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Journal Shadow Wrought's Journal: Counter-Intuition 9

Journal by Shadow Wrought
I was talking with a friend who's been hanging iron for the better part of 30 years. In talking about it he mentioned that about ten years ago the insurance companies pushed through a new legislation requiring the iron workers to be tied off at any height above 10 feet off the ground instead of the previous 20. The result: a large increase in deaths.

An outside observer unfamiliar with hanging iron, and I include myself in that, would think that falling would pose the biggest risk, but it actually doesn't. The large risk factor is actually getting crushed by swinging I-beams. Tying off will certainly help you when it comes to falling, but it also restricts you when it comes to dodging iron. It fascinates me how just about every occupation out there has its own esoterica.

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  • Tying off will certainly help you when it comes to falling, but it also restricts you when it comes to dodging iron.

    I'd think if the tying off wasn't to a fixed point close to the worker, but done centrally similar to how those auto-belaying devices [americanrockclimbing.com] you find at climbing places work, that would be the best. Swinging iron coming to crush you? Simply jump off and the auto-belay picks up the slack and gently lowers you to the ground or nearest landing point.

    • I don't know what kind of technology they use for their tie-offs, but I would bet that they are just as heavily regulated as everything else;-) So maybe the auto-belay (best said in a Mel Brook's voice, a la History of the World Part I) would be a good option, but I don't whether it is an option. But next time I see him I will certainly ask.
  • Somehow, that doesn't surprise me. It's basically what happens when people that have no first-hand experience with a particular situation start pushing legislation governing said situation.

    Safety rules are best left to those that have to do the work, not someone behind a desk.
    • Underscored by NASA experience with shuttles.
      Earlier programs were well-funded, but when they got to the shuttle, suddenly risk was a like a commodity to manage.
      With infamous results.
      • While the Shuttle is not without its difficulties I know that they weren't NASA's first losses. I may be wrong on this, but I think the earlier programs were engineered more through trial and error than anything else. The Shuttle had somewhat less of the trial and error and more of pen and paper planning. But I would hasten to point out that I have been wrong before;-)
        • Oh, there were certainly losses and screw-ups.
          The problem was cultural.
          Up through Apollo, NASA was a pack of propeller-heads who Got Stuff Done.
          Post-Apollo, the propeller-heads left or were promoted, the budget was gutted, and the bureaucrats got deep into risk-avoidance.
          Clearly this is over-simplified.
    • Safety rules are best left to those that have to do the work, not someone behind a desk.

      Indeed. In talking to him I got the distinct impression that there were two types of safety officers: those who had, for lack of a better description, been there, done that; and those who got a degree in it, but didn't have a lot of practical experience. He had deep respect for the former and utter contempt for the latter.

  • This might be a little off topic, but how did your friend find that job. I watched the episode of "Dirty Jobs" at the iron mill and thought that would be the most awesome job ever. I know it is hard work and it appears to be very scary because of the prospect of being injured, but it still looks like a pretty neat job.
    • I believe he started off as a welder, trained through the Army. After he got out he started working as a shipbuilder, doing the iron working there. After the shipbuilding tailed off he started working on hanging iron for large building construction. I don't know about the steel mill types, but most of the iron workers come through the union. The whole scurrying across I-beams several stories up is a skill one either has or doesn't. The Union helps to weed out those who don't, and that also minimizes in

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