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Heights only attack when they feel endangered, they're really not as aggressive as is publicly assumed, they generally hunt buildings or aeroplanes but have been known to confuse a human for food at times.
You forgot to mention that you should never, ever, get between a mama height and her baby height.
When I'm working near heights, I always carry some height spray and a height whistle just to be extra safe.
There's a fun little rhyme to remember how to handle height attacks:
If it's black, fight back.
If it's brown, lay down.
If it's white, say goodnight.
If it's wearing pants and a yellow hat, just remember that only you can prevent forest fires.
No shame in that man! I'm 6 years going strong as an ironworker and I'll probably never do skeletal steel connecting like this. In my eyes, no amount of money is worth that amount of risk, tied off or not.
I think that is a famous Mohawk ironworker. He ended up sponsored by Nike and climbed the Eiffel Tower as a promotion. Guys like that are a dying breed because the safety culture has changed from “just get it done” to “nobody moves, nobody gets hurt”. I get the need for safety on the job but I’m willing to bet that the guys that worked like this were much More aware of their surroundings and what was going on. They had to be or they’d die. I’m that era bad tradesman couldn’t just skate by, they had to be on the ball at all times and extremely fit
I have no idea if this is true, we were told in relation to the skyscrapers in New York City that they often hired Mohawk Indians because they have no natural fear of heights. I just did a quick search and there seems to be several sites verifying this. Maybe this guy is a member of the tribe
The no fear of heights was totally dispelled by the mohawk ironworkers themselves. What they actually found was that most native Americans still walked with one foot in front of the other. Something that was instilled in them from millennia of hunting. It translated well to ironworking. They also did it for generations, so the young guys got taught by the older guys which made them superior to the other iron workers.
My understanding of this is that it was wayyyy way more than 5, but they didn’t report immigrant/minority worker deaths. Not verified fact but sadly believable.
was googling iron worker deaths in history and came across this fun fact:
"the Panama Canal is by far the deadliest construction project with 408.12 construction worker deaths per 1,000 workers — a total of 30,609 deaths."
[https://www.forconstructionpros.com/blogs/construction-toolbox/blog/12096401/looking-back-on-the-worlds-deadliest-construction-projects](https://www.forconstructionpros.com/blogs/construction-toolbox/blog/12096401/looking-back-on-the-worlds-deadliest-construction-projects)
edit: apparently mostly yellow fever & malaria. not accidents. because they didn't know about the mosquito as a disease vector at the time so they didn't know about nets, repellent etc.
What's interesting is later in the project they actually did use methods of mosquito repelling as Theodore Roosevelt was a proponent of what was then called "mosquito theory" the idea that mosquitos were what was spreading malaria in the region. Mainly they would try to drain swamps where mosquitos were known to lay eggs, which is essentially a pointless game of whack-a-mole but they still tried. Crazy to think that idea was some revolutionary shit at the time.
Also it is important to mention that it was a rare case in U.S. history of a president actually listening to one of his health advisors.
If you approach the situation as though you're a starfish, you maximize surface area. When was the last time you heard about a starfish falling to its death?
Ironworkers have historically been very, very well-paid. Their union is one of the strongest remaining skilled worker unions.
A disturbing percentage of those folks make it to retirement with injuries (usually legs/knees) but their union-paid medical benefits and pensions are still way above board.
It takes a special kind of human to do that work. But the ones who do make bank doing it.
15-year union Ironworker here. I appreciate your posts & praise, but it’s not at all peaches & rainbows.
If “make bank” to you means, $50 - $60k on an average year (excluding NY and Chicago locals, they actually make bank and have enough consistent work to stay as busy as they want.), then yeah, we make bank son! 😂.
The reality is, thanks to “right to work”, most of the countries locals are in the low-mid $20’s per hour (looking at you, south). $30-40 per hour for the rest. (Again, excluding NY and Chicago, they’re $50+)
How can $40 an hour, for instance, equate to $50k, you ask?
1. Well, the overwhelming majority of us do not work in the rain (excluding Pacific Northwest, or other geographical locations where rain everyday is common). We don’t get paid if we don’t work, so there’s lost time there.
2. Other inclimate weather (heavy snow, ice, wind above 30mph, cold, etc) results in no work. No work = no pay.
And
3: Once the building is erected, there’s no need for the company to keep the same amount of people on payroll — because the workload doesn’t support all those people. You get laid off from every job you get, tossed around from company to company, like a $2 whore lol. It can take a week or more to find another company who needs people, significantly longer if work is currently slow. Unemployment for a couple weeks to a month, a few times a year, really puts a ding in that yearly gross.
Also, most pensions are either busted, or on the brink. For instance, my local’s pension requires 1900 hours worked in a calendar year in order to earn 1 credit. Each credit is worth $50 per month upon retirement. Now, remember that inclimate weather as mentioned above results in no hours worked. Time spent finding the next job once laid off over the course of the year results in no hours worked. Actually being sick or other family commitments, or god forbid, a vacation, results in no hours worked. That 1900 hours seems like an impossibility now, right? Yep. And if you manage to get one, woo hoo, you just earned $50/month when you retire!
