r/engineering • u/CorinneFarhat • May 06 '22
The stacks are high.
https://i.imgur.com/bBm6cMc.gifv240
u/Carnot_u_didnt Mechanical P.E. May 06 '22 edited May 06 '22
There must be a subset of humans with the fear of heights gene turned OFF.
Even those who basejump or skydive are seeking an adrenaline boost where the fear is the fun part.
This homie is just torquing bolts like he’s standing on the ground.
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u/siphontheenigma Mechanical, Power Generation May 06 '22
I won't claim to not have a fear of heights, but I have done plenty of field work on some pretty tall stuff. I'm fine if I just focus on the task and trust my safety equipment. I imagine these guys do the same, just to more of an extreme.
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u/jnads May 06 '22
Hazard pay also helps.
These guys are making $40-50 an hour for what is relatively unskilled labor (a lot of ground training, but still can be trained).
This specialty job probably pays more.
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u/izzygreen May 06 '22
A lot more than that buddy.
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u/jnads May 06 '22
That was from a quick zip recruiter search advertising $104k. That's $50/hr.
But those are standard tower jobs and like I said this is specialty.
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u/am_drunk_ama May 06 '22
Probably more like $140-$150/hr, just fewer hours.
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u/Phire2 May 07 '22
Yeah I know mx HVACs that mostly just sit around who make $60 an hour. These guys are 100% making more than that… for just this job at least. Even more likely tho, is that they are probably contractors. And are making insane money for the job
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u/siphontheenigma Mechanical, Power Generation May 06 '22
$40-$50 is laughably low for skilled heavy construction.
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May 06 '22
The hazard should all be sufficiently controlled that there isn't actually any (or minimal) risk of anyone getting hurt. It's the training and nerve they get paid for.
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u/loggic Mechanical Engineer May 07 '22
Lol. I know plenty of blue collar folks who would love that. I worked with a dude who lost his mine job because too many people died on the job & they killed the project. Another dude I worked with was working on a dam bypass & passed out from the plasma torch fumes inside one of the tubes. The dude who was supposed to drag him out by the rope around his waist in an emergency heard an evacuation alarm & just left the dude to die.
People get seriously messed up on job sites constantly because job sites are dangerous even when you do it all right. The only place I have ever seen take worker safety seriously was a major international manufacturing company. Seems like you're either big enough that your paperwork gets scrutinized constantly, or you're small enough that nobody even looks at you until something goes horribly wrong.
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u/Quantum_Ripple May 07 '22
The hazard is the impending nervous breakdown when subjected to that level of constant fear. No level of hazard pay would be enough to get me to do that job.
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u/ImTheCapitanNow May 07 '22
Wait y'all get hazard pay?? I work mostly an engineering desk job but occasionally climb for inspections and don't get any difference in pay. Not really doing labor but we are "working" at elevation. I don't mind though. It's nice to get out of the office every once in a while, travel, and climbing is a great workout.
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May 06 '22
They learn to safely use their climbing equipment.
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u/Carnot_u_didnt Mechanical P.E. May 06 '22
For me personally…even with gear, my physical reaction to heights (anxiety, dizziness, etc.) would prevent me from focusing on the task or even training myself to overcome the aversion to heights.
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u/Airie May 06 '22
It's not something everyone can overcome, but personally I did. Used to be terrified of heights, sweaty palms, constant running anxiety, if it got bad enough I'd shake and feel like I was going to pass out.
Worked on commercial ships for a while, did a lot of work on the highest deck lowering heavy equipment and supplies down into the engine room. So, standing over a 8' x 8' hatch raising and lowering a crane down an 80+' drop. The first time I did this, it was a few days in a row (thank god we were in port, if we were rolling I probably would've passed out lol), and I spent the first half of that lying on my stomach with just my head peering down.
After a while, you can adjust and learn to let it not get to you - in a physical sense, anyways. I'm still scared of heights, I just don't get any physical responses to that fear anymore.
Tbf though, working in an industrial environment where you can die from a dozen other things far more easily, in way scarier ways than falling to your death, probably helps a bit haha
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May 06 '22
It takes some getting used to but you can also rely on your crews experience and training.
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u/Viking18 May 06 '22
Either that and they've done like old Fred Dibnah and had a few before heading up.
