Old Days of Hard Work
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There would have to be ten guys with guns bigger than my own, and a dozen angry tigers chasing after me before you'd catch me doing that!
I'd give it five minutes before I called it quits. Probably less. I saw a video of a tower climber climbing to the top of what I believe was an antennae, on top of a building, to change a light bulb. I'll see about posting the video or one similar to it tomorrow- unless someone beats me to it.
I absolutely love that photo - real men one and all. Not a safety harness in sight. I hope that's a water bottle the guy on the right has! Me, I get queasy on about the third step of the ladder.
An instructor in some class I took posed an interesting scenario. He laid out a 6 inch line on the ground and said, 'Ok, this is an I-beam connecting two towers 40 storeys up - who would walk across it?'
Lots of no ways. He said, 'Alright, now I'm at the other end holding up a hundred dollar bill. Who would walk across for the hundred bucks?' Lots of nos.
'Ok, how about for a million dollars?' Some pauses, but still mostly nos.
'Alrighty then, now I've got your KID!' Hmmm.
His point was, all that changed was perception. That said, no way in hell I could do that, but then I've never had kids.
An instructor in some class I took posed an interesting scenario. He laid out a 6 inch line on the ground and said, 'Ok, this is an I-beam connecting two towers 40 storeys up - who would walk across it?'
Lots of no ways. He said, 'Alright, now I'm at the other end holding up a hundred dollar bill. Who would walk across for the hundred bucks?' Lots of nos.
'Ok, how about for a million dollars?' Some pauses, but still mostly nos.
'Alrighty then, now I've got your KID!' Hmmm.
His point was, all that changed was perception. That said, no way in hell I could do that, but then I've never had kids.
Which is one reason both unionization and OSHA became necessary - the mortality rate among ironworkers was one of the highest in all the trades at the end of the 19th century. This year, the union reports six fatalities so far this year, nationwide.
I'd be willing to climb up on the roof of a single-story building for a quick repair, but anything higher than that I'm going to need a safety line, thanks. :D
As an iron worker back in the day I did it all the time. When I first started the only safety equipment required were work boots, hard hat, and D ring belt. We didnt have to tie off and most of the time the equipment was not availabe for it anyway. We did just as you see there, only with hard hats on. I built stadiums , hospitals, and office buildings. Two of my friends died doing it.
We dont do it that way anymore. Its all safety safety safety. 6 foot up and you tie off. But we have equipment to do it with now. Then we didnt and many people got hurt and died. But we were buiding America
We dont do it that way anymore. Its all safety safety safety. 6 foot up and you tie off. But we have equipment to do it with now. Then we didnt and many people got hurt and died. But we were buiding America
Funny thing in the osha book subpart R iron workers were excluded from nearly all the safety measures untill the early 90 s. I remeber when we had to start wearing harnesses we didnt even have to tie off . It wasnt untill later that tie off became required and then it was 30 feet. So we would deck every other floor so we didnt have to tie off. Now its six feet.j
Hey, I didn't mean to say that real men don't need safety equipment! A real man figures out you DO need safety equipment! I combined two thoughts into one sentence - while I admire those guys for doing a risky job, things are much safer and better now.
You aren't a real man for being dumb; my sentence came out wrong. Sorry everyone.
You aren't a real man for being dumb; my sentence came out wrong. Sorry everyone.
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