Exposure to radio frequency emissions can cause serious health problems
serious enough that OSHA and the FCC have adopted standards designed to protect
the general public and workers by minimizing possible health risks. RF health and safety training like
Peoplesafe® 5.0 helps keep people safe on the job and companies in
compliance with federally mandated regulations.
What is Peoplesafe® 5.0?
Peoplesafe® 5.0 is the newest version of Sitesafe's radio
frequency (RF) health and safety online training course. Thousands of
professionals have taken previous versions of Peoplesafe® and
version 5.0 has been upgraded with new material, updated graphics and
illustrations, interactive quizzes, and an all-new interface and learning
management system for the most comprehensive and engaging edition of the
training to date.
Features in Peoplesafe® 5.0 include:
Updated course material employees can really use
lessons on OSHA compliance, practical guidelines
and visual demonstrations on proper use of protective equipment, recommended RF
site visit procedures, and examples of real-world situations
The latest in e-learning
superior high resolution graphics, animations, and illustrations; all that's
needed is an internet connection
Voiceovers and closed captioning
students can choose to hear or read the course material
Interactivity and quality testing
challenging new learning activities and quizzes reinforce topics and enhance
retention; individualized tests ensure mastery of material
Student certification
students can print out a certificate of completion after passing the course
exam; Sitesafe provides a wallet card certifying that the student has completed
RF health and safety training
Learning management system
new interface hosted by e-learning company Element K provides easy access for
students and training managers
AICC and SCORM compliant
easy integration and delivery on any existing learning management system
"This new version of the Peoplesafe® training covers everything
employees and contractors need to know to evaluate potential RF hazards in the
workplace," said Matthew Butcher, P.E., Vice President of Development and
Engineering for Sitesafe, "and we're confident the training's new look,
feel, and improved interactivity will be well received by our customers and
students."
A single-user license for Peoplesafe® 5.0 costs $250.00.
Quantity discounts for multiple users and recurring year contracts are
available. A free demo of the course will be available for review at www.peoplesafe.net on February 20, 2008.
Sitesafe, Inc., a Velocitel company, provides industry-recognized RF
health, safety, and regulatory compliance solutions to wireless
telecommunications companies. We offer a comprehensive portfolio of services
designed to assist companies that are required to comply with FCC and OSHA
regulations pertaining to human exposure to RF energy and responsibilities of
wireless carriers to protect the patterns of existing AM stations. Velocitel is
a wireless network services company with innovative, flexible, and responsive
solutions for developing and maintaining todays wireless communications
systems. Velocitel and Sitesafe together can take you from the earliest stages
of wireless site planning, to site deployment, and all the way through to due
diligence and ongoing compliance documentation. Visit us at www.sitesafe.com and www.velocitel.com.
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"Sitesafe is an incredibly complimentary acquisition for Velocitel and will
expand our service offering, allowing us to better serve our wireless customers,"
according to James Estes, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Velocitel.
"This acquisition reflects the strategic direction that we have paved for the
company, greatly enhancing our RF engineering capabilities." he added.
The acquisition of Sitesafe will allow Velocitel to offer more sophisticated
engineering services to augment the wireless infrastructure services that the
company currently conducts for virtually all major wireless carriers.
"We appreciate Sitesafe's contribution to Crown Castle over the last several
years and wish all the best to the Sitesafe employees and Velocitel", says John
Kelly, Chief Executive Officer, Crown Castle.
Sitesafe, Inc. www.sitesafe.com provides
independent radio frequency (RF) health and safety solutions to the wireless
telecommunications industry. Sitesafe offers a comprehensive portfolio of products
and services designed to assist companies that are required to comply with Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) and the Occupational Safety & Health
Administration (OSHA) regulations pertaining to human exposure to RF energy.
About Velocitel:
A global leader in telecommunications services, Velocitel provides outsourced
services to telecommunications carriers and equipment vendors for the planning,
design, deployment, ongoing optimization and management of wireless networks.
Velocitel has expertise with all major wireless technologies, and has deployed
equipment supplied by a majority of the world's leading equipment vendors.
Velocitel manages large-scale deployments for clients, both domestically and
internationally. www.velocitel.com
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As she drove by Winnetka Covenant Church on her way to work, Loretta Livingston
noticed the new steeple under construction, never guessing what lay hidden beneath
its soaring white exterior.
Topped with a tiny cross, the recently completed 120-foot steeple concealed an
array of antennas that allow four wireless companies to transmit cellular phone signals.
"I thought it was taking them an awful long time to put it up," said
Livingston, who works at a Wilmette day school.
With cell towers proliferating across the national landscape, resistance from
communities has forced many towers to go undercover. Some are concealed within grain
silos or attached to street lights and chimneys. Others are disguised as flag poles,
large boulders, even palm trees.
The stealthy effort using church steeples has been especially pronounced, with one
proposal in Northbrook dubbed the "bell tower cell tower."
Such concealment strategies, relatively common on the East and West Coasts, are on
the rise across the Chicago area, as residents often reject the unsightly towers, which
typically range in height from 30 to 200 feet.
In California and Florida, some cell towers are fashioned in the shape of palm trees,
or on the East Coast, as pines.
"In the beginning, the trees were, to put it politely, not very realistic,"
said Steve Meyer, business development manager with Tucson-based Larson Camouflage,
which has hidden two cell towers in fake grain silos in Gurnee.
