Cornwall UK Police Warn Teenagers NOT to Climb Mobile Masts – Obviously

The Falmouth and Helston Police (FHP) in Cornwall yesterday had to deal with another contender for the Darwin Awards after they warned that several teenagers had been spotted scaling to the top of a mobile network mast at Breageside, Porthleven – nearly becoming an example of natural selection at work.

The mast concerned is quite large and connected up to high-powered electrical cables, which naturally creates risks from falling (you might not die, but life wrecking injuries are possible) and electrocution. Engineers generally don’t climb mobile masts while they’re switched on – those warning signs are there for a good reason.

The apparatus on top of the mast will probably have been switched on too and, while low powered wireless signals generally aren’t a health risk (too weak), power levels and distance from the point of transmission do still matter – signal strength / power weakens extremely rapidly with distance. The existing rules for safe RF operation recognise this and provide guidance for safe handling by engineers in close proximity.

Put another way, somebody standing a few short metres away at the base of a mobile mast would be absolutely fine (the signal just a short distance away will be many times weaker – usually below the accepted exposure limits). But somebody literally sitting on top of a live high-powered industrial antenna/dish – just centimetres away or possibly even in front of / touching the live beam source – might be taking a risk if they stick around too long (exposure may be above safe levels).

Statement by Falmouth and Helston Police

It has been reported to Helston Police that youths are climbing on the telephone mast at Breageside, Porthleven. This is private property, within a gated area and people should not be entering the site. Climbing this mast is incredibly dangerous, as well as the risk of falling, there could be longer term health risks from being near this site.

The youths involved were reported to be in their late teens. Please could we ask parents to check where their children are going when they are going out with their friends.

Clearly, some kids weren’t paying enough attention in their science classes, since if they did, they would have had a better idea of the risk they were taking. But for most other people, common sense would normally kick in for such situations and usually long before the need for any kind of prior scientific knowledge. On the other hand, the extreme sports of cliff diving and base jumping exist – we aren’t always the wisest of races when it comes to self-preservation.