The Right Debris Netting Can Save 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 challenges to tall construction projects is wind. The wind is stronger up higher and things that wouldn’t be affected on the ground can be blown right off the surface on which they are standing. When a building under construction is wrapped in a fine-mesh, strong netting the dangers and discomforts associated with wind are mitigated but air is still able to circulate freely.
The same vertical golf netting while minimizing the effects of wind also provides a barrier that prevents objects from falling. A good debris netting will have a small mesh so that even small articles like nuts and bolt won’t slip through will still allow plenty of air through so workers can breathe.
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.
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.
Critics might have considered the enormous net a somewhat extreme measure but it quickly paid for itself. Before the bridge was completed in 1937 nineteen men had joined the ranks of the Half Way To Hell Club. The members were so called because each had been saved from certain death by falling into Strauss’s net.
Former bridge workers remembering those days opine that the net paid its dues. It did not just benefit those whose lives were saved. Strauss, the city and the company benefited from money saved in lost time and the associated expenses of fatal accidents. They also basked in positive PR that money could never buy.
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.