Don't look Doon!

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michaelm
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Don't look Doon!

Post by michaelm »

After reading some of Vivc's and 5siamese7's comments about heights etc in the Eglinton Castle topic it got me thinking, so I did a bit of digging on utube and found these gems.

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Well, somebody's got tae clean the windaes I suppose!
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This is the most modern one and I can confirm this guy is wearing a safety harness.
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Showing aff!
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There's a wee bit of dubiety surrounding this last one. Not so much that it's a fake pic, it isn't. There was a rumour that there's a 'finished floor' just out of shot and only a few feet below the steel girder the men are lying on.
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bonzo
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Re: Don't look Doon!

Post by bonzo »

Great pics. Something comes to mind that alot of these guys were mohawks. Also made me think of the late john noakes climbing nelson's column, his only protection was a kagool and a pair of jeans.
Those wimin were in the nip.
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John Donnelly
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Re: Don't look Doon!

Post by John Donnelly »

Heights are not my thing.
I remember a school trip to Paris (+/-1960) I had no notion of going up the Eifel Tower, BUT everybody else was going, so off I went; right to the top. I remember very, very carefully approaching the railing round the observation platform and very, very gingerly looking over it; - to see a man sitting on a plank on the outside painting the thing.
JD.
michaelm
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Re: Don't look Doon!

Post by michaelm »

Maybe not funny at the time JD. but I'm sure you can have a wee chuckle about it now.

That climb up the ladder to the top of Nelsons Column must have been an absolutely daunting experience bonzo, especially the overhang bit at the end.

And I think you're right about many of the folk in the pics above being Mohawks.

This below from Wiki:
Mohawk iron and steelworkers in New York.
Mohawk came from Kahnawake and other reserves to work in the construction industry in New York City in the early through the mid-20th century. They had also worked in construction in Quebec.
The men were iron and steelworkers who helped build bridges and skyscrapers, and who were called skywalkers because of their seeming fearlessness.
They worked from the 1930s to the 1970s on special labour contracts as specialists and participated in building the Empire State Building. The construction companies found that the Mohawk ironworkers did not fear heights or dangerous conditions.
Their contracts offered lower than average wages to the First Nations people and limited labour union membership. About 10% of all ironworkers in the US are Mohawks, down from about 15% earlier in the 20th century.

Since the mid-20th century, Mohawk have also formed their own construction companies. Others returned to New York projects. Mowhawk skywalkers had built the World Trade Centre buildings that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks, helped rescue people from the burning towers in 2001, and helped dismantle the remains of the building afterwards.
Approximately 200 Mohawk iron workers (out of 2000 total iron workers at the site) participated in rebuilding the One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. They typically drive the 360 miles from the Kahnawake reserve on the St. Lawrence River in Quebec to work the week in lower Manhattan, and then return on the weekend to be with their families.
A selection of portraits of these Mohawk iron workers were featured in an online photo essay for Time Magazine in September 2012.
michaelm
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Re: Don't look Doon!

Post by michaelm »

"Up here if you make one mistake it's definitely half a day out with the Undertaker, you're finished!"
The late Fred Dibnah.

Vivc113
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Re: Don't look Doon!

Post by Vivc113 »

Great pix Michael M. No health and safety concerns back then !!!! :hi:
"Words are very.... unnecessary... they can only do harm".
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Re: Don't look Doon!

Post by morag »

Just no...maybe once, when I was young and foolish.
"You don't have a Soul. You are a Soul. You have a body."
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michaelm
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Re: Don't look Doon!

Post by michaelm »

Vivc113 wrote: Tue Jul 11, 2017 5:44 pm Great pix Michael M. No health and safety concerns back then !!!! :hi:
That's the sad thing about it for me Viv.
Many Mohawk construction workers died because the health and safety laws at the time were virtually non existent.
Bravery is to be admired, but the construction company's who employed them in the old day's did so simply to exploit them financially.
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John Donnelly
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Re: Don't look Doon!

Post by John Donnelly »

michaelm wrote: Tue Jul 11, 2017 8:48 pm
Vivc113 wrote: Tue Jul 11, 2017 5:44 pm Great pix Michael M. No health and safety concerns back then !!!! :hi:
That's the sad thing about it for me Viv.
Many Mohawk construction workers died because the health and safety laws at the time were virtually non existent.
Bravery is to be admired, but the construction company's who employed them in the old day's did so simply to exploit them financially.
Viv, that thought was also on my mind. I'd like to see some statistic on the death rate on some of these projects. I've a notion that it will not make for pleasant reading.
JD.
michaelm
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Re: Don't look Doon!

Post by michaelm »

Vivc113 wrote: Tue Jul 11, 2017 5:44 pm Great pix Michael M. No health and safety concerns back then !!!! :hi:
Cheers again Viv, I'm sure you'll be aware that the vast majority of folk are of the opinion that Health and Safety Law's these days are far too stringent - but a balance had to be struck somewhere.

JD. if you're so inclined and do a wee bit of online research you should easily find the death rates re. many of these construction projects.
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Re: Don't look Doon!

Post by margb »

I've no head for heights so when I look at these brilliant photos of men without harnesses my heart is pumping and I'm about to fall off these huge structures. Real scary
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brian f
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Re: Don't look Doon!

Post by brian f »

Michaelm - number 12/14 image works for me a genuine image of a man hard at work.
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