NATE UNITE 2017 Features Lots of Safety Topics for Wireless Infrastructure Professionals
Considered the industry's most comprehensive conference, the event taking place Feb. 27-March 2 at the Fort Worth Convention Center is heavy on safety topics.
The National Association of Tower Erectors recently released the second edition of the NATE Unmanned Aerial Systems Operations Around Vertical Communications Infrastructure resource document, and the association's leaders and member companies are getting ready for their annual conference -- NATE UNITE 2017, which is taking place Feb. 27 through March 2 in Texas at the Fort Worth Convention Center.
The event will bring together thousands of professionals from all parts of the wireless infrastructure industry, NATE Chairman Jim Tracy wrote in the event's program. The exhibit hall will be filled with companies offering fall protection equipment, training, electrical testing equipment, tools, aerial work platforms, and a plethora of products and services related to the tower industry.
The educational program for the conference includes sessions about guy anchor failure, new tower industry national consensus standards (including the ANSI/ASSE A10.48-2016 standard), the National Wireless Safety Alliance, dropped object prevention, safety equipment inspection, and insurance coverage.
The UAS resource comes from a collaboration between the NATE Unmanned Aerial Systems Committee and other prominent representatives from the commercial UAS industry; it is focused on drones' operations around wireless infrastructure, cellular towers, broadcast towers, and utility structures. The new edition also incorporates updates from the new guidelines and provisions in the Federal Aviation Administrations Rule 107 for the commercial utilization of UAS technologies.
"NATE is the industry leader in the integration and utilization of UAS around communications infrastructure," said Executive Director Todd Schlekeway. "The 2nd Edition of this safety document will serve as a go-to resource for all workers and stakeholders in the industry to use as a guide in order to expand the safe and efficient commercial operation of UAS."
It is available to the industry as a free resource and accessible to be downloaded on NATE's website.
NATE also announced that Art Pregler of AT&T, Christopher Desmond of Verizon Wireless, and Crown Castle's Robert McCoy have joined the association's UAS Committee, which monitors trends and the regulatory environment associated with UAS technologies and makes recommendations to NATE members and the wireless infrastructure community on best practices when it comes to UAS integration. "We are excited to welcome Art, Christopher, and Robert to the NATE UAS Committee," said Chairman Greg Emerick of Sentera. "These gentlemen represent some of the most prominent companies in the wireless industry and possess invaluable expertise to help move our committee efforts and initiatives forward."