Shenandoah Tower Service Ltd. CEO Dave Anthony wants to improve not just his own company, but also the entire industry it operates in.
“I’m involved in every initiative that I’m aware of that is trying to make this (tower erection and service) a safer and more professional industry,” he says.
The Staunton, Va.-based company, founded by Anthony and his wife Jo in 1983, is a full-service tower construction and maintenance company that builds, modifies and maintains towers in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. STS serves a diverse customer base of communications and utility companies including Dominion Power, Washington Gas, Verizon, U.S. Cellular, Shentel, Crown Castle, Motorola and the Virginia and West Virginia Public Broadcasting Corporations.
In addition to his work leading STS, Anthony is involved with organizations dedicated to providing safety and training programs to the telecommunications tower service industry. This includes serving on the board of directors of the Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program (TIRAP), which is working in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Labor to develop a formal training regimen and apprenticeship program for the wireless industry. The program recently established an apprenticeship path for telecommunications tower technicians.
“We want to develop, for the first time in the industry, a national training program that sets a training schedule and skill set that tower climbers or others must attain and demonstrate for accreditation,” Anthony says.
A ‘SOAR’-ing Culture
Anthony represents TIRAP on the Wireless Industry Safety Task Force (WISTF), an industry effort that will establish appropriate safety and skills training for tower workers or others working at heights.
Anthony has identified “seven deadly sins” he feels are root causes of serious injuries and deaths in the tower industry. These are: companies prioritizing profits over safety; hiring the wrong person or the wrong company to do the job; insufficient training; failure of the “competent” person on the job site; design/engineering flaws creating unsafe environments; compromised climber access; and overtaxing tower workers, he says.
STS avoids committing these “sins” in its operations by giving its employees downtime and returning them to their families on weekends as well as through weekly safety meetings. “We haven’t lost anyone in 32 years, so I think what we’re doing is working,” Anthony says. “We have one of the best safety records in the industry, and are known for the quality of our work.”
Safety is one of the main tenets of the company’s culture, which it refers to as one of “Securing Outstanding Achievements Routinely,” or SOAR. “We do not hire for trade experience, but rather, for character,” Anthony says.
The company has developed SOAR standards – safety awareness first everyday, excellent execution and enduring relationships – as well as the SOAR values of: thoroughness, honor, responsibility, integrity, virtue and endurance.
STS also believes in building close relationships with its clients and the contractors it works with. Many of STS’ customers have worked with the company for more than 25 years. The company’s long-term partners include insurance broker Insurance Office of America and Underground Technology Inc. (MUTI), a tower erection and maintenance company.
Helping ‘Warriors’
STS trains employees to its safety and culture in a classroom and on a 150-foot training tower at its Staunton, Va., headquarters.
Many of the company’s employees and trainees are U.S. Armed Forces veterans. “I’m partial to veterans, because they have some work experience, understand the chain of command and know how to give orders and follow instructions,” explains Anthony, a U.S. Air Force veteran.
Anthony is involved in Warriors 4 Wireless, a national nonprofit organization that works with wireless industry companies to identify positions and promote hiring veterans. “Our industry is growing, and there’s a need for people,” he says. “I would encourage anyone to consider hiring veterans. ”