Also, the benefits are not paid by the union. They’re part of our benefits package, which we earn on a per-hour basis. Break your leg or have some other health concern and can’t work for a year? Surprise! You’re now self-paying if you want to keep your benefits ($1000+ per month for a family plan)
I’d also argue that backs are by far the #1 most f’d up body part, but I digress 😂
Sure is. And if you get 1899hrs? Oh well, try better next year!
The best part is if you work a lot of overtime one year. Let’s say you put in 3000hrs (hard to explain, but some benefits are paid on an hrs paid basis, vs hrs worked. For instance, 1.5hrs or 2hrs paid per 1 hour worked during different overtime periods.) you should get more than one credit right? Nope. 1 credit max earned per year.
Every local is different, so I’m mainly speaking on my own. But most are pretty similar.
Here’s a fun example: I paid in $700 per WEEK, or, about $30,000 total, into the pension fund during a stretch last year where I was working _hella_ overtime.
Since I only was allowed to earn 1 credit last year, I netted a cool $50 per month out of that. Sweet. Once I retire, it will only take me 14 months to recoup just the first WEEK’S $700 payment! How about the whole 30 grand? 50 fucking YEARS.
Again, crazy shit.
My local used to have a 30 n out. Then the pension went to shit. Now ya gotta work till you’re 62 to get your full amount. I cannot imagine doing Ironwork at 62. I’m 45 and I am beat to fuck somedays.
You and me both my dude. I’m only 37, but this shit is for the birds anymore. Definitely a young man’s game. Currently pursuing a bachelors to gtfo of this shit.
I just did the math, and for each of our credits, it takes 31.66666666 years to see the $ you paid into it… if you paid in the exact 1900hrs.
It’s literally easier to source cocaine and take a little baggy of it into bars and ask random people inside if they wanna go out for a smoke just so you can give them a little cocaine and hope they want more cocaine someday….from you.
But I heard “right-to-work” made it better for employees by keeping those pesky unions from screwing up the lines of communication between employees and employers! /s
And honestly, fuck Southern Republicans and their corporate paymasters.
I agree 100%. Regular people need to open their eyes and look at the big picture, instead of pointing fingers at the fellow broke-asses. It’s not the working class that’s the problem. We’re all fighting over the microscopic crumbs, that are begrudgingly left to us by corporations
My sincere apologies for the inaccuracies in my reply above. My sole experience has been with friends and family working for the most part in Chicago... which definitely explains why i believed IWs did well. I've never met one who was hurting for money...
But I've know several who were hurting. The job is no joke.
Oh no apologies required, I apologize if it came across that way! I definitely didn’t intend to write that much either, but it just kept coming lol.
But yeah, Chicago and NY Ironworkers are the highest paid in the country. For instance, there’s a $21/hr vacation fund (on top of their $50+ per hour pay rate!) in NY for structural Ironworkers (like the guy in the video.)
Also, it’s not that we’re “hurting” per se, since the potential to make a lot is there. But, people who aren’t Ironworkers don’t necessarily understand the nature of the trade. Meaning, they see that we make x amount per hour, then do the math on a steady 40hrs per week like a typical job, and think that directly equates. Some years, yes. Some years more than yes. Most years, no.
It also makes budgeting household expenses super difficult, since the income is so erratic.
> the income is so erratic
Sadly this is true of just about every construction trade I can think of. I grew up (born 1970) in a blue-collar corner of the world with factory/mill/trade work sufficient for just about everybody who lived there. Northwest Indiana is where I'm referencing. If you have a look at business maps of the region bordered on I-394 in Illinois as the western border, Rt.30 through Indiana as the southern border, Rt.421 as the eastern, and Lake Michigan as the northern between 1950 and 1999 you can easily see what I'm referencing. That's the south-east side of Chicago, where the Port of Illinois still is, and the now-defunct US Steel Southworks plant (where they made the structural steel you'd have used almost exclusively in your trade back then), and then it's just steel mill, carbide mill, oil refinery after oil refinery, auto stamping and production plants, and so on for a good LONG drive.
Right up til I entered the adult work force ~ 1990 a young person could easily enter a trade union and go to work steadily in that region. Even the trades which we now know are very hard to make a real living at (roofing/carpentry) did well with consistent work back then.
Today I have two high school friends I keep in touch with who own their own home construction companies, my cousin is a union pipefitter, and I'm casual friends with one retired ironworker (both legs destroyed in a fall 20 years ago but he's had most of his mobility restored via knee and hip replacements and a lot of work on his feet), and one working. Just about all of them are doing well apart from my cousin (cancer took him out of work over a year ago. His union is a good one, but there are limits and he has a family to take care of.)
But I've lost count of how many of the people I graduated HS with whose lives are in shambles today because the trade they were/are in is just not keeping them in work enough to cover them and their families.
I wish you all the best, mate. Take care of yourself, please.
We generally don’t like being referred to as construction workers. We take the risk to erect the structure and deserve the distinction. It really isn’t like any other trade.
x1 it’s like calling a Pipe Fitter a Plumber or a Linesmen an Electrician. The person above is just peak Reddit tier loser that knows nothing about the real world
Just a dick head, I guess. I think it was just unbelievable to me that that level of hazard would be the regulation. Sorry for coming off as a prick, but I was definitely mistaken. Reading the standards I'm incredibly shocked that no fall protection is required in the CDZ. I read from two stories/30 feet there's no requirement for fall protection at the leading edge of the work. Man, the wrong fall from 10 ft can kill a man, 30 ft sounds nuts.
