Pretty cool 3-part series. When he's walking the length of the jib I found myself having to remember to breathe.





Link

I guess you can get used to about anything, but I’m glad I don’t have to do that.

I didn’t see him using any of his fingers to verify the pin holes were lined up…

Nope, no fing way I’m going up there. And I consider myself an Adrenalin junkie.

I don't think that was his first day on the job

Noticed he only had three of four pins in place when he walked out on the jib. You can still see the pin on the deck.

^^^ I noticed that.

Kind of a bitch if you drop a pin and have to go back down for it!

Pass

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Kind of a bitch if you drop a pin and have to go back down for it!

I was thinking of that and guys below. Hard hat area for sure!

The most frightened I’ve ever been was when I had to crawl through the jib of an oil platform crane that was boomed out 90 feet above the water. I was inspecting for cracked welds. No walkway and no safety harness.

More than just a hard hat zone, I would imagine you’d be fired if you walked into the operating area. I once saw a laborer in Chicago walk very close to the hazard circle of a small excavator and two other guys lit his ass up for it. They take that very serious.
I’m not gonna say I’d be able to do the job up there but I’d definitely volunteer to give it a shot. And I did notice that he never put the fourth lower pin in.

quote:

Originally posted by 400m:
...but I’d definitely volunteer to give it a shot.

Not a freakin' chance, and this coming from a guy who used to think nothing of hanging out of helicopters and short hauling. For some reason or another, I've become somewhat acrophobic as I get on in years. Just the other day I rented a Genie lift to put up a new ham radio antenna (160m horizontal delta loop). I only had to get up 30 feet, which don't look like much at all from the ground. When you're up there it's a whole 'nother perspective.

Years back I was a Pro Photographer in Chicago.
I did Advertising and corp brochure jobs.
I found my way onto many construction cranes and walked the boom many times, spent a lot of time on skyscraper roofs, and in helicopters. Climbing up a crane that is high above a roof line while carrying camera gear was always a challenge.
The most memorable, a trip to the top of the antennas on the Hancock building.
They were installing new antennas on top of the building. The job was complete and the construction workers were taking down the scaffolding from one of the two towers.
I was hired to photograph the job and shoot some video.
I was sent to the top of the roof and instructed to get into the "bird Cage" for a lift to the top and side of the antenna. The "bird cage" was a wire cage with a floor. After the bird cage lifted from the roof the wind caught it and blew it over the edge of the building, workers held tether lines from the roof and tried to hold the cage so it would not start to twist. A slow lift finally got me to the side of the upper antenna.
At that point workers grabbed the cage and fixed it to the side of the antenna, unbolted the small door, it was now time to step from the cage to the antenna.
Once on the antenna I took a few moments to Gage the situation and try to figure out how I would get the video and photos that the client wanted.
I spent the day up there climbing to the top of the antenna so I could get a shot straight down looking at the electricians that were completing there job and removing sections of scaffold.
Because of the microwaves being emitted from the antenna I needed to keep my video camera inside a wire mesh bag to shield it. Climbing with the camera in the bag was difficult because it required both arms to climb and descend the foot pegs attached to the antenna.I finally had to remove the camera from the mesh bag and try to film without it.That didn't take long before my video camera died. The microwaves cooked it.

I had to spend the day up there with the workers because the bird cage had already been removed and I would come down when the construction workers were done for the day.
Early in the afternoon one of the workers told me a storm was coming from the west and we would need to evacuate the tower ASAP. The storm was many miles away but on occasion you could feel electrical shock when touching the metal on the antenna I was told this was static electricity from the approaching storm.
A new, bigger cage was hoisted up to start the evacuation.On this cage you had to enter or exit through the roof. The basket was hanging out over the edge of the building well above the roof of the Hancock building.To get in the basket required sliding along a iron beam that jutted out over the side of the antenna and roof, then blindly dropping your legs through the cage opening on top and then dropping in.
The ride back to the roof was slow, too slow to get everyone down. The remaining workers had to climb the antenna down to the roof. You could hear a constant bitching from the workers because they were getting a steady dose of static electricity shocks as they made the slow climb down.

I have in the past had recurring dreams about being in situations like y'all are describing or Tejas in particular. Those had been replaced by other concerns/fears, but welcome back I suspect!

HARD no as well.

PS: definitely a hard hat job site. Heck, I'd be wearing hockey shoulder pads a well... Imagine even one of those small safety pins falling and hitting you on the clavicle...

My aviation/military brain cannot believe how much stuff there is unsecured.

Honestly, I didn’t see anything I wouldn’t be willing to do, and I’m not terribly fond of heights. I did high angle rope rescue for several years and it was all about your comfort with the safety measures in place.

The first time I was on a static line and with a belay, I was nervous and apprehensive as it was out of my normal comfort zone. Once I trusted the hardware and my coworkers, I had ZERO trepidation sitting back into the harness and beginning descents over LONG 300’+ drops, tying off, and attending litters with injured people, picking people off cliff faces, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

Just the other day I rented a Genie lift to put up a new ham radio antenna (160m horizontal delta loop).

Delta loops are great antennas. I've never made a horizontal one, though. I'd love to hear how it works out for you once you get it tuned in. What type/size of wire did you use?

The ground area below those work activities is well beyond a hardhat required zone. Years ago, the contractor I worked for was completing a large highrise project in northern Virginia and in the process of breaking down the tower crane that was located in a central plaza between two buildings. A worker from another trade contractor must have decided all the warning signage to remain out of the area and all the safety barricades were meant for everyone else. He took a shortcut across the plaza and ran beneath the ironworkers disassembling the crane high above. Although he was wearing his hardhat, it did not appear to deflect the flight path nor affect the falling velocity of a 2-inch diameter steel sheeve pin that fell from the crane deck. A very tragic outcome.

Nope, not even on a dare. Did anyone ever see him get the fourth pin in that lower joint? I didn’t.