in response to ricardo's comment: osha uses the multi-employer citation policy when several subcontractors are engaged in construction (key word) activities. a general contractor is subject to penalties if it is at the jobsite daily, conducts walkarounds and sees the hazards in plain view, and has safety & health responsibilities, usually by contract. if they meet these criteria, the gc can be cited as the 'controlling' employer. the controlling employer is often the 'correcting' employer as well because he/she has the authority to make corrections themselves, or delegate abatement to others onsite. often times, when the subcontracor meets the requirements of a 'creating' and 'exposing' employer, the gc is cited for the identical standard violation(s). however, this only applies to construction activities. if general-industry activities such as maintainence are going on, all bets are off regarding the multi-employer citation policy. this can be found at the back end of the 29 cfr part 1926 standards.

there can be two culprits here: (1) the subcontractor who should have trained and provided protective equipment to their emps [like fall protection], and (2) the owners of the towers, one from the side of whether the towers are safe to climb and the other as far as requiring their subcontractors to follow safety procedures and to train their personnel. like in construction, osha should be able to fine either or both.

regarding the high number of fatal falls involving at&t workers / sub's versus their competitors, it is probably due to the fact that at&t was building three times more towers than their competitors at the time. not necessarily indicitive of a higher "rate". the more interesting issue is the reported "rate" of cell tower workers dying is ten times higher than construction in general. if you look at the osha training requirements (available to view at http://www.oshatraining.com), you will find there are no osha rules specific to tower climbers.