Jan 13, 2021

Then It Hit Me!


Jobsite safety is no laughing matter, and situational awareness at all times is critical.  This guy needs to up his game.  

Reminds me of one day during construction of the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas.  I was called to the jobsite to devise a repair for an improperly installed embed plate at the end of a large steel beam that supported the climbing tower crane on the inside of the tower core.  I climbed 150 feet up the tower crane, shimmied out to the end of the steel beam, came up with a fix, and then shimmied back and held tight to the crane while an iron worker torch-cut two new holes in the steel plate.  A stream of molten steel cascaded down and then splattered as it hit another steel beam 50 feet directly below.  It was a spectacular sight in the dimly lit tower shaft.  Then I noticed the people shouting below.  The crane's live 480 volt power cable that had been draped over the steel beam below was on fire, ignited by the molten steel drops from above.  Fortunately, they got the iron worker's attention and put out the fire before it burned through the insulation and fried all of us.