Empire State
December 26, 2021 10:39 AM Subscribe
I'm only halfway through and already that is an absolutely staggering amount of steel!
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:53 PM on December 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:53 PM on December 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
Why am I crying? This is beautiful stuff. Humans! We build stuff!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:50 PM on December 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:50 PM on December 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
whats most amazing to me is how management well... managed to keep all these guys off their phones the whole time they were filming
posted by glonous keming at 3:18 PM on December 26, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by glonous keming at 3:18 PM on December 26, 2021 [4 favorites]
What’s really amazing is that it only took them a year to build the thing.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:50 PM on December 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 3:50 PM on December 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
Gaaaaaahhhhhhhh the group riding a crane hook at 16:30ish acccccckkkkkkkkk
Such intense respect for these construction teams.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 5:16 PM on December 26, 2021 [5 favorites]
Such intense respect for these construction teams.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 5:16 PM on December 26, 2021 [5 favorites]
Things I noticed:
Built in the Great Depression.
A seemingly all anglo workforce.
Zero OSHA.
Much more Art Deco than I realized.
posted by jim in austin at 5:20 PM on December 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
Built in the Great Depression.
A seemingly all anglo workforce.
Zero OSHA.
Much more Art Deco than I realized.
posted by jim in austin at 5:20 PM on December 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
I always get really uncomfortable seeing the workers on high floors in historical footage like this. There's no way I could do that. Regarding OSHA, I may have audibly exclaimed when a worker ducked under a bundle of steel being hoisted by a crane.
posted by mollweide at 5:59 PM on December 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 5:59 PM on December 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
Empire State Building: 5 deaths
Finished in 1930 after a quick 13 month construction period, the Empire State Building is an American cultural icon that held the record as the world’s tallest building for 42 years. 3,400 laborers working for $15 a day moved at lightening pace, building 4.5 floors a week until completion. Although it is rumored that hundreds died during its construction, official records put the death toll at 5 workers who met their fate via slip and fall accidents or being struck by heavy objects.
As I watched this footage of these workers going so fast, what impressed me was not only the pace and the lack of OSHA, but also how impressive the project management must have been to deliver the right materials at the right time in the right amount and the right size to keep everyone working at that blistering pace. It wouldn't take much out of line to put the bring everything to a standstill if something was off by an inch.
I also wish I could somehow see all the graffiti hidden in the walls.
posted by ursus_comiter at 7:44 PM on December 26, 2021 [5 favorites]
Finished in 1930 after a quick 13 month construction period, the Empire State Building is an American cultural icon that held the record as the world’s tallest building for 42 years. 3,400 laborers working for $15 a day moved at lightening pace, building 4.5 floors a week until completion. Although it is rumored that hundreds died during its construction, official records put the death toll at 5 workers who met their fate via slip and fall accidents or being struck by heavy objects.
As I watched this footage of these workers going so fast, what impressed me was not only the pace and the lack of OSHA, but also how impressive the project management must have been to deliver the right materials at the right time in the right amount and the right size to keep everyone working at that blistering pace. It wouldn't take much out of line to put the bring everything to a standstill if something was off by an inch.
I also wish I could somehow see all the graffiti hidden in the walls.
posted by ursus_comiter at 7:44 PM on December 26, 2021 [5 favorites]
If you're interested in a modern day version of this, the "Starbase" site that is being built at the extreme southern tip of Texas is progressing at an astonishing rate. It started about 7 years ago, and really accelerated about 2 years ago, with massive amounts of steel and concrete work being executed all this year. Every single bit of it is being documented by the good people at NASAspaceflight in their Youtube channel, with daily summary videos (about 15 minutes each) being produced and released overnight every day. Right now SpaceX is putting the finishing touches on the first orbital launch site, but if you go back in that video listing I linked to above, one month ago they were assembling the "chopsticks" that will catch the returning boosters (aka the Mechazilla contraption). Go back further to 5-7 months ago when they were stacking the tower. It really is astounding, and we get to see it all happen in front of our eyes because there happens to be a public road running right through the town that they can't permanently close. If you wish you were alive during the 1960s and the buildup of the Apollo program, you need to be paying attention to what is happening in Boca Chica, Texas right now.
posted by intermod at 7:48 PM on December 26, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by intermod at 7:48 PM on December 26, 2021 [6 favorites]
you need to be paying attention to what is happening in Boca Chica, Texas right now
Boca Chica?? Yeah, I'll be paying attention in a few years, when the whole thing is underwater due to rising sea levels.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:09 PM on December 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
Boca Chica?? Yeah, I'll be paying attention in a few years, when the whole thing is underwater due to rising sea levels.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:09 PM on December 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
Boca Chica? Isn't that the place that is being ruined? For building speed etc. (Or horror at the ongoing destruction of the natural world if that is your take,) I don't think anything beats Chinese cities and infrastructure.
posted by Pembquist at 8:22 PM on December 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Pembquist at 8:22 PM on December 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
Thank you for wrecking me. Absolutely stunning.
posted by psylosyren at 8:48 PM on December 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by psylosyren at 8:48 PM on December 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
A seemingly all anglo workforce.
The Empire State Building (and other skyscrapers of the era) were known for their many Mohawk and other Native American workers. Here's a short history from the Aboriginal Skilled Workers Association.
posted by Umami Dearest at 8:58 PM on December 26, 2021 [11 favorites]
The Empire State Building (and other skyscrapers of the era) were known for their many Mohawk and other Native American workers. Here's a short history from the Aboriginal Skilled Workers Association.
posted by Umami Dearest at 8:58 PM on December 26, 2021 [11 favorites]
A seemingly all anglo workforce.