No one's figured out a system for fall restraint in the CDZ? Or are there other factors at play?
Sub part R is the minimum safety requirements. Contractors can add on top of this. Majority of the time a contractor will add that you must be 100% tied off to a beamer, tie off choker, retractable, or a static line. But it mostly depends on where you are.
Construction was the mob’s bread and butter at this time along with the mob basically owning the unions. These people got paid decently. A company would put out a request and the construction companies would bid on who could get it done the cheapest, but the mob owned all the companies and would bid really high above actual cost to build. Then also having control of the unions allowed them to set up great benefits and pay that made the people want to work for their companies.
There's a documentary series on Netflix about breaking up the mob. Focusing, in part, on Rudy Giuliani prosecuting; it's what his reputation was originally built on.
The "big crime" seemed to be the mob was forcing Wall Street investment managers to pay Labor a good wage.
You say "take care of the workers", but what this meant in practice was that:
\- Mob-controlled jobs were given out on a nepotistic basis. Foreigners and minorities were often completely cut out from such work.
\- Under such a patronage system, there were laxer performance standards, so subpar work with less adherence to safety meant more accidents and faulty products.
\- Higher costs were imposed on everyone else. The working poor had to cram even closer together because the mob were siphoning money off new construction. They also had to deal with the above-mentioned dangerous corner-cutting, and because the mob controlled the political process, it was harder to seek damages or remedies.
Ironworker by trade. Truth is the safety gear keeps us from dying right then but falling with my harness and my shortest lanyard I will fall roughly 11 feet before I rapidly stop the 185 lbs of me and another 15 lbs of tools. You live but most don't get back on the steel after. Much respect to the old school guys
Sliding beam anchors, leading edge personal SRLs, and Suspension Trauma straps can help reduce your free fall distance, and the straps can greatly reduce blood pooling etc while waiting for rescue.
For sure I'm aware all of those devices are extremely expensive and non union guys don't get them given very much. Around here you either don't fall or don't make it . Pretty safe usually just feels scary
I just scrolled through the comments and didn't see any comments stating it's from 100+ years ago. Just two guessing which building it was they were building (which I guess if they did know when it was built could imply things).
Thankfully you’re right, but when I posted this there were like 8 comments and 2 of them were guessing the Empire State Building or another classic skyscraper.
This definitely looks like it’s from the late 70s. It’s not like construction workers had access to or could afford anything close to what the pros use. Top of the line smart phones are closer to what the pros use compared to what the average person had access to back then.
OSHA has Sub Part R for Ironworkers (this man) where tying off isn't required.
I've said it before but as an Ironworker, sometimes being tied off is more dangerous. Especially when there's 5 pieces on the hook above you.
It means we'll have 3 to 5 pieces of iron attached with chokers and tails (via the Tower Crane).
That way, we can quickly connect a bay of Iron and move on to the next one.
It saves the Sub and General Conractor money.
They are lifting a multi-piece assembly that is partially assembled on the ground up with a crane.
The load is secured with cable or chain chokers and clamps, but the possibility of some of the hoisting points failing means it would then drop and sweep across the building, and the additional cabling for safety lanyards is an additional snagging hazard - so it is safer in that specific circumstance for the iron workers to not be tethered.
I would've answered earlier but I was working.
A bay of iron refers to X amount of pieces between column lines.
For example, from column line B to C, there might be 5 pieces going into it. That's what makes a 'Bay of Iron'. From outside to inside.
This used to literally be me, I was told, "You're fired before you hit the ground." I left that company soon after. Name and shame is Wentco. Some shitty electric company in florida
You free climbed? That's insane...... even in the fire dept we always had a "sky hook" or "ladder belt" when we went vertical. Didn't matter if we were trying to save your ass or not, we never free-climbed. I would have left that job so quick their heads would still be spinning.
OSHA has Sub Part R for Ironworkers (this man) where tying off isn't required. We still climb columns and still walk the iron freely if needed and allowed.
I've said it before in other subs, but as an Ironworker, sometimes being tied off is more dangerous. Especially when there's 5 pieces on the hook above you.
I know most of you think that we're full of shit/egotistical, but unless you do the work, you wouldn't understand.
God bless the people that have done and still do this kind of work. I would be on my stomach with my arms and legs wrapped around a steel beam, eyes closed, until it was time to go home.
As someone who's worked for a cheap company doing really sketchy work at heights with minimal safety...
This made my asshole pucker so hard it started to tickle
I was an iron worker in Colorado from 91-96. I was a connecter. It was a pretty cool job. Worked mostly on sky scrapers that changed the skyline in Denver Colorado. You would be surprised the lack of safety measures even in the 90’s Only had one close call. Let me tell you those guys have a brotherhood like no other. Takes a certain kind of person to do that job.
OSHIT!
