The Right Debris Netting In The Right Place Can Save Your Company Time

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.

Golf netting placed horizontally below and around the work area can catch object and people before they can land on something hard and expensive. Good netting should have a small mesh that even things like nuts and bolts won’t slip through.

One of the biggest and most dangerous construction projects in the United States was the Golden Gate Bridge. It was completed in 1937. Estimates at the time predicted the cost at one man per million dollars spent. It was to cost thirty five million dollars. The men who worked on the bridge and their families feared that thirty five men would die before the job was completed.

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.

Joseph Strauss, the chief engineer, realized that all the standard safety practices that he rigorously enforced were inadequate on this unique project. He designed and ordered construction of a giant safety net similar to what trapeze artists in circuses use. It was suspended under the bridge and extended ten feet out to both sides.

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 recalls that work on the bridge moved ahead faster after the net was installed. While not an invitation to carelessness having a net under them gave the workers confidence and allowed them to move and work more efficiently.

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.

Custom Netting Contractors

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