Climbing a 25 ft Building VS Climbing a 1768 ft Transmission Tower

access ladder

Last year, I got a chance to climb a 25 ft building by using the outside standard access ladder (see picture).  I should point out that I fear of height, and I have never climbed this kind of ladder before. I did it because it was a great chance to overcome my comfort zone and experience people who work with the heights. I really admired people that have the courage to work at height. 

This experience brought me back to this video. It's very scary when I first watched it. I didn't understand how people can do this. First, they have to no fear of extreme heights. Second, they have to no fear of death. At the last part of video, they were free climbing which means no fall protection at all. What if the case that there's strong wind when they climb. What if the case that there's lighting when they climb. What if the case that some birds try to attack them. They have no where to go. This video only shows the climbing up part. What about the climbing down. Maybe they can wear a parachute, but after watching couple more times, I don't think parachute is a good idea. To begin with, each of the workers has to wear basic personal protection equipment and hang a tool bag which weight 30 lbs. If they bring the parachute with them, it is definitely an extra burden for them to complete the job safely.   Climbing up is hard. I think climbing down is even harder. 

  

Usually, if you are in high risk job, you will get high pay. I was surprised that transmission/communication tower climber only earn an average $75,000 annual salary, but it may be because they only work three or four days a week. According to ISP planet, climbers often charge $1,500 or more a day plus additional insurance fees or charging $295 per hour. In United State, the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries from 2006 didn't even list cell phone tower workers as a separate category. Cell phone tower work is such a small sub-industry, which means the number of deaths somewhat minimal. In 2006, the death ratio of cell phone workers was 183.6 deaths for every 100,000 workers. 

If you paid me $75,000 to climb 1768 feet tower for once, thanks, I am not going to do it.


Source: Switched.com