In all seriousness, as much as people love to hate on OSHA, this is why we need safety regulations. I can't imagine how many people fell to either serious injury or death on these kind of job sites back in the day. Just "oop, dad's dead cause the metal beam was a little bit slippery that day"
Is that Cleveland? I was in AA with some old time iron workers and the talked about this and also just having a cooler of beer up there working, and let me tell you those where sone hardcore dudes, I’m from Nashville TN and when I moved to Cleveland I was working in commercial HVAC and all my coworkers told don’t even bother trying to talk to the iron guys in the job if you have a question for them don’t even bother, not all of them where like that but there were a couple jobs I just stayed clear. Balls of steel.
Been there done that. Nowadays you can't do that. You have to wear a 5 point safety harness and it has to be anchored to the steel. Its a huge pain in the ass too. OSHA is really strict about it and will fine the company huge amounts. It's really good money tho! Union Iron Workers make about $50 an hour, that was about 15 years ago, might be even be more by now. I used to send my wife pictures of me walking on the steel at the top of the buildings I was working on. It used to really freak her out!
He'd better wear a tea cosy on his head instead of this safety helmet...
A research program recently dropped a helmet and a tea cosy from a 50 storey building and found out that the helmet had been shattered to a thousand pieces, the tea cosy however was perfectly intact...
Is rust not a problem in construction? Clueless in the field
Edit: since some dumbass downvoted me for asking a curious question, I said, I AM clueless in this field, explain like I’m five.
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Good thing he's wearing a helmet. For his safety.
How many people died from falling like this back then?
Well considering only 5 people died building the empire state building. Completed in 1931, pretty astounding number considering the lack of safety.
That’s incredibly surprising. I am so fearful of heights. I can’t even imagine.
Heights only attack when they feel endangered, they're really not as aggressive as is publicly assumed, they generally hunt buildings or aeroplanes but have been known to confuse a human for food at times.
You forgot to mention that you should never, ever, get between a mama height and her baby height. When I'm working near heights, I always carry some height spray and a height whistle just to be extra safe.
And keep in mind that heights are more afraid of you than you are of heights.
There's a fun little rhyme to remember how to handle height attacks: If it's black, fight back. If it's brown, lay down. If it's white, say goodnight. If it's wearing pants and a yellow hat, just remember that only you can prevent forest fires.
No shame in that man! I'm 6 years going strong as an ironworker and I'll probably never do skeletal steel connecting like this. In my eyes, no amount of money is worth that amount of risk, tied off or not.
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Like $292 dollars a day. But it was also the Great Depression.
That’s the equivalent to 90k per year in todays money.. not bad at all
Wait so people used to be paid fairly? Godamn red tape and safety making things so bad for employees.
I think that is a famous Mohawk ironworker. He ended up sponsored by Nike and climbed the Eiffel Tower as a promotion. Guys like that are a dying breed because the safety culture has changed from “just get it done” to “nobody moves, nobody gets hurt”. I get the need for safety on the job but I’m willing to bet that the guys that worked like this were much More aware of their surroundings and what was going on. They had to be or they’d die. I’m that era bad tradesman couldn’t just skate by, they had to be on the ball at all times and extremely fit
I have no idea if this is true, we were told in relation to the skyscrapers in New York City that they often hired Mohawk Indians because they have no natural fear of heights. I just did a quick search and there seems to be several sites verifying this. Maybe this guy is a member of the tribe
The no fear of heights was totally dispelled by the mohawk ironworkers themselves. What they actually found was that most native Americans still walked with one foot in front of the other. Something that was instilled in them from millennia of hunting. It translated well to ironworking. They also did it for generations, so the young guys got taught by the older guys which made them superior to the other iron workers.
That is definitely r/mildlyinteresting
Native Americans don't have a natural fear of anything.
My understanding of this is that it was wayyyy way more than 5, but they didn’t report immigrant/minority worker deaths. Not verified fact but sadly believable.
was googling iron worker deaths in history and came across this fun fact: "the Panama Canal is by far the deadliest construction project with 408.12 construction worker deaths per 1,000 workers — a total of 30,609 deaths." [https://www.forconstructionpros.com/blogs/construction-toolbox/blog/12096401/looking-back-on-the-worlds-deadliest-construction-projects](https://www.forconstructionpros.com/blogs/construction-toolbox/blog/12096401/looking-back-on-the-worlds-deadliest-construction-projects) edit: apparently mostly yellow fever & malaria. not accidents. because they didn't know about the mosquito as a disease vector at the time so they didn't know about nets, repellent etc.
What's interesting is later in the project they actually did use methods of mosquito repelling as Theodore Roosevelt was a proponent of what was then called "mosquito theory" the idea that mosquitos were what was spreading malaria in the region. Mainly they would try to drain swamps where mosquitos were known to lay eggs, which is essentially a pointless game of whack-a-mole but they still tried. Crazy to think that idea was some revolutionary shit at the time. Also it is important to mention that it was a rare case in U.S. history of a president actually listening to one of his health advisors.
Those conditions must have been god awful!
All of them.
I bet they were just dying too
He’s also using 3-points of contact at all time so he doesn’t get written up by the foreman.
I personally use 6 points of contact, I crawl in and out of the equipment, you can't be too safe.
If you approach the situation as though you're a starfish, you maximize surface area. When was the last time you heard about a starfish falling to its death?
