Hey Steemies!
This isn't related to my photography in any way but I suppose if you like big toys this might be the post for you. Something big happened in my province and I wanted to share with you the special moment. Often when people ask me what I do for a living, I typically answer Boilermaker since I got my welding ticket and every single hour of my apprenticeship with them and learned the Boilermaker trade more than welding given the nature of the work (Field). The second question that follows is generally, "What's that?" even the people that work on site with us have no idea really what we actually do. We disappear into a hole and what was broken now works, if we are out in the open, much of our work is a maze of red DANGER ribbon to keep others out of harms way or simply to keep some safe from their own stupidity and what we actually do remains elusive to others. If we try to explain it, nobody really gets it, I suppose it would be like a heart surgeon trying to explain to the common person how to perform a triple by-pass except the heart I operate on is the backbone of the country that makes it all go round like or not... Energy or the equipment that produces the energy.
I generally can't say much because of security reasons but an opportunity has risen where some of our work has gotten public attention so I suppose I would be in liberty of sharing the same details with you. I wasn't part of the specific project but I have worked at the same shop that produced this large tower at the beginning of my tradesman(woman) career. Dacro Industries recently produced one of the largest tower and piece of equipment that has ever hit the roads in Alberta's history at 97 meters in height and weighs around 800 tonnes. This beast took about a year to build and will be part of a project to convert propane into various plastic products to be completed near 2021. The tower was built using Alberta steel, constructed and moved by Albertans also going to an Alberta based company. These moments make us Alberta Proud. Even when the rest of the country is trying to destroy our economy, we still find a way to kick ass!
Soure of video: Youtube: zidybody
The load will be moved to it's final location just outside of Fort Saskatchewan over a 4 day journey (It would normally be no more than an hour's drive for the average person). Once the load is on site, it's perilous journey will be far from over. Once again, I am not on this project so I don't know the specific details but it doesn't change that much from project to project. Once at location, this tall piece of equipment will need to be moved from the horizontal position to the vertical position for the most dangerous part of it's journey and probably the most dangerous part of our job as well, why we red ribbon everyone that doesn't belong the fuck out. Can you picture 800 tonnes of steel and measuring over 300 feet in length being picked up and stood up? It's quite the task that involves serious engineering, skills and frankly, a set of balls, doesn't matter how often you are around this setting these sort of lifts always leave the best of the best uneasy because so many things can go wrong and when things go wrong in this scenario, lives are lost.
Typically (following from previous projects I have worked on) Several extremely large cranes on large crawler tracks, too large to be transported by road, will be required to accomplish such a lift, likely to be built and dismantled directly at the location where the tower will soon be standing tall. In the mean time, the engineered location for the cranes to be for the final lift gets surveyed and leveled where a crane pad will be build with the greatest level of accuracy possible to ensure stability to prevent serious incidents like the crane typing over with the load. A Highly trained crew of various titles will be required and will have several meetings with engineers and all involved to ensure everybody is on the EXACT SAME PLAN and to discuss various perspectives and scenarios and hazards that could arise and eliminate every variable possible to ensure an incident free lift.
Two highly trained crane operators will be required to multi task and maintain high communication while lifting in tandem and also maintaining contact with the main signalmen on the ground and the signalmen receiving the load (Boilermaker Riggers) who has eyes on the ground or at the receiving location with a large crew to assist in ensuring the rigging is properly installed and the load is leaving the ground and getting to location safely and will not come into contact with workers involved or existing near-by structures. Another large crew will be required to secure the load once into it's proper place before it can be disconnected from the cranes. Once secured, it's still far from over, over several weeks the same workers will be required to continue working with cranes to install all the structure like platforms and ladders around it making it safe for humans to complete the work that will be required to connect it to other equipment or the access doors for the internal components. It's a lot more complicated than that but that's the jist of it and trying to explain it as simply as I can.
This is likely to be to most coveted rigging job of the moment without a doubt! I am qualified to build it (in the shop) and qualified to assist the riggers in erecting the tower and securing into place but not yet have what it takes to be a main character on such a job but that is the apprenticeship I am currently pursuing is to be able to eventually lead these incredible lifts like my brothers before me. These sort of projects that I have gotten the privilege to take part of in the last decade make it really hard for me to even think of the possibility of doing something else even if I might have to. The feeling behind accomplishing these various dangerous task that is required of me and others in my trade without an incident is un-explainable, each task without an incident is a huge weight off the shoulders and a sense of pride but the fact that I get to take part in some of my Country's biggest Energy mega projects from various stages of construction and maintaining the equipment for it's lifetime of operation is pretty friggen cool.