Some of the guys at work...

Redline

Redline

Zorg Expert (I)
British Zeds
Joined
Mar 10, 2015
Points
208
Location
Nuneaton
Model of Z
E89 20i msport
Most of us complain sometimes about our jobs, how difficult it is, the poor equipment, the conditions, how useless some of our colleagues are and how you can't rely on them etc.
We've all seen tv programs of construction work, moving and lifting big heavy stuff and wonder at how easy they make it look. But here are some videos of some of our guys doing their day job.

This one is only at 117m high and the antenna weighs in at only 2.2tonnes. They'll be doing some at 390m later this year.

(4 mins)


(22 mins)

http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=845&pageid=3224

So - who wants a new job? :whistle:
 
I would be up for that if I was back in my 20's, used to build hanging scaffolding at 80 mtrs plus.
Did not have a chopper to bring the kit up though, you were lucky if there was a crane available.
 
BTW, love the high tec hooks the guys have got to grab the cable .... ;)
 
Redline said:
Most of us complain sometimes about our jobs, how difficult it is, the poor equipment, the conditions, how useless some of our colleagues are and how you can't rely on them etc.
We've all seen tv programs of construction work, moving and lifting big heavy stuff and wonder at how easy they make it look. But here are some videos of some of our guys doing their day job.

This one is only at 117m high and the antenna weighs in at only 2.2tonnes. They'll be doing some at 390m later this year.

(4 mins)


(22 mins)

http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=845&pageid=3224

So - who wants a new job? :whistle:
Click to expand...
Great views. You wouldn't want to be dropping your nuts and bolts, could take a while to retrieve. I'll stick to my job TVM, to much effort going on there :arghh:
 
hard top said:
Don't make me laugh, the chopper dropped them off up there and picked them back up again.
No climbing involved ....
Click to expand...
No climbing probably - They normally use a basket, but on 100m it might very well be a climb.
 
hard top said:
BTW, love the high tec hooks the guys have got to grab the cable .... ;)
Click to expand...
Its purpose is to ground the load and helicopter - if they didn't anyone just grabbing the rope would get an electrical shock. Notice the hook has got cable attached to it.
 
Oops, thank you, learn something new every day as they say, I would not have known as we did not have choppers .... ;)
 
Can't stand heights...
 
G4FUJ said:
Can't stand heights...
Click to expand...

When you are young (and stupid) you think you are indestructible and want to show what you are made of.
When I think back now to that time, I get sweaty palms.
Money was bloody good though .... :)
 
G4FUJ said:
Can't stand heights...
Click to expand...
It’s an acquired taste. These guys get a buzz from it.
Having said that, it is a supremely hazardous place to work. The height. The possibility of being cooked like a chicken in a microwave. Several tons of metal swinging about your head. A helicopter just a few feet further away.
There are some documented instances of this going tragically wrong. On top of that, going to the loo is potentially several hours away.
These guys teach the fire service on how to do rescues at height.
We recently had a fire at the top of a much taller mast. Guys like this fixed it in sub-zero temperatures and stiff winds. They’re as brave as deep sea divers...
 
Redline said:
It’s an acquired taste. These guys get a buzz from it.
Having said that, it is a supremely hazardous place to work. The height. The possibility of being cooked like a chicken in a microwave. Several tons of metal swinging about your head. A helicopter just a few feet further away.
There are some documented instances of this going tragically wrong. On top of that, going to the loo is potentially several hours away.
These guys teach the fire service on how to do rescues at height.
We recently had a fire at the top of a much taller mast. Guys like this fixed it in sub-zero temperatures and stiff winds. They’re as brave as deep sea divers...
Click to expand...
Indeed Ian, these guys do this for a living so it makes sense to be trained by people that are good at what they do.
 
I get dizzy on a thick pile rug.

It wouldn't be nuts and bolts the people underneath would need to worry about, it's the fact that I would sh*t myself.

There are not enough harnesses and hooks in the world to get me up there, I am not good in a cherry picker at 12m high let alone 10 x that.
I suppose if you can work at 100m high, then 350 metres is just a better view and longer to get there.
 
Redline said:
It’s an acquired taste.
Click to expand...

It is indeed and macho to some. (I thought so at the time)
Used to build hanging scaffolding at 80 + meters, you would attache a 2 mtr pipe to a 6 mtr pipe to form an L then slide down and sit on it while more pipe was lowered to you, praying that you had secured it properly (unwritten law, you put it together, you go down it)
The safety harness was useless at this point as the rope was only about 1 mtr long, and anyway, what are you going to attache it to?

Sweaty palm time again just posting this .... :nailbiting:
 
hard top said:
Sweaty palm time again just posting this .... :nailbiting:
Click to expand...

I did a job in a plating shop. Hydrochloric Acid and Cyanide. Get that wrong and you have just a short while longer than it takes to fall off a mast. Scary stuff.
 
Redline said:
Hydrochloric Acid and Cyanide
Click to expand...

In the oil & gas biz they use what is called 'Mud Acid' a mixture of hydrofluoric acid [HF] and hydrochloric acid [HCl]
We had special rubber lined tanks to store it and it was delivered by special tanker trucks from Germany, can't get the stuff over here in Holland.
This stuff melts glass so the only way to see when the tank was getting full was to stand on top and look in the open hatch.
I signaled to the tanker driver to shut down pump but he did not see me (idiot was doing something else)
I jumped off the tank and could not care if I broke every bone in my body as this stuff spewed out the open hatch and took all the paint off the tank.

This stuff is used for fracking so you get an idea of what kind of crap could end up in our drinking water.
Its reportedly already a problem in the USA as company's try to squeeze as much out of a well as possible.
 
Forgot to add, had a colleague who got covered in this stuff while working on a land rig, fortunately missed his face but his chest and arms look like the surface of the moon.
 
I'm regularly at 100ft - 200ft inspecting crane jibs but at 61 and with arthritic joints I don't have too long left before handing over to the young bucks. Even climbing a 30ft vertical ladder is quite painful so there's no way I could tackle one of those antenna's.

The highest I've personally climbed up a vertical ladder was up a 75mtr wind turbine. These weren't too bad because you're inside a tube and protected from the wind and rain. Biggest risk to overcome is oil/grease on the ladder rungs.

Height safety equipment is mandatory ie harness and lanyard, but even so, if you slip, even though you can only fall just over 2mtrs the stresses a 16-17 stone guy such as me would experience would hospitalise me.

Thankfully I've always managed to hold on tightly
 
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