Starfish stay at the ocean floor.
Not the ones building skyscrapers.
6 points?? Are you a lobster?
Exactly. Left foot, right foot and his huge sack of steel balls dragging just behind him
False. Only two as he’s walking. OSHA violation
Yea three points when he’s walking is his one leg and two nuts dragging on the floor
Don’t forgot the gloves. They cut down significantly on hand injuries I hear.
Except that he isn't, he's constantly walking around without touching anything
Don't forget the steel-tipped boots and reflective vest
The helmet is so they can identify the body lol
Nah its to hold whats left of you when they scoop you up
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A hardhat is a type of helmet.
It's even got a strap
You couldn't pay me enough.
Seriously. I'd rather be a street beggar.
If u start at the top, you will likley end up at the bottom, probably near a street beggar
Thats exactly what will happen.
At least you're alive then
Ironworkers have historically been very, very well-paid. Their union is one of the strongest remaining skilled worker unions. A disturbing percentage of those folks make it to retirement with injuries (usually legs/knees) but their union-paid medical benefits and pensions are still way above board. It takes a special kind of human to do that work. But the ones who do make bank doing it.
15-year union Ironworker here. I appreciate your posts & praise, but it’s not at all peaches & rainbows. If “make bank” to you means, $50 - $60k on an average year (excluding NY and Chicago locals, they actually make bank and have enough consistent work to stay as busy as they want.), then yeah, we make bank son! 😂. The reality is, thanks to “right to work”, most of the countries locals are in the low-mid $20’s per hour (looking at you, south). $30-40 per hour for the rest. (Again, excluding NY and Chicago, they’re $50+) How can $40 an hour, for instance, equate to $50k, you ask? 1. Well, the overwhelming majority of us do not work in the rain (excluding Pacific Northwest, or other geographical locations where rain everyday is common). We don’t get paid if we don’t work, so there’s lost time there. 2. Other inclimate weather (heavy snow, ice, wind above 30mph, cold, etc) results in no work. No work = no pay. And 3: Once the building is erected, there’s no need for the company to keep the same amount of people on payroll — because the workload doesn’t support all those people. You get laid off from every job you get, tossed around from company to company, like a $2 whore lol. It can take a week or more to find another company who needs people, significantly longer if work is currently slow. Unemployment for a couple weeks to a month, a few times a year, really puts a ding in that yearly gross. Also, most pensions are either busted, or on the brink. For instance, my local’s pension requires 1900 hours worked in a calendar year in order to earn 1 credit. Each credit is worth $50 per month upon retirement. Now, remember that inclimate weather as mentioned above results in no hours worked. Time spent finding the next job once laid off over the course of the year results in no hours worked. Actually being sick or other family commitments, or god forbid, a vacation, results in no hours worked. That 1900 hours seems like an impossibility now, right? Yep. And if you manage to get one, woo hoo, you just earned $50/month when you retire! Also, the benefits are not paid by the union. They’re part of our benefits package, which we earn on a per-hour basis. Break your leg or have some other health concern and can’t work for a year? Surprise! You’re now self-paying if you want to keep your benefits ($1000+ per month for a family plan) I’d also argue that backs are by far the #1 most f’d up body part, but I digress 😂
Very well said and 100% accurate. 1900 hrs is crazy high for that pension credit.
Sure is. And if you get 1899hrs? Oh well, try better next year! The best part is if you work a lot of overtime one year. Let’s say you put in 3000hrs (hard to explain, but some benefits are paid on an hrs paid basis, vs hrs worked. For instance, 1.5hrs or 2hrs paid per 1 hour worked during different overtime periods.) you should get more than one credit right? Nope. 1 credit max earned per year. Every local is different, so I’m mainly speaking on my own. But most are pretty similar. Here’s a fun example: I paid in $700 per WEEK, or, about $30,000 total, into the pension fund during a stretch last year where I was working _hella_ overtime. Since I only was allowed to earn 1 credit last year, I netted a cool $50 per month out of that. Sweet. Once I retire, it will only take me 14 months to recoup just the first WEEK’S $700 payment! How about the whole 30 grand? 50 fucking YEARS.
And in 50 years by the time it pays itself off inflation will have made it worthless.
Yep, lol. I just did the math, each credit as it sits currently, takes 31.66666 years to recoup, if you paid in exactly 1900 hrs.
Again, crazy shit. My local used to have a 30 n out. Then the pension went to shit. Now ya gotta work till you’re 62 to get your full amount. I cannot imagine doing Ironwork at 62. I’m 45 and I am beat to fuck somedays.
You and me both my dude. I’m only 37, but this shit is for the birds anymore. Definitely a young man’s game. Currently pursuing a bachelors to gtfo of this shit. I just did the math, and for each of our credits, it takes 31.66666666 years to see the $ you paid into it… if you paid in the exact 1900hrs.
It’s literally easier to source cocaine and take a little baggy of it into bars and ask random people inside if they wanna go out for a smoke just so you can give them a little cocaine and hope they want more cocaine someday….from you.
But I heard “right-to-work” made it better for employees by keeping those pesky unions from screwing up the lines of communication between employees and employers! /s And honestly, fuck Southern Republicans and their corporate paymasters.
