Matt and Joe - 4 stories up

[Der Alta]

Part of my job is to take pictures of things that happen on my construction site.

I happened to compose this picture just as Matt and Joe put in that last piece of steel on one section of the building. 4 stories up.

Enjoy.

AO

 

[DQuaN]

Wow! I didn't think they did things like that anymore.

No saftey harnasses?

 

[Der Alta]

They had just finished the last piece of steel, and were getting ready to walk over to the ladder. They had litterally just unhooked the harness.

Nice catch. I'm assuming you've been on or around a Construction site?

 

[DQuaN]

No, never.

It just reminds me of that old footage of guys builing massive scrapers in the 50's, walking around with no harnasses on, sitting with their legs dangling whilest eating their sandwiches.

I would have thought they would have some, but couldn't see any.

How high up in the pecking order are you at the construction site? If he were to fall, would you get in big trouble?

 

[Der Alta]

I'm the site super. If he falls, its my responsibility. Only because I'm supposed to make sure they wear the harness.

Whenever working they wear them, but at that point, they were moving along the steel to leave. Of the 5 steel workers on my site, only 2 have ended up in the hospital from a fall (in their careers). One of which is the owner of the company. He's 65 years old, and is usually the one farthest up on frame. In 45+ years of doing this, he's been in the hospital twice because of a fall.

I run a very cautious and safe site.

 

[barryl85]

Thats a really nice picture, even though it is of a construction site!

 

[cardude2004]

No, never.

It just reminds me of that old footage of guys builing massive scrapers in the 50's, walking around with no harnasses on, sitting with their legs dangling whilest eating their sandwiches.

I would have thought they would have some, but couldn't see any.

How high up in the pecking order are you at the construction site? If he were to fall, would you get in big trouble?

Yeah, you see old movie clips of workers building the Empire State building and they sit there feet above the ground and swing their feet while eating there lunch on a steel beam.

The picture is interesting. Are the beams usually red like that?

 

[Der Alta]

Because these beams did not need to be treated for fire resistance, they were painted to seal them from rusting.

AO

 

[Taurine]

Yay, pick Der Alta's brain time!

I see they're bolted rather then welded - is this because of the stresses and deforming that can happen during welding?

What kind of steel are the beams made out of? Mild steel? Medium/High carbon?

Are you familiar with heat treatment of steels?

 

[cardude2004]

Because these beams did not need to be treated for fire resistance, they were painted to seal them from rusting.

AO

I see. I will go off topic a bit since the previous post did. Can't metal without paint or anything start to rust in just a few days?

 

[ferrari_chris]

Yeah, you see old movie clips of workers building the Empire State building and they sit there feet above the ground and swing their feet while eating there lunch on a steel beam. ...

I heard (or read) somewhere they used to hire Indians (Native Americans) to do that because they had great balance and no fear of heights etc.

Does anyone know anything about this?

 

[Omnis]

Asians still use bamboo scaffolding in construction, and they still have dudes who climb the bamboo without harnesses or any equipment at all.