The Right Debris Netting Can Save Your Company Reputations
Debris happens naturally on a work site. Where anything is being built, remodeled, torn down or demolished there will be debris. Usually it's a nuisance, just one more part of the job. But debris falling from a tall building-in-progress can damage property, injure or kill pedestrians and result in staggering losses for the company. Debris netting can prevent all that.
Tall structures are more affected by wind than are projects closer to the ground. Sudden powerful gusts of wind have been known to blow objects and even people off of structures with no warning. Wrapping a building in strong, fine mesh netting will minimize the effect of wind on the work site. It can even limit the penetration of rain while still allowing air to circulate.
Netting placed horizontally below and around the work area can catch object and people before they can land on something hard and expensive. Good netting should have a small mesh that even things like nuts and bolts won't slip through.
One of the most famous construction projects ever to take place in the United States of America was the Golden Gate Bridge. Everyone assumed there would be deaths. The standard wisdom on the subject was that one worker would be lost for every million dollars spent. At a projected thirty five million dollars men couldn't help wondering who among them would be one of the thirty five to die.
These were not cowardly men. Their fears were justified. Many people believed the job of bridging the entrance to San Francisco Bay was an impossible one. Gusts of wind could easily blow a man off the structure. Newsreel footage still exists of a man being blown off a steel girder and swinging in his safety harness. In addition to the wind there were dangers from the fog that made the steel girders wet and slippery and limited visibility to near zero.
Chief engineer Joseph Strauss could see that all of the standard precautions were not going to be enough on this unique project. He ordered an enormous safety net and had it suspended under the bridge and cantilevered out ten feet on both sides.
While many considered the giant net, similar to that used by circus acrobats, to be rather extreme it paid off. Before the bridge was complete nineteen workers had joined the "Halfway to Hell Club." That is how the men came to be known who had fallen from the bridge and escaped death by landing in Strauss's giant net.
In addition to the saving in human life there were financial rewards. Accidents are expensive in terms of lost time, death benefits, medical expenses. No one today probably gives much thought to what those nineteen deaths would have cost the company if they had happened.
Another effect of the net that paid off financially was the increased morale and confidence among the workers. Once the net was installed the men were able to put less of their attention on surviving and more on their jobs. Work became more efficient.
The net was also good public relations for the bridge and the engineer. Joseph Strauss was not well liked in some circles. The bridge was controversial. Some workers even expressed the opinion that Strauss didn't care about the workers and that the net was an investment in his own reputation. Whatever Strauss's motivation may have been the results were indisputable. The bridge was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Nineteen men who made contact with Strauss's net went home to grateful families. The results of using debris netting might not be as dramatic as that but still worth considering.
Tall structures are more affected by wind than are projects closer to the ground. Sudden powerful gusts of wind have been known to blow objects and even people off of structures with no warning. Wrapping a building in strong, fine mesh netting will minimize the effect of wind on the work site. It can even limit the penetration of rain while still allowing air to circulate.
Netting placed horizontally below and around the work area can catch object and people before they can land on something hard and expensive. Good netting should have a small mesh that even things like nuts and bolts won't slip through.
One of the most famous construction projects ever to take place in the United States of America was the Golden Gate Bridge. Everyone assumed there would be deaths. The standard wisdom on the subject was that one worker would be lost for every million dollars spent. At a projected thirty five million dollars men couldn't help wondering who among them would be one of the thirty five to die.
These were not cowardly men. Their fears were justified. Many people believed the job of bridging the entrance to San Francisco Bay was an impossible one. Gusts of wind could easily blow a man off the structure. Newsreel footage still exists of a man being blown off a steel girder and swinging in his safety harness. In addition to the wind there were dangers from the fog that made the steel girders wet and slippery and limited visibility to near zero.
Chief engineer Joseph Strauss could see that all of the standard precautions were not going to be enough on this unique project. He ordered an enormous safety net and had it suspended under the bridge and cantilevered out ten feet on both sides.
While many considered the giant net, similar to that used by circus acrobats, to be rather extreme it paid off. Before the bridge was complete nineteen workers had joined the "Halfway to Hell Club." That is how the men came to be known who had fallen from the bridge and escaped death by landing in Strauss's giant net.
In addition to the saving in human life there were financial rewards. Accidents are expensive in terms of lost time, death benefits, medical expenses. No one today probably gives much thought to what those nineteen deaths would have cost the company if they had happened.
Another effect of the net that paid off financially was the increased morale and confidence among the workers. Once the net was installed the men were able to put less of their attention on surviving and more on their jobs. Work became more efficient.
The net was also good public relations for the bridge and the engineer. Joseph Strauss was not well liked in some circles. The bridge was controversial. Some workers even expressed the opinion that Strauss didn't care about the workers and that the net was an investment in his own reputation. Whatever Strauss's motivation may have been the results were indisputable. The bridge was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Nineteen men who made contact with Strauss's net went home to grateful families. The results of using debris netting might not be as dramatic as that but still worth considering.
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