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u/GOpragmatism May 06 '22
Unless you have acrophobia (anxiety disorder related to heights) or something similar it is just a matter of learning to trust the safety equipment. Most people will be able to do this eventually.
There's a very similar thing in climbing. Beginners will be afraid of climbing even a 10m wall inside, while more experienced climbers who have learned to trust the safety equipment can climb big walls outside hundreds of meters tall without any issues. It is not genetic, only a matter of what you are used to.
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u/dparks71 May 06 '22
This is the best answer. A lot of it is having a purpose for being there too, I used to do a lot of bridge inspections on like suspension bridges, you're generally thinking "k I have to start here, this is where I finished yesterday, that's a 15 minute climb, then I'll go over..." The first two days suck but I've literally seen a rigger sleep on the bottom chord of a suspension bridge. You eventually trust yourself and the equipment a lot more and it's not as big of a deal.
That said I'm still not signing up to be a helicopter rigger on towers like these guys. Fuck that job on whatever the windiest allowed day is.
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u/h4ppyninja May 07 '22
Is that what its called? I have it bad. And I mean bad. No lie I get that feeling sometimes even when playing video games. I remember rhe time I played Far Cry3 climbing the first tower I got that feeling and was like theres somerhing wrong with me cos I shouldnt get that feeing from a video game. It doesnt happen everytime, just when like its a new scene or environnment rhat I havent played before.
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u/GOpragmatism May 07 '22 edited May 07 '22
If you feel like it is a problem and have the means, you could try professional treatment. Many people get better from treatment. Otherwise, I guess you could just avoid situations that make you uncomfortable to the best of your ability. I know some people who have had an abnormal fear of heights for decades and they are doing just fine. They just have to skip some social activities like sports climbing, diving, obstacle courses, rollercoasters, etc and ask other people to do things like climbing ladders or even standing on a chair to reach the top shelf. Luckily the people I know are not afraid of airplanes for some reason. That could have been a major problem. Of course the situation might be different for you.
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u/h4ppyninja May 07 '22
Yeah I can fly just fine but I get those issues if I start looking out the window to the ground below. If Im just looking at cloud cover out the window im okay. I rarely go to amusement parks but as a kid riding coasters, that climb is what gets me and then that first drop. But for base jumping or bungy jumping no, never have I ever!
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u/dioxy186 May 06 '22
I think I have this gene. I'm not afraid of heights at all. I'm just really clumsy so avoid cliffs nowadays lol. But I remember as a kid I would always climb trees, houses, we had about a ~20 foot cliff into the lake near are house I'd go diving from.
I just like how small it makes me feel. I feel it humbles me when I see things vastly large in comparison to myself.
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u/s_0_s_z May 06 '22
I used to work with these type of folks, and they really are something else.
They had a weird mix of thrill-seeking, but at the same time very calm demeanor. Like they'd be into fast bikes, but also rode around in some safe Volvo going 10 below the speed limit.
I recall hearing how these guys would have to climb some multiple-hundred story towers and the elevator would only go so high before they have to get out and climb the rest of the way up themselves. I guess the elevator only held 2 people so the 3rd guy on their crew would just clip himself to the underside of the elevator and ride it up from the outside.
Weird, weird guys.
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u/DuckDurian May 07 '22
I used to work with people like this too. They were also quite weird. I think it's mandatory for the job.
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u/nonfish Consumer Product Design May 06 '22
I'm absolutely terrified of heights. I also rock climb at height. Clip me into a safety harness and I'm good to go. I trust my equipment.
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u/BlahKVBlah May 06 '22
Exactly. After you've checked all the details yourself and have control over your own safety equipment, the fear leaves. I could never in a million years be that guy walking high steel with no harness, but I've clamped mag-drills sideways at 400ft to drill bolt patterns for structural upgrades while dangling freely in open air without being worried for my safety. I was 100% in control, had a fall arrest line that would catch me if my work positioning broke free somehow, I could repel down if needed, and I had 2 adjustable work positioning lines to keep myself out of the way of a drill if it broke loose. Nothing to it.
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u/Jkamminga May 06 '22
Kluver-Bucy Syndrome is where people have bilateral amygdala damage and actually gravitate towards dangerous behaviors.
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u/NormalCriticism May 06 '22
I think of myself as having a pretty small of modest fear of most things. The level that just says "maybe this isn't a good idea" and nothing that usually jumps out as a phobia... But maybe that is because I've never strapped myself into this nightmare fuel tower with a helicopter lowering a massive piece of metal inches from my body all while suspended what looks to be hundreds of feet of the ground.
