High time pay?

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mdshunk said:
It may potentially be in a labor agreement.

I've seen it in bid documents for Bacon Davis work, but not in a labor agreement.

IF the language is there...read it carefully....being in a lift generally does NOT require high-time pay - which can be anywhere from 10% - 15% above scale...or whatever you work out with the man actually doing the work:wink:.

I was on a job where it was required that I enter an abandoned elevator shaft that was now being used as a pipe chase. The choices were:
A) Plank off the floors every 2 stories to avoid the high-time pay, but then the EC suffered on the labor of movement of the planking

B) Pay me AND my partner(who did not enter the shaft) high-time for the work and avoid the time lost issue of planking off. (Plenty of PPE was available)

The EC opted for option C....pay me and my partner time and a half to perform this feat using the PPE available ...and whatever else we wanted.

The higher pay actually hurt us ....with the extra money being tossed our way, we moved faster than had we recieved the high-time ( @15%)....so the EC saved money paying us more for less time.


It's a crazy world :grin:
 
mdshunk said:
You're the type of guy I'd take up 40 or 50 feet in a boom lift and sway it around as much as I could on purpose. Sorry, nothing personal, but not having a fear of heights myself, I am entertained by those who do. :grin:

A boom lift may not go over with those type of shenanigans but a scissor lift CAN! A guy I used to work with (who died of other causes of his own) went over in a scissor lift - messed him up pretty bad.

And I, as one who will also bounce around on a boom lift - have learned my lesson the hard way.... Sometimes they don't re-set... ;) Nothing like being stuck there...

That said - ironically - I have refused to work in some conditions not due to height - but lack of safety equipment (until corrected...) - 15 stories in high winds on an old wooden window cleaning bosons seat - I asked, "Are you kidding" NO... "Well I'm not kidding either - NO!"
 
There were a few occasions when I received high pay over the years. One was when I had to walk on building steel 60' over a building lobby to install some lighting fixtures. Another time was using a bosuns chair in a riser shaft. Both times the pay was time and a half. They also paid the time and a half for one hour less than the normal working day. The assumption was that the set up and breakdown time equaled an hour so you were only within the "high" environment an hour less each day.
 
fourteen/two said:
I only received one time and the situation was i was working off of a 12 foot step ladder right next to shaft that went down three stories and the job steward took it upon himself to raise enough fuss to get the contractor to pay.

I did a house years ago where HO had a catwalk from one bedroom area over to another across LRM or foryer. I was hanging a light from a a 4' ladder when I happened to realize that there were no rails yet and I was about 20' off the ground. Nothing major, but reminds you to be aware of your surroundings. :grin:
 
My partner and I was working in a genie telescopic boom lift at around 65 ft we were over some conveyors working on lights..we were taking a light down and the lift tires opposite us came off the ground and the lift leaned up against one of the conveyors..not very gently either..we had to wait for help to get genie boom back on all 4 wheels..then we had to get couple of guys to stand on lift as counter weights to finish the job..Just for the record we were not going back up there it was either now or never, so we finished it..we had one assembled light at a time with us we raised and lowered them by rope to save time..I am afraid of heights and the guy with me was not and neither of us found it funny until later on..So go ahead a screw around just remember it is not the fall it is the sudden stop at the end..Yes we had on our safety gear and the out rigger were employed..some of the light fixtures were still standing on the first hand rail to reach boom maxed out..did we get high pay for that nope should of though..but not part of our contract so oh well..
 
mdshunk said:
You're the type of guy I'd take up 40 or 50 feet in a boom lift and sway it around as much as I could on purpose. Sorry, nothing personal, but not having a fear of heights myself, I am entertained by those who do. :grin:

It's not about having a fear of heights. If someone truely has a fear of heights, no amount of "high time pay" would suffice. The man just wouldn't do it.

High pay is common in shaft work, smokestacks, building atriums, on bridges and el trains. Basically, if a fall will most likely result in death, you're getting high pay.
 
dSilanskas said:
I know the local 223 pays you more money if you work over a certain height. But to be honest I dont recall what the height was. I think THINK 25' but I could be wrong
The local here took High Pay out of their contract about 20 years ago. Same with vacation and holiday pay.
 
I pay my guys an extra $2.00/hr for bucket work we had a relamp job and they were all winning about being afraid of heights so I offered more $ and they quickly overcame their fear
 
Never experienced it in the electrical field, but when I roofed for a few years, we made more per story.

I am not necessarily afraid of heights if I know that it is stable or secure.

Idiots trying to have fun and bounce, wiggle, etc, a lift or whatever just to see if they can spook me.....GETS a quick smack in the head!!! Wanna mess with my safety, I'll knock ya hard enough, you will come close to going over any safety railing. Then we both can have an equal share of the Pucker Factor!!
 
~Shado~ said:
Never experienced it in the electrical field, but when I roofed for a few years, we made more per story.

I am not necessarily afraid of heights if I know that it is stable or secure.

Idiots trying to have fun and bounce, wiggle, etc, a lift or whatever just to see if they can spook me.....GETS a quick smack in the head!!! Wanna mess with my safety, I'll knock ya hard enough, you will come close to going over any safety railing. Then we both can have an equal share of the Pucker Factor!!

Years back we were on a job, when we heard someone scream, stop the XXXX, then we hear a loud scream, the guy being bounced by the idiot, hit the idiot, with a piece of pipe so hard the medics had to take him away, the next day we heard they fired the dummy, going the bouncing.
 
480sparky said:
I love doing that too! I enjoy seeing their handprints permanently impressed in the steel of the handrails! :grin:

I had a newbie with me in a boom lift and we were only about 45' straight up from the base. We where both strapped in but he was gripping the railing tight. :grin:

Well I had to drive toward the building, one wheel was going up a Handicapped ramp while the other had to climb the curb, when we hit that curb I think even his toes gripped the rails :grin:
 
mdshunk said:
You're the type of guy I'd take up 40 or 50 feet in a boom lift and sway it around as much as I could on purpose. Sorry, nothing personal, but not having a fear of heights myself, I am entertained by those who do. :grin:
And when we got back on the ground, you, would not be with us any longer:grin:
 
MD! Quit swaying this thing!!! : ) There's lots of electrical work that doesn't involve trusting boom equipment 50' in the air. I'll let those that like it do it.
 
wireman71 said:
MD! Quit swaying this thing!!! : ) There's lots of electrical work that doesn't involve trusting boom equipment 50' in the air. I'll let those that like it do it.
The biggest thing I was ever in was called a Bronto Boom that was 170 feet. Wasn't even my work, but I knew the guy, and wanted to go up. At that high in the air, you didn't dare try to make any fine adjustments by adjusting the pedestal hydraulics. One little flick of the switch from that high up would move you 2 or 3 feet. All the adjustment once you were that high up had to be done with the wrist jib and basket hydraulics as much as possible. It is a great truck to work on tall signs along highways and sportslighters.

Here's a pic of a similar truck:

1172529453262_PRE21404.jpg
 
I have been curious to know how much one of those things must cost. I see them used from time to time for over 100 grand, so they must be closer to 400K when new, I'm guessing.
 
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