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Cellphone Boom Spurs AnLenna-Salety WorriesManv 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 esthatwereput npacewhensqnas arqeyradatedfromremotetowersoff mtstothe

Now antennasare nmorethan300.000 ocatons rooftops. parks. stad ums nearydoubethenumberof l0yearsaqo,accordnqtothe ndustrytradeqroupCTA

Federa rues requ re carers to use barcades s qns and tra n nq to protect peop efromexcessve rad ojrequency rad aton, thewaves of e ectr c and maqnetc powerthat carry

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6bearskforworkersandresdentsstandngdrecty nfrontof anantenna

One n 10 stes vo ates the ru es, accord n! to sx enq nrs who ex5.000 stes durng safety audts for carers and oca mun c pa tes. underscorng asafety apse n the nenvorkthat makes ce phones hum at a tmewhen the heath efiectsof antennas ar beng debated word wde

WSJ.EThe FCC has ssuedlusttr{o ctatons toce catrers s nce adoptnq the ru es n199 The FCC says t acks resourc-"s to

ts ke havnq a spd mt and no3d po ce sa d Maton Wesse an enq neer

who has audted morethan 3,000 stesand found one n 10 out of comp anc-"

On a swete nq June daj n Phoen l,lrWesse stro ed through a res denta areanearEcho 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 afence 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 ropedoff apatch nfrontof theantennawtlrachan Thesafetyof thepuband 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 dpotenta y caus nq cataracts and temporary ster ty and other hea tlr ssues

To bufierpeopefromthese therma effects,the FCC settrlo mtsforhowmuch RFpeopecanabsorb onefortheqenera pub c andan occupatona mtfvetmesh 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 andothers who ventur nto hotzones genera y up to 20feet n ont of an antenna mustbetra ned and have RF montors

Rchard Te . a Nevada enq nee( a so expects some em ss ons to rse At morethan1.000 stes natona y. hefound rouqh y one n 10 out of comp ance. s m arto lrlrWesse 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 becausethevwereh 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,andcarersare nsta nqsomesma erantennaswth ower power eves Butsomearebenq made stronqerto meet demand for h qh speed nternet access, h qh defntonvdeo 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 sometoexceed the therma eve wthn ayeal

Reou ators asked Johnson to ensurethe ru es wtre beno fo owed Johnson sa d t noonqer had the contract. and Sprnt sa d the svst-Ah\s were a safe d stanc from

Amonqthoseconcerned sG benAme o ascentstwhowaschef executveof AppEnc and Natona Sem conductor and a board member or4M nc r +0l.r'. Hebe eves ndustry eaders w takewhatever steps may be necessaryto prevent harm toworkers 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 edwth coqntve ssues afterworknq morethan 300tmes on heatnq and coo n! systemsror 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 fromRF em ss ons and we have a rqorous safety proqram n p aceto m n mze exposureto

TheFCC nApr sqnedaconsentdecreewthVenzonCommuncatons ncl ! .0 rf6 to sette RF vo atons n Pennsyvan a and Connectcut nvovnq anunocked rooftop and a mssnq sgn Ver2on aqr*dto pay $50.000 and to t ra n

nNewYorkcty condomnumtj \antsbecameupsetandcon.ernedwihRFnotfcaton s qns we p aced on atArace access po nt, Tamara Press, Verzon s vcepres dent offedera requ atory afia rs. wrote to the Fcc n February Ms Pre ss sa d thes qns were removed afterthetenants h red a awler

do dpopd.]or

nsurers are becom nq concerned The rsk s often transfered to unsuspectnqproperryowners 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 nsuranceatnqaqen.r havefaqqedPFasanemerqnq 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 atryan knutson@ws com