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Re: [TowerTalk] Fwd: Sad day - W9ZUC tower accident

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Fwd: Sad day - W9ZUC tower accident
From: Herbert Schoenbohm <herbert.schoenbohm@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 19:30:43 -0400
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
My son is a Comtrain certified tower climb and was working on Bordeaux Peak in St. John on a 300 foot PyRod tower. The tower owners insisted that every climber was required to use the "fall Arrest" stainless steel cable without exception question and as part of his wireless companies contract for liabilities. His co worker went up first and stopped at 100' to clamp off but before his co-worker could get the clamp on the fall arrest snapped right at the top of the tower. He fell to the ground but a microwave dish at 50 feet broke his fall and he survived but was additioally injured by the 300 feet of steel cable landing on his broken body on the ground. My son did CPR and called 911. While at the hospital, in severe pain from broken bones and just being wheeled out of the X-Ray and MRI chamber on a gurney, there were five lawyers following the victim to his room. I think he settled for about $900,000 but to me that would not be enough considering he was forced by the tower owner to use an unsafe system. Ironically another mainland company had done a complete tower inspection only a few months before. Lesson: Always pack your own parachute(s) and don't trust your life to the lowest tower inspection bidder, ever.


Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ


On 9/20/2014 7:13 PM, Steve Baughn wrote:
At one time AN Wireless had them on their site. Not sure if they still do or not.

Steve
WD8NPL

-----Original Message----- From: Hans Hammarquist via TowerTalk
Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2014 6:54 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Fwd: Sad day - W9ZUC tower accident

Interesting! Where do you get one of those?


Hans - N2JFS



-----Original Message-----
From: Chris <EZRhino@fastmovers.biz>
To: towertalk@contesting.com reflector <TOWERTALK@contesting.com>
Sent: Thu, Sep 18, 2014 12:14 pm
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Sad day - W9ZUC tower accident


The slickest thing I've ever seen is a cable stretched tight from top to bottom of the tower, and the climber has a device that goes on the cable that only slides UP the cable. It can't slide down, so if you fell it would hold fast. This also gives both hands free for climbing. I've never seen these on a ham
tower though.  Lots of them in my neck of the woods on ski lift towers.

Chris
KF7P






On Sep 18, 2014, at 10:03 AM, TexasRF--- via TowerTalk wrote:

Please enlighten me: when climbing with a gorilla hook, is there only one
hook/lanyard used or are there two hook/lanyards used?

If two, wouldn't there always be one of the hooks attached to the tower?

73,
Gerald K5GW


In a message dated 9/18/2014 8:49:18 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
xdavid@cis-broadband.com writes:


Yes,  you have indeed said that several times here before, and it was
just as  ignorant a comment then as it is now.  Every time you unhook or
hook  to the tower you only have one hand on the tower ... just exactly
as you  only have one hand on the tower when you reach up while climbing
... the  difference being whether or not you are hooked in while that
second hand  isn't on the tower.  How you can possibly believe that one
hand on  the tower is safer than one hand on the tower PLUS one hook on
the tower,  or that a free hand not on the tower is more reliable than a
hook already  on the tower, is totally beyond me.

Dave    AB7E



On 9/17/2014 8:42 PM, Doug Renwick wrote:
I have said this many times before. If you can't 'free climb' then you SHOULD NOT be climbing at all. The use of a gorilla hook has it's place
-
for resting or at the work station.  But IMO it should not be  used to
assist
the climb!  Every time you have to hook and unhook  the gorilla hook it
means
you only have one hand left on the tower.  That to me is unsafe.  With
free
climbing, both hands are available to grab the tower. If you can't free
climb -  don't climb.
Doug


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