Please answer these questions for my fourth graders? What makes an ironworker's job so dangerous? Under what conditions does he work (i.e., wind, weight of tools, etc.)? What measures help ensure his safety? Thank you very much.

• ID# 178.2 (reply to #178.1) - 30 September 2000
  1) I guess the answer is quite obvious... I wouldn't certainly go up to weld/bolt these skeletons hundreds of feet up for no small fee, especially as the job requires great accuracy -- it must be a bit the same as with the well-paid ship welders, money for skill + (in this case) danger. According to a last year's survey published in the New York Times, the structural metal workers earn an annual median of $70,000 -- the top place for NYC. But with such "poor" occupations as execs, lawyers, brokers etc. omitted due to an insufficient reply rate, there are certainly better owning occupations around in The City...
  2) Well, it's (literally) an open-air job, so all the positive and negative aspects of weather apply here. But I guess that the constructors of, say, the Empire State could also occasionally enjoy sunshine while the pedestrians grabbed their umbrellas below the low-lying clouds... ;^) As for the equipment, it depends on the function of a worker in a welding/bolting team -- specialized equipment for each. Naturally, one condition to add is the rather rapid pace at which these high-rises are built. So, although there may be only a few days to erect a frame of an (up to block-size) building, the work also has to be carried out with utmost care and proficiency.
  3) I guess they are today (at times) even given some sort of harnesses -- as opposed to the laissez-faire action of the earlier decades. But should they fall with no safety net or something, at least there is floor slab work coming up a dozen or so floors below... ED