Across the country, workers have been falling to their deaths from cell phone towers. To satisfy the ever-increasing demand for cell phone service, tower climbers install and service cell antennas, a job that requires them to ascend hundreds of feet.
In "Cell Tower Deaths," a joint investigation with ProPublica, FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith finds that over the last decade, the tower climbers who are building and servicing America’s cellular infrastructure are about 10 times more likely than an average construction worker to die on the job.
High death rates among climbers are caused in part by demanding project deadlines, which lead some climbers to cut corners on safety equipment or to “free climb,” a dangerous practice in which the climber is not attached to the tower. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations prohibit free climbing, yet it was involved in about half of the fatalities FRONTLINE and ProPublica examined.
FRONTLINE reveals that the major cell phone companies are shielded from accountability in the deaths by relying on layers of subcontracting to carry out the tower work. Subcontracting drives costs down and makes it difficult for the government to discipline the major cell carriers. “Just through their own policy they layer themselves away from it,” say Randy Gray, a former OSHA inspector.
"Cell Tower Deaths" is a FRONTLINE production with RAIN Media, Inc., in partnership with ProPublica. The film is written and produced by Travis Fox. Martin Smith is senior producer and correspondent. Reporting was by FRONTLINE’s Ryan Knutson and ProPublica’s Liz Day. The series senior producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath. The executive producer of FRONTLINE is David Fanning.
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