I will send a robot up the ladder to perform the work
Contributor
I will send a robot up the ladder to perform the work
Member
Wow, really hard to watch that....what do those guys get paid?
[OP]
Contributor
I read an interview with one of them. He said he got paid $60,000 a year for normal 60 hour weeks. That wouldn't even pay for the constant therapy I'd have to attend.
Member
Wow couldn't do it. My knees are still locked up from watching it!
Contributor
Lee, I work for a communications company and this is either a very old video, or something OSHA would be very interested in.Originally Posted by Lee Schierer
Any time we're 6m above grade, fall arrest equipment is required, it's in the Canada Labour Code. The only time you're exempt from that requirement is when you're installing the fall arrest equipment.
A track type arrest rail would be standard, the block with lanyard attached travels up and down with you.
When climbing over obstacles or changing ladders, the new arrest lanyard is connected before the old one is removed.
Scary video, stupid work practices............Regards, Rod.
Member
Kinda OT, but how in the heck to they erect a tower like this?
Member
I decided a couple of days ago I was going to sell my 28' ladder that too long for me. They don't have to worry me about wanting their job.
Member
I bet the guys in this video would love this job, climb for a few hours, work some and then go home.
Heather
NOT ME!!!!!!!!!
http://wimp.com/wingsuitjumping/
Any thing with sharp teeth eats meat.
Most powertools have sharp teeth.
People are made of meat.
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Matt, I used to be involved in the tower industry, both in the manufacturing as well as construction end, and have personally been at the top of 2000' TV towers.
Since the video features a guyed tower, I’ll address the construction of one.
Tower erection has not changed much in the past 50 years. The tower sections are usually assembled on the ground - typically in 20' segments, and stacked around the base foundation usually in order of erection. In some instances (very large towers or free-standing towers), the individual components are hoisted up and assembled in the air (legs and inner-members).
Most of the time the bottom section of the tower is assembled as one long piece on the ground - for a 2000 foot tower the assembled bottom section (called the "stub" in the industry) will usually be 200' or so. Once assembled, the lowest set of guy wires are attached to the tower stub, and a road crane is used to stand the stub up on the base foundation. Usually something in the 100 – 200 ton range will be used for a large tower. A large, triple drum hoist is used to drag the guy wires out to the inner anchors, using blocks attached to the base of the tower as well as the anchor points. Once the lowest set of guy wires are attached to the anchors and tensioned, the crane will then hoist a gin pole up into the air and climbers will cable it to the top of the stub. Typically a gin pole for a tower this size will be 100' long or thereabouts. After that, the large crane usually departs, but a smaller boom truck will usually be kept on site for moving the sections around.
A second, double drum hoist is set up, with the hoist cables used to raise the gin pole, and raise the individual tower sections.
The top of the gin pole typically has a block that stands out from it a couple of feet, called "the roosterhead". One of the cables from the double drum hoist goes though the roosterhead and back to the ground, with a large counterweight (the headache ball) and hook on the end. This cable – often referred to as “the load line”, is used to pick up the individual tower section for stacking.
The second hoist cable goes to a block at the top of the tower stub, and then down to the bottom of the gin pole. This second cable is referred to as "the jump line". During erection, depending upon the length of the gin pole one or two tower sections are hoisted up and bolted into place, and then the gin pole is “jumped” up to a higher level, in order to repeat the process. This continues until the entire tower is stacked, pausing only when a new guy level is reached so that the guy wires can be attached and tensioned.
Once a tower reaches 200’ during construction, the permanent tower lighting is also installed as new sections are stacked.
Working with the large towers is totally different than small ones; in some instances the larger towers will use up to a 2” bridgestrand material for the guy wires; nothing about them is very light duty.
Once the steel is stacked, the antenna and lines are installed.
It is a fascinating industry; but there are not many large towers being built today, as the growth in telecom related tower market is in the wireless phone market (smaller towers or monopoles - usually 200’ or less). The “heyday” of the broadcast market was in the 70’s and 80’s, when a lot of high wattage TV stations were being built before cable and satellite became the norm. Two of the primary companies that used to be involved with large tower construction were Kline Iron and Steel (based in SC) and Stainless, Inc. (based in PA).
Member
"World's Toughest Fixes" on the National Geographic Channel did an episode where they replaced the antenna on top of a 2,000 foot communications tower. You get to see the jin-pole / jumping in action during the lift. I'm sure you can find the full episode online somewhere, but this 5-min edit shows it pretty well:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.co...ideos/06097_00
Like some others, I have done quite a bit of mountaineering, rock, and ice climbing. The heights didn't bother me in the original video, but the lack of protection or safety system did. Lightening, strong winds, etc are all a possibility...I just don't get it. As anyone who's done any form of climbing will tell you, climbing up is not the dangerous part, its climbing down.
Contributor
Had a friend that moonlighted climbing radio towers and he charged by the foot. The dude that climbed that tower could retire now based on what my friend charged.
My three favorite things are the Oxford comma, irony and missed opportunities
The problem with humanity is: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and God-like technology. Edward O. Wilson
Member
there isn't enough money in the whole world to induce me to do that
Contributor
That video looked like they took an elevator all the way up.. or did they just edit out all the climbing parts?
Member
I want to reply to this at length, however...
I have to puke.
I am never wrong.
Well...I thought I was wrong once...but I was mistaken.
Member
I do a fair amount of high-angle work, mostly on rock, but I do a little bit of structural access as well. Fall protection is a big thing, and the regulatory types I've run across would be citing those folks for not using fall protection. Yes, it can be a pain in the butt, but all it takes is one good gust and if you're not attached you become detached, in which case you have some time to consider the errors of your ways. The ratty-looking gear is another thing, as is using a large hook on one of those wire-type tower steps. That person ought to know better than to clip onto something like that- those steps are NOT designed as a fall-protection anchorage.
-Engineer, geologist, climber, still going at 51
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