Debris Netting Can Save Your Company Property Damage
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.
One of the dangers of work on tall structures is wind. Strong winds can blow people and object of the edge of the surface on which they are located. Wrapping a building in netting reduces wind penetration, while still allowing air circulation.
Golf Netting, placed horizontally below and at the edges of the work site will prevent falling people and objects from falling far enough to damage themselves or whatever they might land on. The holes in the mesh should be small enough to prevent small items like nails and rivets from falling through.
One of the most historically significant construction projects in the United States was the Golden Gate Bridge. The wisdom of the day predicted that there would be one man killed for every million dollars of construction costs. It was a thirty five million dollar project and the workers wondered which of them would be among the thirty five who would lose their lives.
Their fears were not unjustified. Bridging the entrance to the San Francisco Bay was considered by many to be an impossible task. Citizens of the day recalled that the project was first suggested by the crazy-as-a-loon old eccentric known as Emperor Norton. Between that strong winds that gusted through the narrow passage and the frequent attacks of fog that would impair visibility and make steel girders slippery chances of survival looked poor.
But Strauss could see that in this unique situation the standard precautions would not be enough. He had a giant safety net installed under the bridge and extended ten feet in all directions beyond the work areas.
The most obvious result of what some considered to be an extreme safety precaution is that the lives of nineteen men were saved. They became informally known as the Halfway to Hell Club. The price of the huge net was high but compared to the lives of those nineteen men it was a bargain.
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.
One of the bridge workers suggested that work on the bridge became more efficient once the net was installed. Knowing it was there was good for morale and gave the workers confidence to work more quickly.
Strauss was not known as a humanitarian. One worker went so far as to suggest that Strauss put up the net more to enhance his own reputation than because he cared about any of the workers. Whatever his motives, however, the results were undeniable. The bridge was completed early and cost less than estimated. Nineteen men returned to families who were grateful rather than bereaved. These results are not guaranteed every time you use debris netting on a job but they are worth remembering when it comes time to consider making a purchase.