At issue is the impact of avian mortality (bird deaths) due to collisions with towers. NATE’s contention is that bird deaths due to tower collisions are unknown and need further study before a wholesale limitation of tower construction is considered by the FCC. We feel the studies to date have been anecdotal at best and inaccurate at worst. The delegation included former NATE Chairman and current Legislative Committee Chairman, Kevin Hayden, NATE Secretary/Treasurer, Terry Sharp, NATE Executive Director, Patrick Howey and NATE’s hired Washington representative, Jim Goldwater. A report on their observations from the meeting will be forthcoming.
I recently obtained a report on projected cell site construction for 2005. I was impressed with the numbers of projected sites. According to the report there could be as many as 13,500 new sites or collocations built in 2005. Some of the recent mergers do not seem to have hampered capital expenditures by the major carriers or regional/affiliates.
I recently received information about two tower failures. Both were near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and came down after a storm that brought high winds through the area. One was a monopole and the other was a guyed tower. The monopole seemed to have failed due to a fracture to the pole at the base flange. This is the third monopole in the past couple years that failed at the same location. I strongly urge climbers to carefully inspect the base of monopoles for fractures before climbing. The TIA committee that writes the tower design standard will be looking further into causes of these failures so that future actions can be taken to protect the public and property.
The second tower was a guyed tower and its demise seemed to be caused by failure of an anchor system. It does not appear it was due to corrosion as many have been over the past years. Once again, climbers are cautioned to carefully inspect the anchoring systems of guyed towers before climbing, looking for corrosion damage or other potential problems.
I hope your April showers have brought May flowers. I know I’m just looking forward to seeing leaves again. Until next month, be safe!
Craig Snyder serves as Chairman of NATE and is the President and Founder of Sioux Falls Tower & Communications of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
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