There are some marvelous feats of engineering in this world, and Chicago is home to some of the first and most amazing ones.
Of course, there's the famed Chicago River Reversal, but their main claim to fame is that it’s the home of the first skyscraper.
William Le Baron Jenney was a pioneering architect and engineer known for designing the Home Insurance Building in Chicago (1885), the world's first skyscraper. William, known as the 'father of the skyscraper,' was an engineer and a classmate of Gustav Eiffel (the guy who created the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris, France).
These amazing triumphs of engineering overshadow the lesser-known engineering feats of keeping the whole construction industry safe for building the wonders of the world, so to speak.
We're dedicating this article to the brilliant engineering wonders, not to the structures themselves, but to the ingenuity in engineering the equipment that allows the construction of the buildings themselves.
The How, Not The What
Coming up with an idea and blueprint for the creation of some wonderful structure still needs someone to figure out how this is going to be possible and to prevent disasters before they occur.
The Harness
One of the simplest safety tools in construction ever created has three parts – the strap, the lanyard, and the anchor hook.
The Strap
It's not just a strap that stops you from falling; it is ergonomically designed to distribute the immense force of a sudden stop across the strongest parts of the body (thighs, pelvis, and chest) to prevent internal injuries.
The Lanyard
This ultimately brilliant piece of mechanical engineering is stitched with pack webbing that tears apart in a controlled manner. So as you fall, it will tear and slow you down.
This can decrease the force on the body from a back-shattering speed to one that is something you can survive.
The Anchor Point
This anchor point is calculated to hold 5000 pounds per person attached, so it is a priority to ensure the building's steel or concrete can handle that kind of load.
You cannot just put the hook randomly anywhere.
Creating 'Foolproof' Systems
Engineers love a system that’s 'inherently safe'. This would be a design that prevents mistakes by the design itself:
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Guardrails: These give extra protection to the worker so that they do not step back, and if they forget, they are there to block them from falling. This is a passive safety system that works around the clock, and no one has to think about it.
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Scaffolding Couplers: Modern couplings are designed to fit only one way, so assembling the scaffolding makes it impossible to fit together in the wrong way. This design is intentional, since it prevents any errors from happening.
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Low-Slope Roof Systems: Warning lines and safety monitors are the primary protection. These wires or ropes warn a worker that they are getting close to the edge of a roof, and the safety monitor is a person who is trained in overseeing all safety measures being used and watching for possibilities of human error on site.
These safety systems are heavily reliant on human vigilance and adherence to safety protocols, which is also the prime reason why they sometimes fail.
This has mostly to do with things such as improper training, employer negligence, simple human errors, etc. And all of this isn’t helped by the fact that each state regulates this in different ways.
For instance, in Chicago, when a preventable roof fall occurs, you'll want to consult someone who specializes in roof fall protection claims in Illinois to help you realize that the protection systems regulations are a critical part of the claim for an injured worker.
That's because under Illinois law, the 'modified comparative negligence' rule applies, meaning that the injured worker can recover damages as long as they aren't more than 50% at fault.
But in a state like California, you have 'pure comparative negligence', where recovery is allowed even if the worker is 99% at fault.
Lawyers who specialize in workplace-related injuries will know all of this.
Highlighting that these protection systems and safety rules are in place, they're enforced and adhered to by each worker.
Conclusion
It seems odd that all these masterful safety engineering wonders are developed to protect us from anticipated failure.
Predicting what could go wrong and solving it before it happens is the soul of the whole industry. You have to anticipate a hazard in order to prevent it. What you witness is a living laboratory of applied engineering. The force of mass against the equipment needs to bear the load of an impact from great heights.
It's full of complex logistics to ensure that every worker goes home safely.
At the end of the day, it isn't the structure that is being built, it's the framework set up to allow it to BE built.
