![]() From the north, using cranes, derricks and a variety of support structures, they raised a series of triangular sections that gradually decreased in size to a point 630 feet off the ground, meeting a mirror-image structure coming from the south base, 630 feet away. If you stop to think about the work the Gateway Arch constructors were doing, it is mind-boggling. They become distracted because there is nothing for them to focus on. Employees on work sites who don’t have precise duties to perform can be a hazard. A detailed pre-job briefing can then be prepared and given to those who are vital and necessary for the work to be completed. Only those with vital functions should be on-site. ![]() Job-site safety improves when extraneous employees are kept out of the work area. Their job sites were confined to small areas, and there was lots of supervision. The project used fewer than 100 workers to do the job. There are a few possibilities that may have contributed to this remarkable absence of fatalities.įor one, when promoters were pushing to build the arch, they said it would employ up to 5,000 workers. The film shown at the arch’s visitor center clearly shows workers hundreds of feet off the ground with no fall protection in sight. There isn’t much written about why such a daring project was finished without any fatal incidents. As it turned out, there were zero worker fatalities during construction of the arch. Actuarial tables used for estimating the arch’s construction costs included funds for 13 worker fatalities during construction. Millions of tourists have taken that tram to the top of the arch, where windows afford a wonderful view.Īs you may have realized, the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 was not signed into law until five years after the arch was completed. When it was completed, a tram was installed in the hollow chamber inside the arch. The north and south bases of the arch rest on concrete supports, with a visitor center built underground between the two legs of the arch. Each section has an inner steel wall that allows for reinforced concrete to be poured between the skin of the arch and the inner steel wall. It was a unique project in scope, design and construction.ĭesigned to be 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide, the arch is made of sections of stainless-steel equilateral triangles with 54-foot sides at the base, tapering to 17-foot sides at the top. Louis began on February 12, 1963, and was completed in 1965. Construction of the famous Gateway Arch in St.
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