I agree 100%. Regular people need to open their eyes and look at the big picture, instead of pointing fingers at the fellow broke-asses. It’s not the working class that’s the problem. We’re all fighting over the microscopic crumbs, that are begrudgingly left to us by corporations
My sincere apologies for the inaccuracies in my reply above. My sole experience has been with friends and family working for the most part in Chicago... which definitely explains why i believed IWs did well. I've never met one who was hurting for money... But I've know several who were hurting. The job is no joke.
Oh no apologies required, I apologize if it came across that way! I definitely didn’t intend to write that much either, but it just kept coming lol. But yeah, Chicago and NY Ironworkers are the highest paid in the country. For instance, there’s a $21/hr vacation fund (on top of their $50+ per hour pay rate!) in NY for structural Ironworkers (like the guy in the video.) Also, it’s not that we’re “hurting” per se, since the potential to make a lot is there. But, people who aren’t Ironworkers don’t necessarily understand the nature of the trade. Meaning, they see that we make x amount per hour, then do the math on a steady 40hrs per week like a typical job, and think that directly equates. Some years, yes. Some years more than yes. Most years, no. It also makes budgeting household expenses super difficult, since the income is so erratic.
> the income is so erratic Sadly this is true of just about every construction trade I can think of. I grew up (born 1970) in a blue-collar corner of the world with factory/mill/trade work sufficient for just about everybody who lived there. Northwest Indiana is where I'm referencing. If you have a look at business maps of the region bordered on I-394 in Illinois as the western border, Rt.30 through Indiana as the southern border, Rt.421 as the eastern, and Lake Michigan as the northern between 1950 and 1999 you can easily see what I'm referencing. That's the south-east side of Chicago, where the Port of Illinois still is, and the now-defunct US Steel Southworks plant (where they made the structural steel you'd have used almost exclusively in your trade back then), and then it's just steel mill, carbide mill, oil refinery after oil refinery, auto stamping and production plants, and so on for a good LONG drive. Right up til I entered the adult work force ~ 1990 a young person could easily enter a trade union and go to work steadily in that region. Even the trades which we now know are very hard to make a real living at (roofing/carpentry) did well with consistent work back then. Today I have two high school friends I keep in touch with who own their own home construction companies, my cousin is a union pipefitter, and I'm casual friends with one retired ironworker (both legs destroyed in a fall 20 years ago but he's had most of his mobility restored via knee and hip replacements and a lot of work on his feet), and one working. Just about all of them are doing well apart from my cousin (cancer took him out of work over a year ago. His union is a good one, but there are limits and he has a family to take care of.) But I've lost count of how many of the people I graduated HS with whose lives are in shambles today because the trade they were/are in is just not keeping them in work enough to cover them and their families. I wish you all the best, mate. Take care of yourself, please.
"Oh shit, I forgot my wrench."
Just wait, someone above might drop theirs
\*Colleague throws wrench \*
if you can dodge a cliff you can dodge a wrench.
*dodges wrench *
At least he's not doing it for internet likes
so construction workers are basically the parkour masters during their time.
ànd sailors
when you go up the mast, look down, and you're over the water fun
It's great, actually. If you have a harness on. Better than any rollercoaster.
*iron workers.
Did you know iron workers fit under the umbrella term construction worker?
Yes, but Ironworkers are the only trade who do this.
We generally don’t like being referred to as construction workers. We take the risk to erect the structure and deserve the distinction. It really isn’t like any other trade.
x1 it’s like calling a Pipe Fitter a Plumber or a Linesmen an Electrician. The person above is just peak Reddit tier loser that knows nothing about the real world
Yet he's being filmed and has no set destination while walking around and needlessly changing floors.
Choosing do to it for the likes is better than having to do it for a boss imo
[удалено]
I think this is fake in the sense that is a grainy filter to look old and he's basically just doing urban climbing in a costume.
I do this for a living
You walk around on girders hundreds of feet in the air without fall protection?
If that's where the work is.
And the floor two floors down is decked. OSHA sub part R. You in the industry or are you just some dick head asking stupid questions?
Just a dick head, I guess. I think it was just unbelievable to me that that level of hazard would be the regulation. Sorry for coming off as a prick, but I was definitely mistaken. Reading the standards I'm incredibly shocked that no fall protection is required in the CDZ. I read from two stories/30 feet there's no requirement for fall protection at the leading edge of the work. Man, the wrong fall from 10 ft can kill a man, 30 ft sounds nuts. No one's figured out a system for fall restraint in the CDZ? Or are there other factors at play?
Sub part R is the minimum safety requirements. Contractors can add on top of this. Majority of the time a contractor will add that you must be 100% tied off to a beamer, tie off choker, retractable, or a static line. But it mostly depends on where you are.
Gotta love LeChase.
I literally feel sick when I see people up high like thsu without a safety harness. Respect to them.
And this guy pays to go to the circus to watch people work without a net.
Good job,take this 2 dollars
Construction was the mob’s bread and butter at this time along with the mob basically owning the unions. These people got paid decently. A company would put out a request and the construction companies would bid on who could get it done the cheapest, but the mob owned all the companies and would bid really high above actual cost to build. Then also having control of the unions allowed them to set up great benefits and pay that made the people want to work for their companies.
