WORK IN THE AIR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21961, 19 November 1934, Page 12

WORK IN THE AIR

STEEPIEJACK'S OUTLOOK

INDIFFERENCE TO HEIGHTS

HENDERSON WIRELESS MAST

TASK NEARING COMPLETION

''The' only thing you have to watch / is that'/you don't step out on thin air," Mr. William Ward, contractor for the erection of the 500 ft. wireless mast at Henderson for station IYA, when discussing a t the week-end some of the finer points involved in working for a living, at dizzy heights. "If the structure is well designed you know it will hold you," he added, "therefore, where is th« cause for worry?" The erection of the mast proper at Henderson would be finished to-mor-row, said Mr. Ward. Following this, the permanent ladders would be attached and five landings put in at intervals. Then the structure, which at present wan vertical enough for rigging purposes, would be accurately plumbed and the tension placed on the euys. Each, guy 'irould take a stress of from 8 to JO tons. It was hoped to have all the 'work completed by nest Saturday. The actual height of the mast would be J'iOSft. TJin. t Policy of Safety Mr. W 3rd discounted the belief that exceptional qualities were required to enable Jinyone to work with confidence* at great heights. He said he knew, howeyer, without understanding it, that many people were overcome by a farm of friar as soon as thev found any distance above the ground. H< : i could not understand nhy it should interest people that some men had to wdrk 300 ft. or 400 ft. in the air. On the other hand, those who had to do it wondered why other people thought they could not do it. "I could "tell you of swinging hundreds oif feet in the air in a howling gale, but I have not had any experiences like' that," said Mr. Ward, in explaining the only practical policy ot safety which governs successful steeplejack work. "As long as I have been in business I have never had a man on the compensation list from as much as a bruised finger. If, before the start, amy aspect seems dangerous, we think out means of eliminating the danger. "The basis of the whole work is in the running gear. It is really 's-ailor-ising' /,ashore, but the layout of th<» Tunning gear is entirely different and varies with the features of each indi- • vidual job; If the wind is too severe to haul up a load of steel, then you cannot do anything, and there is no purpose in going aloft. For practical purposeii. you could work aloft in wind up to 40. miles an hour, although in an emergency, say. to attach guy 3 for safety in a storm, you could go aloft in a 60 or 70-mile-an-hour sale. "Centipedes" and "Flies"

"I don't know if there is any sort of 'mind over matter' in it, but I don't mind going aloft a bit, and would gci 1000 ft. if necessary. There are dczensy like me, here in New Zealand. It seems curious that some men, try as they will, cannot do it. Sometimes you have a good workman on the ground, or up in a high building, yet as soon as he gets up, say, on a mast or tower, he becomes inefficient, even though he is a good trier. "The only thing to do then is to think out a* way of shifting the ground up to him; that is, by devices to inspire confidence, make the work the same as though it were on the ground. Aifter all, it really is the same. The 'ground' is just higher up. When J have been aloft for some time I don t see anything more than 10ft. below evein if I am head downwards, so virtually I am just working 10ft. above tie ground. '/Some quite good men. as soon as they get over 100 ft. up, discover that they should have been centipedes, with half-a-dozen arms and legs to hang on with and two more hands to do th<: job. You cannot expect a.man to work quickly if he has to hang on like a fly, although some of us can. "Sometimes I have been asked what i$ .the' greatest difficulty in erecting a mast. To be perfectly frank, I do not know, unless it is working in a wind of high velocity, and they can become nasty. "A Job for a Spider," '/There must always be moments of structural, weakness during the erection of a mast, but, given a perfect design such as this mast at Henderson, one knowis that the risk is eliminated if <he rigger takes the proper precautions. The rigger has. therefore got his margin of safety and gains his confidence to work at a height. Given that confidence he is to all intents and purposes working on the ground. "A tower and a mast are entirely different things. A tower is wider at tie base than at the top and is selfsupporting. A mast is parallel all the way up and will not stand up against the wind stresses without stays. Running a mast up is child's play compared with building a tCwer. "Tn enacting a mast most of the work is done from a bosun's chair and one is hauled up and down. In building a tower you have to have men at each corner and have nothing more than the structural steel itself, say 3in. wide, to work on. And you climb up and down to your work. It is only when the work gets well up that the four corners are within reach and there is no travelling around in the air. Work on * mast is nothing, but a tower is a job for a spider."