I don't want this guy's job

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Climbing a 1768-foot high transmission tower to change the light bulb at the top (video is from his helmet-cam).

Be patient - you have to wade through about thirty seconds of cartoon credits to get to the actual video.

Yeah, the first 1600 feet is via elevator - but the final 1168 feet is climbing by hand, part of which is without the use of support clips (which the video claims is allowed by OSHA “for efficiency purposes”).

The final bit made me queasy!

(Forgive me if this has been posted before - searching for it didn’t come up with any hits.)

2

Here’s the original thread. The video was deleted but it may be posted downthread somewhere when it resurfaced elsewhere on the internet.

3

There ain’t enough money in the world…

4

Oops. Obviously my search-fu isn’t what it should be.

5

Can someone explain why, when watching that, I get weird twitching feelings in the soles of my feet?

6

thanks for posting this, i missed it the first time round.

this would make a great Omnimax movie! just knowing he’s not clipped on really adds to the vertigo. how strong are the winds at that height? shouldn’t the top be swaying? /shudder

7

Yep. Fuck a bunch of that. No matter what he gets paid it’s likely not enough.

8

Just out of curiosity, I tried googling to see how many people die doing this job. I don’t have a complete statistic, but April to May 2008, seven fell to their deaths in the US.

Yeah, fuck that job.

9

Every time I watch that, my hands and feet get sweaty.

10

I don’t know, but I do too. OTOH, I feel that way just walking through a city and looking up a skyscrapers.

11

(Eyes covered) I won’t click, I won’t click. I won’t click. I might fall.

12

Where are all of the ‘Fallen Tower Workers’’ memorials?

After all, they are giving their lives to provide us with wireless service. Seems like a pretty dangerous job that requires a certain type of person willing to sacrifice their personal safety for the benefit of others. Sound familiar?

13

If workers followed the safety rules/laws, it should not be that dangerous. As the video points out, it seems that a lot of people free climb it to save time. The article I linked to says that these accidents should not be happening, as climbers should practice what apparently is known as “100% tie-off.”

14

Not sure how 1600 + 1168 = 1768.

Are you sure it isn’t the final 168 feet? Which is bad enough, I hasten to say.

15

As far as we know the workers are under pressure to complete the change in under a specified period of time. I used to know a cable installer who said they took all sorts of safety shortcuts because they were only allowed so many minutes per install.

16

No. No. Fuck no. It would be cheaper to build a NEW tower than to pay me to climb that.

Aren’t there robots that can do that job? Couldn’t some engineer engineer a pulley system?

Seriously, fuck that job.

17

these are tv and radio broadcast towers.

telephone communications towers are not as tall for their designed functions.

lots of people work with danger as part of their job. working safe is important.

18

Ohhh my God! That looks $#%&in’ awesome!!!

Anyone know who’s hiring? (there’s a reason I was named “Spiderman”!{though not from climbing anything that high})

Oh, & I believe that the reason the elevator only goes 1600/1768 feet is that to do this job, your elevator can’t go to the top floor; definitely true with me! :rolleyes:

19

I’m getting queasy just thinking about it.

20

i was showing this to my friend and i noticed that, on the final bit to get on the tiny platform at the top, there isn’t even a way to clip yourself to anything without having the clip be below your legs when you climb up onto it..