Anatomy of a Cell Tower Death
A half dozen companies, including AT&T, played a role in the cell site project on which William “Bubba” Cotton died. So who controlled the work site? And who was responsible for the safety of subcontractors working on it?
After a Tower Climber Falls, Stand Down Called for on AT&T Projects
Following a worker’s non-fatal 100-foot fall from a Texas cell tower last week, one of AT&T’s construction management firms has instituted a stand down across several states, requiring that its subcontractors review safety practices.
Built for a Simpler Era, OSHA Struggles When Tower Climbers Die
Fifty men have died in accidents on cell sites since 2003, but federal workplace safety regulators have few tools and little will to impose consequences on the companies that count on their labor.
In Race For Better Cell Service, Men Who Climb Towers Pay With Their Lives
Corporate giants have outsourced the dangerous work of building and maintaining communications towers to tiny subcontracting companies. Over the last nine years, nearly 100 workers have died, 50 of them on cell sites.
Methodology: How We Calculated the Tower Industry Death Rate
How we calculated deaths per 100,000 workers for the tower industry using OSHA's methodology.