#educationalopportunity

NATE Training and Small Cell/DAS Installations Committee Article - 2023 Tower Times Volume 2

In 2022, NATE received the Susan Harwood Grant from OSHA to produce the Electrical Safety Awareness Training for Telecom Workers. As part of this program, the NATE team worked closely with several representatives from member companies to produce comprehensive training that includes many of the different facets of telecom construction.

The curriculum development team consisted of Richard Cullum, Dave Hall, Kenneth Hill, George Kerstetter, Nick Wilkerson, and me. This is the second time I have had the pleasure of working with NATE on the curriculum development committee, and also the second time I have been an instructor for the completed training. In 2021, NATE received the same grant to produce the 5G-Small Cell Deployment Training which was directed solely at communications installations in the ROW and for projects that achieve densification of a Wireless Carrier network. Students in both courses have given me extremely positive reviews of the content, and I believe they are extremely beneficiary to NATE member firms.

At the NATE UNITE conference in February 2023, the Small Cell and DAS Committee shared concerns over the lack of training available to technicians that perform our highly specialized installs throughout the country. Our conversations were very productive, but they got me thinking: the 2023 Training is an outstanding resource for safety awareness in our industry, and it carries some extremely informative topics relating to communications installations and the electrical hazards associated with them. As someone with both a Tower and Small Cell/DAS background, the importance of this training was not lost on me.

During the first class, which took place in Wisconsin in February, many of the students were technicians. This is the target audience for NATE, as we continue to promote safety among our member companies.

The NATE catalog of Susan Harwood Grant Training Courses contains some outstanding resources for our industry. I wanted to take this opportunity to share where these training courses can be found and encourage member firms to share them with their team members. Visit natehome.com/safety-education/susan-harwood-grant-courses/ to find the student workbooks, instructor manuals, and the PowerPoint presentations used in the training sessions.

For many teams, these resources will provide invaluable information that may not be readily available, or assembled in a manner that proves to be easily presented in a timely fashion. I strongly encourage our member companies to utilize these trainings and book your opportunity to attend the 2023 Electrical Safety Awareness Training, as soon as possible. Stay safe! ●