Who`s Askin
New member
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2013
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Fellow Scaffolders:
I am retired from industrial scaffolding but miss the adrenalin and excitement of a challenging build as well as the comradery of a team effort. I took up scaffolding at 48 mostly due to the urgent need for workers in the Canadian province of Alberta specifically the tar sands developments.Being a JM carpenter i had been on large scale industrial projects some of which required us to work at heights as well as from suspended gang panels. It was not uncommon to stand on built in decks with handrails with nothing more than a waist worn positioning belt equipped with a d-ring and 3' lanyard. This was prior to four point harness systems. The crane would fly us off the deck and using radio communication with the operator we guided the lining up with inserts poured into the slab to receive taper ties to secure gang panels to the build. Similarly I have been involved with large sections of allround system scaffold comprised of four deck levels 100' in length which have the standards through bolted with engineered pins and crane picked for movement along side of a building. A scaffolder was present on each level to disengage building ties and subsequently secure the scaffold after repositioning.
Alberta Carpenters Union offered an Upgrade course in Ft McMurray and i was a member of the first class at the Vocational school. At that time the apprenticeship for scaffolding was 1300 hours /year for a 3 year program or 3900 hours total plus school time.
During the upgrade course we were assessed and given credit for experience and then told how many hours were needed to achieve JM status. I needed 1,000. If anyone reads this and is interested i will go further onto " jobsite politics".
Ted Askin
I am retired from industrial scaffolding but miss the adrenalin and excitement of a challenging build as well as the comradery of a team effort. I took up scaffolding at 48 mostly due to the urgent need for workers in the Canadian province of Alberta specifically the tar sands developments.Being a JM carpenter i had been on large scale industrial projects some of which required us to work at heights as well as from suspended gang panels. It was not uncommon to stand on built in decks with handrails with nothing more than a waist worn positioning belt equipped with a d-ring and 3' lanyard. This was prior to four point harness systems. The crane would fly us off the deck and using radio communication with the operator we guided the lining up with inserts poured into the slab to receive taper ties to secure gang panels to the build. Similarly I have been involved with large sections of allround system scaffold comprised of four deck levels 100' in length which have the standards through bolted with engineered pins and crane picked for movement along side of a building. A scaffolder was present on each level to disengage building ties and subsequently secure the scaffold after repositioning.
Alberta Carpenters Union offered an Upgrade course in Ft McMurray and i was a member of the first class at the Vocational school. At that time the apprenticeship for scaffolding was 1300 hours /year for a 3 year program or 3900 hours total plus school time.
During the upgrade course we were assessed and given credit for experience and then told how many hours were needed to achieve JM status. I needed 1,000. If anyone reads this and is interested i will go further onto " jobsite politics".
Ted Askin
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