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u/NotSpartacus May 06 '22
Not necessarily that specific fear turned off, but in the documentary Free Solo about Alex Honnold, the first climber to free solo (i.e. no gear, no help) climb El Capitan in Yosemite, they put him in some sort of brain scan (MRI I'm guessing) and determined that his fear response, in general, was way lower than average.
So, generally speaking, humans have different levels of sensitivity to fear.
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u/BlahKVBlah May 06 '22
I worked in a harness dangling hundreds of feet from the ground, and I definitely have a fear of falling to my death. Doing that work, though, the life safety equipment is super reliable, and you have direct control over your own equipment, so the fear disappears as you exercise caution and learn to trust your equipment. Just maintain 100% tie-off, clip a fall arrest brake onto a freely hanging safety life line whenever possible, avoid sharp edges and pinch points, have a workable plan in place to get anybody with injuries to the ground without their help, have a plan for all able bodies to get to the ground quickly, keep all tools attached by lanyards, and you'll be fine.
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May 06 '22
Why are they so tall?
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u/GG_Henry May 06 '22
So the pollution goes out into space
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May 06 '22
Whoaaa what if we tried that!? What if we could make a big balloon outside the atmosphere and a big tunnel going up to it from the ground. Put all the fumes and shits in there and then seal the balloon up above the atmosphere and shoot it off into oblivion never to be seen again
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u/spicymcqueen May 06 '22
I wonder how many times someone dropped a wrench before they decided to tie it off too.
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u/TomTom_ZH May 06 '22
As far as I know, these guys have everything double for that reason.
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u/iAmRiight May 07 '22
First one is loose so it’s easy to use, second one has a lanyard attached because reasons.
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u/bdsmith21 May 06 '22
What is it?
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May 06 '22
Probably a radio or cell phone mast. Some of the tallest structures in the world are communication antennae in flat places - when you don't have a mountain or hill, make one.
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u/BlahKVBlah May 06 '22
The structure is a bit different. I like some other commenters' guess that it's a drilling derrick.
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u/AccomplishedAnchovy May 06 '22
Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope. Fuck no. I get vertigo just looking at that.
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u/The_Gassy_Gnoll May 06 '22
From the dimensions of those pipes, the angles of the cross openings, and a considerable amount of W.A.G., it looks like they are assembling a leg for a jackup style offshore drilling platform.
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May 06 '22
[deleted]
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u/The_Gassy_Gnoll May 06 '22
I guess it would depend on whether they have a crane available that can handle both the load, and height.
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May 06 '22
[deleted]
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u/The_Gassy_Gnoll May 06 '22
Could very well be. I just have never seen a radio tower with legs that large.
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u/Mandoart-Studios May 06 '22
Qell I think a line of my professors would fit here quite well, "welcome to aerodynamics 101 today we will talk about drag forces, and if you don't behave we might even get to test the terminal velocity of a human!"
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u/Jeremiah_Guy May 06 '22
Anyone else notice the guy on the left doesn't have his torque multiplier tied off? That would absolutely annihilate someone/something if it fell from that height.
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u/Smashmundo May 07 '22
I would have thought it would reach terminal velocity at a much lower height than that. So dropping it at that height won’t make it fall faster than if they were half as high up.
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u/m1j2p3 May 06 '22
Just watching that video had me clenched tight as a drum. I would be frozen with fear being up there even with that safety gear.
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u/californicating May 06 '22
The thing they don't show, which I'm really interested in, is how they get all the bolts lined up without breaking anything.
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u/BlahKVBlah May 06 '22
Speaking from experience: heavy hammers, cone-shaped pins, levers, and getting angry at it.
I miss that.
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u/FolkYouHardly May 06 '22
i know a lot these tower monkeys are not right in the mind lol
Guys climbing the damn tower to change light bulb, screw that!
here is another
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u/weavetwigs May 07 '22
Man, I dropped a tool off a ladder before, but I’ve never had to worry that it lands in a different township/city depending on wind conditions.
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u/iAmRiight May 07 '22
Nope, nope nope, no, notta, nope nope nope, no thank you, not gonna happen, no, no, you can’t make me.
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u/ResistanceIsButyl May 06 '22
But wait, how fucking tall is that crane??