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New Tower Safety Standard in the Works
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A new tower construction standard is being developed by the Telecommunications Industry Association with the goal of improving construction safety and preventing construction accidents and structure collapses.
In its Radio TechCheck newsletter this week, NAB reports the topic was discussed during the Broadcast Engineering Conference at this year's show.
An earlier standard, developed in 2004, forms the basis for the work. Engineers at Electronics Research Inc. along with other industry engineers and construction specialists worked for five years to develop a standard called "Structural Standards Used for Installation of Antenna Towers and Antenna Supporting Structures," with the designation of ANSI/TIA-1019. This earlier standard focused on the use of lifting devices called "gin poles."
The new standard, NAB reports, will be titled "Structural Standards for Installation, Alteration and Maintenance of Antenna Supporting Structures" and will also be labeled as ANSI/TIA-1019. It will contain all past information but add material such as construction considerations unique to towers, design loading for construction equipment and structures and specifics for complete rigging plans. Guy wire slippage is a particular item of note, NAB reported.
Within TIA, Engineering Committee TR-14 (Point to Point Communications Systems) is the group developing this standard. It hopes to release it within six to 12 months. Ernie Jones, a senior engineer with ERI, is co-chairman of TR-14.7 along with Gordon Lyman of WesTower Communications.
Contact Jones via e-mail at ernie@eriinc.com.
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