F.A.Q.
What
is the point of tower inspections, what do I gain as
a tower owner, what do I gain as a carrier on someone
else's tower ?
The structural materials
used in towers are very good and will generally give a
long service life, but all materials exposed to the
elements are subject to degradation over time, depending
on the local environment, the stress level, and
incidental impact from human activity and extreme
weather phenomena.
The regular inspections at 3 to 5 year intervals are
meant to assess the wear and tear on the structure and
its components so that action can be taken in time to
avoid catastrophic loss, which would be very costly in
lost revenues, even if no injury or loss of life were to
result from a failure of the structure.
Following an extreme event, an inspection will
establish how well the tower withstood the actions, and,
in case of some damage or degradation, will allow the
owner to make the appropriate adjustments to make it
possible for the tower to take on the next extreme
event.
Even if you do not own the tower, if you rely on the
tower for support of your communication or broadcast
needs, the loss of which would be a costly loss in
business, it makes sense to have an independent
inspection of the tower that will alert you to where you
stand and allow you to take steps to mitigate your
losses in case of loss of signal due to a failure of the
tower. Of course, it also possible to include a clause
in the contract that obliges the owner to have regular
independent inspections performed and to provide, on the
set schedule, a copy of the latest inspection for your
review.
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