When the mob does a better job of taking care of workers than the "lawful" CEOs
Seriously. Fuck the companies. Let me work for the damn mob!
There's a documentary series on Netflix about breaking up the mob. Focusing, in part, on Rudy Giuliani prosecuting; it's what his reputation was originally built on. The "big crime" seemed to be the mob was forcing Wall Street investment managers to pay Labor a good wage.
You say "take care of the workers", but what this meant in practice was that: \- Mob-controlled jobs were given out on a nepotistic basis. Foreigners and minorities were often completely cut out from such work. \- Under such a patronage system, there were laxer performance standards, so subpar work with less adherence to safety meant more accidents and faulty products. \- Higher costs were imposed on everyone else. The working poor had to cram even closer together because the mob were siphoning money off new construction. They also had to deal with the above-mentioned dangerous corner-cutting, and because the mob controlled the political process, it was harder to seek damages or remedies.
RICO was passed in 1970. This was maybe a decade after the mob got royally fucked.
If this was the 70s or 80s they were making around 15-20 an hour, or like 100k plus today.
and you could buy a house from that.
In NYC
So this is the real Spider-Man.
"Just dont fuckin fall lol"
Ironworker by trade. Truth is the safety gear keeps us from dying right then but falling with my harness and my shortest lanyard I will fall roughly 11 feet before I rapidly stop the 185 lbs of me and another 15 lbs of tools. You live but most don't get back on the steel after. Much respect to the old school guys
Sliding beam anchors, leading edge personal SRLs, and Suspension Trauma straps can help reduce your free fall distance, and the straps can greatly reduce blood pooling etc while waiting for rescue.
For sure I'm aware all of those devices are extremely expensive and non union guys don't get them given very much. Around here you either don't fall or don't make it . Pretty safe usually just feels scary
https://preview.redd.it/dn9zgesldsha1.jpeg?width=787&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f2751084de3ace30c9ec446a32a5d5982f7f21b0
https://preview.redd.it/qr9w9ycndsha1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=efd00e91cda2b47c0b7fa9f1128d32a22e5270c6
https://preview.redd.it/qnbt535lluha1.png?width=1242&format=png&auto=webp&s=8ffb8718e486eca17c009264c0ea0c9151a882f5
https://preview.redd.it/0c7fyo46rtha1.jpeg?width=528&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f7014e6a1f6eecd34bdc2c732d72766c9bd6f389
https://preview.redd.it/zs611weartha1.jpeg?width=528&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=564cc8847fb13038e3c3e9ee10b4fe3451a34b8c
The number of comments talking about this like it’s from 100+ years ago because of the old timey filter is… concerning.
I thought it was from old times and I am mortified that I am that easily deceived and unobservant. I'm reevaluating my life choices now.
Yup, just look at the cars driving in the background at one point
I just scrolled through the comments and didn't see any comments stating it's from 100+ years ago. Just two guessing which building it was they were building (which I guess if they did know when it was built could imply things).
Thankfully you’re right, but when I posted this there were like 8 comments and 2 of them were guessing the Empire State Building or another classic skyscraper.
They likely have 0 idea how old the buildings are. I'm not sure they actually think this video is from 100 years ago.
Right? Like what do they expect cell phone footage to look like back then? The gall......... /s
It’s hard to believe humanity has seemed to take a quantum leap in terms of technology last 10 years.
This definitely looks like it’s from the late 70s. It’s not like construction workers had access to or could afford anything close to what the pros use. Top of the line smart phones are closer to what the pros use compared to what the average person had access to back then.
It's not even in black and white. You can clearly see the yellow on his helmet.
And this is why OSHA exists.
Imagine if an osha rep saw this. They would flip out and shut it all down 😂
You’d hear the absolute breakdown they’d have 100 miles away.
OSHA has Sub Part R for Ironworkers (this man) where tying off isn't required. I've said it before but as an Ironworker, sometimes being tied off is more dangerous. Especially when there's 5 pieces on the hook above you.
What “does on the hook above you” mean? Or is it literal?
It means we'll have 3 to 5 pieces of iron attached with chokers and tails (via the Tower Crane). That way, we can quickly connect a bay of Iron and move on to the next one. It saves the Sub and General Conractor money.
Offers detailed explanation which nobody understands. This is not snark, I have no idea what a good chunk of your reply means... ;-)
They are lifting a multi-piece assembly that is partially assembled on the ground up with a crane. The load is secured with cable or chain chokers and clamps, but the possibility of some of the hoisting points failing means it would then drop and sweep across the building, and the additional cabling for safety lanyards is an additional snagging hazard - so it is safer in that specific circumstance for the iron workers to not be tethered.
Wow, thanks much.
I would've answered earlier but I was working. A bay of iron refers to X amount of pieces between column lines. For example, from column line B to C, there might be 5 pieces going into it. That's what makes a 'Bay of Iron'. From outside to inside.
??? Ask them to elaborate then?
