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Cellphone Boom Spurs AnLenna-Salety Worries
Manv Sltes Violate Rxles Aimed at Prote.tine Workers From Lxcessi\ Radio Fr
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The antennas fue n! the naton s ce
phone
boom are cha enq ng federa safety ru es
t hat wer eput npacewhensqnas ar qeyr adat edf r omr emot et ower sof f mt st ot he
Now antennasare nmorethan300.000 ocatons rooftops.
parks.
stad ums neary
doubet henumber of l 0year saqo, accor dnqt ot he ndust r yt r adeqr oupCTA
Federa rues requ re carers to use barcades s
qns
and tra n nq to
protect peop
efrom
excessve rad ojrequency rad aton, thewaves of e ectr c and maqnetc
powerthat
carry
qd
r "por "
o d""d
"
6r
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6
bear skf or wor ker sandr esdent sst andngdr ect y nf r ont of anant enna
One n 10 stes vo ates the ru es, accord n! to sx enq nrs who ex
5.000 stes durng safety audts for carers and oca mun c
pa
tes. underscorng a
safety apse n the nenvorkthat makes ce
phones
hum at a tmewhen the heath efiects
of antennas ar beng debated word wde
WSJ.E
The FCC has ssuedlusttr{o ctatons to
ce catrers s nce adoptnq the ru es n
199 The FCC says t acks resourc-"s to
t s ke havnq a spd mt and no
3d
po
ce sa d Maton Wesse an enq neer
who has audted morethan 3,000 stes
and found one n 10 out of comp anc-"
On a swete nq June daj n Phoen l,lr
Wesse stro ed through a res denta area
nearEcho Canyon Parkand spotted awn
cha rs near a T l,lob e
LIS
nc
lTr"l!s
+0
36%
lce
u ar antenna
Da
nted brown to match a
fence H s montor showed em ss ons we abov safety mts
After benq a eded byTheWa Street Journa. T l/ob e added warn nq s
qns
and roped
of f apat ch nf r ont of t heant ennawt l r achan Thesaf et yof t hepub
and our emp ovees s a respons b ty that a of us here atT l,lob etake very serous
y.
sad a T l/ob e spokeswoman
At very h
qh
eve s, rad ojrequency rad aton can cook human tssue. the FCC sa d
potenta y
caus nq cataracts and temporary ster ty and other hea tlr ssues
To bufierpeopefromthese therma effects,the FCC settrlo mtsforhowmuch RF
peopecanabsor b
onef or t heqener a
pub
c andan occupat ona mt f vet mes
h
qherfor peop
etra ned to work near antennas The h
qher
eve s st 10tmes beow
Catrers haveto restr ct access near antennas that are abov-athe mts Workers and
others who ventur nto hotzones
genera y
up to 20feet n ont of an antenna must
betra ned and have RF montors
Rchard Te
.
a Nevada enq nee( a so expects some em ss ons to rse At morethan
1.000 stes natona
y.
hefound rouqh
y
one n 10 out of comp ance. s m arto lrlr
Wesse s conc us on Some are h dden or d squ sed for aesthetc reasons
ve been on rooftops ooknq for antennas and coudntfnd them becausethevwere
h dden n fake concrete b ocks thatwere rea
yfoam
he sad
l,lost ce u ar antennas arent stronq enough to causetherma
prob
ems enq nrs say,
andcar er sar e nst a nqsomesma er ant ennaswt h ower
power
eves But somear e
benq made stronqerto meet demand for h
qh
speed nternet access, h
qh
defnton
vdeo and other setoces A German study n 2013 found h
qherem
ss ons from 4G
The more bandwdtlr the hottertheyw be, sa d l/r Wesse, who expects someto
exceed the therma eve wthn ayeal
Reou ators asked Johnson to ensurethe ru es wtre beno fo owed Johnson sa d t no
onqer had the contract. and Sprnt sa d the svst-Ah\s were a safe d stanc from
Amonqt hoseconcer ned sG benAme o ascent st whowaschef execut veof
AppE
nc and Natona Sem conductor and a board member or4M nc r
+0l.r' .
He
be eves ndustry eaders w takewhatever steps may be necessaryto
prevent
harm to
workers or others who may have
qood
reason to b c oseto these stes
J mmy Crespo comp a ned to federa abor regu ators n 2011 that he became d sab ed
wth coqntve ssues afterworknq morethan 300tmes on heatnq and coo n! systems
ror antennas ror Johnson contros nc.!a at%l a
!!!nl
corp
lsa00%l
contractor
had no tra n n!, no montorn! devces and no warn nq from my emp oyer, llll Crespo
Emp oye-"s were notworknq n an areawhere rad o frequenc es wou d
pose
a hazard.
a J0nns0n sp0Kesman sa0
Sprnt sa d annua checks show a stes are comp ant
AT&T sa d t
p
aces the utmost mporrance on the safety ofworkers and the
pub
c from
RF em ss ons and we have a rqorous safety
proqram
n
p
aceto m n mze exposureto
TheFCC nApr sqnedaconsent decr eewt hVenzonCommuncat ons nc
l
!
.0
rf6
to sette RF vo atons n Pennsyvan a and Connectcut nvovnq an
unocked r oof t op and a mssnq sgn Ver 2on aqr *dt o
pay
$50. 000 and t o t r a n
nNewYor kct y condomnumt j \ ant sbecameupset andcon. er nedwi hRF
notfcaton s qns we p aced on atArace access po nt, Tamara Press, Verzon s vce
pres dent offedera requ atory afia rs. wrote to the Fcc n February Ms Pre ss sa d the
s qns were removed afterthetenants h red a awler
do dpopd. ] or
nsurers are becom nq concerned The rsk s often transfered to unsuspectnq
properryowners Roqer Eqan. executve cha rman of Rsk strateq es co. to d the Fcc
Hardord F nanc a Sefrces GrouD nc IHG aa3%]and A L' l Best Co the nsurance
at nqaqen. r havef aqqedPFasanemer qnq sl SwssFe
a 2013 reporrthat f RF rad aton s nked to heath prob ems t cou d utmatev ead to
Write to anthe Jeanne Duqan at anthe duoan@ws com and Ryan Knutson at
ryan knutson@ws com