"Now you have very realistic trees. If you have a picnic beneath one, you'll
know it's fake. But if you're driving by, it tends to blend in," he said.
Industry experts say they find objections to new cell towers especially daunting
within affluent areas, where residents demand good phone reception but decry the
towers' effect on property values. In suburbs such as Wilmette, where residents once
fought the use of fake fiberglass rocks to hide cable equipment, the "not in my
back yard" reaction is typical of most communities, officials said.
"People now are much more sensitive than in the early days of wireless,"
said James Estes, Chairman & CEO of California-based Velocitel, which
recently completed Winnetka Covenant's steeple-tower. "The demand to conceal
antennas is increasing dramatically."
The number of cell towers has risen 18 percent every year since 1985, with nearly
175,000 of them peppering the country by 2004, according to an annual survey by the
Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, based in Washington.
Churches, for one, have reaped benefits in helping the wireless industry. By
welcoming the cell towers, they may earn up to $3,000 a month or more in lease
agreements with telecommunications companies.
Winnetka Covenant, located in an annexed portion of Wilmette, couldn't afford a
new steeple until Velocitel picked up the $225,000 tab. The monthly lease payments,
too low to jeopardize the church's tax-exempt status, will help replace the roof,
said John Breidenbach, a church member and architect who designed the project,
completed about a month ago.
"I did approach the pastor about commemorating the steeple and cupola with
the ringing of cell phones," Breidenbach said.
Resident Justin Zubrod, who lives across the street from the church, said he
doesn't have a problem with the high-tech steeple.
"It raised a bunch of concerns, no doubt, but these things are popping up
everywhere," he said. "When people put up towers, you don't know what will
happen."
Yet the gussied-up cell towers fail to impress some residents. Wilmette village
officials had planned to examine a Sprint proposal that requested placing a
"stealth antenna" at St. Joseph Catholic Church. But anticipating a
negative reaction, church officials pulled the request off the agenda, said Jim
Liput, business manager for the church.
In Northbrook, Sprint recently withdrew an application to build a 90-foot cell
tower at St. Peter United Church of Christ, which would have been hidden by a
three-sided structure and faux carillon.
Neighbors complained that it would have looked unsightly, and the village's Plan
Commission said the tower exceeded height limitations, said Thomas Poupard,
Northbrook's director of community planning.
Poupard said he has found it equally difficult to identify new sites for water
towers.
"Some communities paint them blue, to try to make them blend into the
sky," he said, adding that many villages solve both problems by hanging cell
phone antennas from water towers.
Concealing a cell tower does not come cheap, adding $100,000 or more to the
project, according to a report by the cellular telecommunications association.
About Velocitel:
A global leader in telecommunications services, Velocitel provides outsourced
services to telecommunications carriers and equipment vendors for the planning,
design, deployment, ongoing optimization and management of wireless networks.
Velocitel has expertise with all major wireless technologies, and has deployed
equipment supplied by a majority of the world's leading equipment vendors.
Velocitel manages large-scale deployments for clients, both domestically and
internationally. www.velocitel.com
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Cellular antennas have become a pesky source of mayhem to architectural
landscapes in nearly every city across the nation.
As cell phone use grows (roughly 50% of Americans now own a cell phone),
cellular providers are scrambling to throw up antenna towers on every available
rooftop and chimney to meet demand for expanded service areas and better reception.
Very few communities have any sort of restriction against the location and design
of cell towers. Consequently, most cellular companies end up installing unsightly
structures with little regard to the surrounding landscape.
In the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, Ill., a cellular company and a local church
devised a novel solution to this dilemma that involved concealing a cellular
antenna within a church steeple. Completed last summer, the project not only
enhances cell phone reception in the community, but also provides a much need
facelift to the Evangelical Covenant Church of Winnetka, while accommodating the
village's restrictive zoning ordinances.
The plan was realized when Velocitel, an Irvine, Calif.-based provider of
outsourced wireless services, came into contact with the Winnetka church while
scouting the area for potential cellular antenna locations for Cingular Wireless.
The church property had long been a highly desired location by cellular carriers
because of its high elevation, but local zoning ordinances restricted the erection
of telecommunication towers on the property because of its residential zoning. As
a result, portions of the surrounding community experienced gaps in cell phone
service.
Velocitel struck a deal with church officials that involved replacing the
building's deteriorated steeple and roof and installing a new spire that would
house the antennas. The spire was part of architect John Breidenbach's original
design for the church, but was never realized due to lack of funding.
Village officials initially hesitated granting an amendment to the zoning
code, but eventually approved a special use permit for telecom use and height
variance for the steeple after learning that the project would restore the
church to Breidenbach's original design.
The project involved raising the steeple from 90 to 120 feet in height, on
top of which the new spire was placed. Four wireless carrier antennas are
attached to a pole inside the spire, which is manufactured of a radio-conducive
material.
About Velocitel:
A global leader in telecommunications services, Velocitel provides outsourced
services to telecommunications carriers and equipment vendors for the planning,
design, deployment, ongoing optimization and management of wireless networks.
Velocitel has expertise with all major wireless technologies, and has deployed
equipment supplied by a majority of the world's leading equipment vendors.
Velocitel manages large-scale deployments for clients, both domestically and
internationally. www.velocitel.com
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