Some scaffolders I know have been erecting scaffolds up S mast situated on a local football ground, said football ground is also owned by their boss. They have been doing so so for almost 2 days. Today they were on my works and have just found out that the team taking over from them have done some research re safety surrounding working on said mast and the job has been halted!!!!!
The guys I was talking to are now seriously concerned as to what they may have been exposed to and are going to seek advice from various places tomorrow.

So, is there any mast engineers or HSE bods on here who could shed some light on the issue????

comm tower risks

if you read guidelines above, even worst case exlusion is 10-15m in front of most powerful transmitters

Mobile antennas are something like a 2m exclusion zone all around them.
The advice we get is if you are feeling dehydrated or dizzy then there is something wrong. Obviously we have a NARDA (RF monitor) on us as well.
I’m sure there a few others on here who would know better than me footflaps and teetosugar are the first 2 that spring to mind!

Am I missing something? If there is a need for some work on the mast that requires scaffolding, wouldn’t the mast have been powered down before they started? Or am I completely misunderstanding the OP?

this may be the tower the guys were working on;
https://www.flickr.com/photos/purplezulu/32478205763/

edlong – Member
Am I missing something? If there is a need for some work on the mast that requires scaffolding, wouldn’t the mast have been powered down before they started? Or am I completely misunderstanding the OP?

Nope. Work ie erection of scaffold was carried out. the first team(guys I was talking to)had been assured there were no issues re working on or near a live mast. Following conversations with mast engineers they became concerned and again questioned their boss who again reassured them that all precautions had been taken.
That is until today when another team were working on the job and took the initiative to “google it” and found out that there are some serious restrictions to working on said equipment as per scotabroads link!!!!
cheers Stewart….
May see guys tomorrow, they are pretty upset. Working for one of our contractors and a hire/fire/do as you are told style of employer they are pretty miffed but acknowledge that if their health has been compromised they are prepared to challenge their boss.

There are far too many employers (small and large) currently playing on workers need to work and earn a living by doing anything to “get the job done”

I have advised the guys to visit C.A.B and to look at HSE web site and report as an incident…..

PS scotabroad…take a wee look at the masts/scaffo;d on Terregles St

Anyone work on O2/phone type masts/Ariel type things??

Ariel

Mast or antenna

Sorry, sudden rush of pendantry to the head.
😀

Mast or antenna

Not technically correct either..

Masts have a guy lines.. think Winter Hill, or any number of the Arqiva sites
What you have there is a Monopole, with 3 or 6 antennas inside the shroud..
It’s a streetworks, Looks to be an MBNL Jupiter Type E.

there were no issues re working on or near a live mast

All depends on what on it. TV masts can kill you very quickly (horrible death from burns) if you get in front of the antennas. However, you won’t get access to one of those sites as they are protected quite well.

Mobile phone masts are very unlikely to do any damage, but the regs do specify an exclusion zone of a few m. Normally there is a sign on the mast saying contact XXX before working on site or going in front of the antennas. However, I’ve worked on masts without them being switched off (but then I have a fairly lax view of H&S).

So, they’re absolutely fine but shouldn’t make a habit of spending a lot of time right in front of mobile phone masts.

Looking at the flikr picture, if the scaffolding they were erecting was the one in the picture? The nearest antenna isn’t even orientated in that direction and looks to be fair distance away from them as well.
As you say company owner sounds like a primo douche and just the typical attitude you would expect.

but acknowledge that if their health has been compromised they are prepared to challenge their boss.

They will be fine, but it’s still poor form for the boss to ask them to do that without a proper risk assessment etc. Whenever we do work on sites, you phone the Mobile network’s NoC and get them to take the site off line, then you do the work and then phone back and they confirm it’s back up working etc. O2 can be a PITA as you can be on hold for 40mins to get through.

Teetosugars

Not technically correct either..

Masts have a guy lines.. think Winter Hill, or any number of the Arqiva sites
What you have there is a Monopole, with 3 or 6 antennas inside the shroud..
It’s a streetworks, Looks to be an MBNL Jupiter Type E.

Thank you. I always wondered what they were for.

So that’s a tower (self supported) with 3 or 6 monopole antennas inside?

Hmmm.

In power distribution and transmission there are towers and masts and masts are not necessarily guyed (stayed).

Taking a loose definition, towers are generally lattice constructions, while masts are single girder or monocoque.

I wonder if there is an actual common definition.

I’d say you would be out of the danger zone of the RF from the antennas, but difficult to say without a narda.

Best practice is get it isolated especially if long term exposure ie more than about 15minutes.

I’m a facilities engineer for O2 and Vodafone/CTIL but I’ve passed advanced climber courses and have to climb in my job.

So that’s a tower (self supported) with 3 or 6 monopole antennas inside?

No, the tower is classed as a Streetworks type monopole.
The Antennas are mounted inside the shroud at the top, on a spline..

Oh, and I too work for the one of the operators, but now having spent the last few years building these and general rigging the antennas etc, I now work behind the scenes in the Acquisitions team, buying the land/ rooftops to get these sites built..

Teetosugars – Member

So that’s a tower (self supported) with 3 or 6 monopole antennas inside?

No, the tower is classed as a Streetworks type monopole.
The Antennas are mounted inside the shroud at the top, on a spline..

Oh, and I too work for the one of the operators, but now having spent the last few years building these and general rigging the antennas etc, I now work behind the scenes in the Acquisitions team, buying the land/ rooftops to get these sites built..[/quote]

What type of antenna are in the shroud? Assume its mono or di-pole?

What type of antenna are in the shroud? Assume its mono or di-pole?

Not sure what a mono antenna is, if I’m honest…

And dipoles you Marian like yagis? so no use for GSM/LTE. Wrong frequency bands..

Depending what you’re using it for 2g 3G 4g etc, and depending what operators it’s for, it’s normally between 3 and 6 sectored 4port X polar Dual Beam Antennas.