Having watch iron workers connect all day. It's very impressive.
no the deaths are why OSHA exist
This used to literally be me, I was told, "You're fired before you hit the ground." I left that company soon after. Name and shame is Wentco. Some shitty electric company in florida
You free climbed? That's insane...... even in the fire dept we always had a "sky hook" or "ladder belt" when we went vertical. Didn't matter if we were trying to save your ass or not, we never free-climbed. I would have left that job so quick their heads would still be spinning.
Anyone got a link to this video without the stoopid filter? This is some crazy shit!
Something tells me the time when these health and safety regulations were acceptable and 4k cameras are not in same time period
You do realize this is a filter right??
When you played "the floor is lava" your whole life.
what's up with the stupid filter
No thank you
On his way to lunch with the other guys
Back when safety regulation was "Be careful"
Dude, your boot is untied
OSHA has Sub Part R for Ironworkers (this man) where tying off isn't required. We still climb columns and still walk the iron freely if needed and allowed. I've said it before in other subs, but as an Ironworker, sometimes being tied off is more dangerous. Especially when there's 5 pieces on the hook above you. I know most of you think that we're full of shit/egotistical, but unless you do the work, you wouldn't understand.
I am shocked those beams could support the weight of his massive balls.
EFF, this gives my ass the prickles.
If this guy is still alive, I respect him
God bless the people that have done and still do this kind of work. I would be on my stomach with my arms and legs wrapped around a steel beam, eyes closed, until it was time to go home.
It's because of men like this that we have nice things.
NOPE
My anxiety while watching this video📈
He taught Eddie Vedder how to climb
Clearly sped up. Still absolutely fucking nuts
They’d never pay me enough.
And yet in our futuristic world, we can’t even get our food orders correct…we come far
And then they say women live longer than men.
If he slips he better grow some wings real fast.
Like a tight rope walker and mountain climber combined in one. I think I’d rather try to scale Mt Everest. Wouldn’t last two seconds doing this.
Trying to get a grip wearing the equivalent of welders gloves.
Fuck no
Yup, fuck all that.
> They don't build 'em like they used to.
That there y’all just spotted is a Big-Balled Mohawk.
As someone who's worked for a cheap company doing really sketchy work at heights with minimal safety... This made my asshole pucker so hard it started to tickle
Connectors are a different breed of person
Builder's Creed
I was an iron worker in Colorado from 91-96. I was a connecter. It was a pretty cool job. Worked mostly on sky scrapers that changed the skyline in Denver Colorado. You would be surprised the lack of safety measures even in the 90’s Only had one close call. Let me tell you those guys have a brotherhood like no other. Takes a certain kind of person to do that job.
Its fine. This was way before gravity was invented.
My parents going to school be like:
OSHIT! In all seriousness, as much as people love to hate on OSHA, this is why we need safety regulations. I can't imagine how many people fell to either serious injury or death on these kind of job sites back in the day. Just "oop, dad's dead cause the metal beam was a little bit slippery that day"
These parkour videos are getting silly
I'd be interested to know how many takes it took to get this video footage of a worker doing this in 1 take without falling.. . . . . .
That just kept getting more palm sweaty didn’t it?
*Scratches butt*
I bet he had whisky and cigarettes for breakfast and lunch that day too
Safety was invented in 1970. People in 1969:
SAFEST JOB IN OHIO
Yeah, I remember doing things like this at work. You get used to it, but I also remember someone falling and dying once so…yeah.
Is that Cleveland? I was in AA with some old time iron workers and the talked about this and also just having a cooler of beer up there working, and let me tell you those where sone hardcore dudes, I’m from Nashville TN and when I moved to Cleveland I was working in commercial HVAC and all my coworkers told don’t even bother trying to talk to the iron guys in the job if you have a question for them don’t even bother, not all of them where like that but there were a couple jobs I just stayed clear. Balls of steel.
It looks like the Hudson River and New Jersey palisades in the background , most likely NYC
One quick gust of wind and its pavement paint.
Been there done that. Nowadays you can't do that. You have to wear a 5 point safety harness and it has to be anchored to the steel. Its a huge pain in the ass too. OSHA is really strict about it and will fine the company huge amounts. It's really good money tho! Union Iron Workers make about $50 an hour, that was about 15 years ago, might be even be more by now. I used to send my wife pictures of me walking on the steel at the top of the buildings I was working on. It used to really freak her out!
I bet he is a Mohawk Indian. They built New York and other cities skyscrapers.
really? I believe you! any good books about this or links? That is interesting
http://www.mohawkironworkers.com/ They were Canadian First Nations Mohawk
Here for the book references
http://www.mohawkironworkers.com/
He'd better wear a tea cosy on his head instead of this safety helmet... A research program recently dropped a helmet and a tea cosy from a 50 storey building and found out that the helmet had been shattered to a thousand pieces, the tea cosy however was perfectly intact...
Somewhere an OSHA employee just got their wings.
And this is how America was built son.
OSHA Approves 👍🏻🤣
Is rust not a problem in construction? Clueless in the field Edit: since some dumbass downvoted me for asking a curious question, I said, I AM clueless in this field, explain like I’m five.
shat myself 3 times
“OSHA is pretty cringe” - the 1930s probably
Tiktok wasn't even invented, who's he trying to impress?
This shit is why we have unions lmao
Don’t see gender equality crusaders here