Joseph Mitchel, "The Mohawks in High Steel."
There was a revisiting of this here on the blue at some point, too... right, from poffin boffin Men of Steel
posted by From Bklyn at 7:23 AM on December 27, 2021 [3 favorites]
Joseph Mitchel, "The Mohawks in High Steel."
There was a revisiting of this here on the blue at some point, too... right, from poffin boffin Men of Steel
posted by From Bklyn at 7:23 AM on December 27, 2021 [3 favorites]
Zero OSHA.
Empire State Building: 5 deaths
60 workers died in the construction of the (original) World Trade Center. (Project size comparison: Empire State Building 2.7 million square feet; original WTC complex 13.4 million square feet. Five times larger, twelve times as many construction deaths.)
And here's a set of comparative stats on other large construction projects.
OSHA was established in 1971, just as the WTC was being completed. Since then: Sears Tower (1974) 5 deaths; Alaska Pipeline (1977) 32 deaths; City Center Las Vegas (2009) 6 deaths.
posted by beagle at 8:13 AM on December 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
Empire State Building: 5 deaths
60 workers died in the construction of the (original) World Trade Center. (Project size comparison: Empire State Building 2.7 million square feet; original WTC complex 13.4 million square feet. Five times larger, twelve times as many construction deaths.)
And here's a set of comparative stats on other large construction projects.
OSHA was established in 1971, just as the WTC was being completed. Since then: Sears Tower (1974) 5 deaths; Alaska Pipeline (1977) 32 deaths; City Center Las Vegas (2009) 6 deaths.
posted by beagle at 8:13 AM on December 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
This footage was shot two years before my father was born. My father has been dead for 15 years.
Depending on how you look at it, a lifetime is either very short or very, very long.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:35 AM on December 27, 2021
Depending on how you look at it, a lifetime is either very short or very, very long.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:35 AM on December 27, 2021
I don't think anything beats Chinese cities and infrastructure.
Uh. About that.
how impressive the project management must have been to deliver the right materials at the right time in the right amount and the right size to keep everyone working at that blistering pace. It wouldn't take much out of line to put the bring everything to a standstill if something was off by an inch.
I think one of the aspects of the ESB's construction that's not frequently discussed is the amount of off-site prefabrication that occurred. I'm not sure it was the first building to use such techniques (I think the Carnegie Co. pioneered it with semi-prefabricated bridge construction for the railroads) but some of the "construction" essentially started at the steel mills where the various parts were made, labeled, packed, and shipped to the site.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:44 AM on December 27, 2021
Uh. About that.
how impressive the project management must have been to deliver the right materials at the right time in the right amount and the right size to keep everyone working at that blistering pace. It wouldn't take much out of line to put the bring everything to a standstill if something was off by an inch.
I think one of the aspects of the ESB's construction that's not frequently discussed is the amount of off-site prefabrication that occurred. I'm not sure it was the first building to use such techniques (I think the Carnegie Co. pioneered it with semi-prefabricated bridge construction for the railroads) but some of the "construction" essentially started at the steel mills where the various parts were made, labeled, packed, and shipped to the site.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:44 AM on December 27, 2021
Kadin, what? You don't find the achievement of self disassembly impressive? Think of the impression those amazing structures will make when they keel over.
posted by Pembquist at 1:50 PM on December 27, 2021
posted by Pembquist at 1:50 PM on December 27, 2021
The Empire State Building (and other skyscrapers of the era) were known for their many Mohawk and other Native American workers. Here's a short history from the Aboriginal Skilled Workers Association.
There was a Marcus Welby episode about Native American steel workers!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:45 PM on December 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
There was a Marcus Welby episode about Native American steel workers!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:45 PM on December 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
From the New York Public Library > Digital Collections > 47 Empire State Building construction photographs taken in 1931 by muckraking photographer Lewis Wicks Hine (1874-1940), and 230 additional images by other photographers.
posted by cenoxo at 4:29 PM on December 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by cenoxo at 4:29 PM on December 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
Construction Worker Deaths Decreased in 2020, ConstructConnect, Kendall Jones, December 17th, 2021:
posted by cenoxo at 8:21 AM on December 28, 2021
Good news. The number of fatal occupational injuries for the construction industry declined in 2020. The number of construction worker deaths in 2020 was 1,008, a 5.3% reduction from the 1,061 fatal work injuries in 2019.Scroll down in the article to see the top ten Construction Jobs With the Highest Number of Fatalities in 2020 – Structural Iron and Steel Workers were lowest in this list with 16 deaths in 2020.
So the bad news is that the construction industry again led all industries in the total number of fatal occupational injuries. The construction industry accounted for 23% of all private industry worker deaths in 2020 according to the [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics] Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.
More bad news. The fatal injury rate for the construction industry in 2020 was 10.2, up from 9.7 in 2019. For all workers, the fatal injury rate remained dropped from 3.5 in 2019 to 3.4 in 2020. The fatal injury rate is calculated as the number of fatal occupations injuries per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers….
posted by cenoxo at 8:21 AM on December 28, 2021
As an ex-construction (shipyard) worker I was totally creeped out by the lack of hard hats. Made it hard to warch.
posted by charlesminus at 9:35 AM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by charlesminus at 9:35 AM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
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