Walking Top Plates

Brandito

i keep hearing rumblings that we're not allowed to walk top plates anymore? i'm not sure if it's an osha thing, something with the state of illinois, or some other agency, but i've heard a lot of companies in the area no longer allow their crews to walk top plates. the company i work for has gotten more strict about how we get on the walls, how much we're walking up there, and when we're walking up there, but we're still allowed for the most part.

so does anyone know what the story is? just curious i guess.

steves

If it's more than a 6' fall on either side then you need fall protection.

I've never built anything with less than 6' cielings, so I would say you can't walk the plates.

Your tag says Union Carpenter, Don't they have any safety (osha) training? If not try to find some classes elsewhere before your company gets fined.

Brandito

yes, we have weekly safety meetings, but this is relatively new as i understand it. i also went through the 10 hour osha as they require all apprentices to go through now.

before all you needed was a fall protection plan and to put of CAZ signs if it was residential. i have my osha book still and it mentions that a fall protection plan is used when it's not feasible to use normal fall protection practices.

what they've been doing is to allow us to walk the plates, but you can't be on the outside wall unless you're harnessed. spreading roof trusses with a harness is something new to get used to and really doesn't feel any safer.

we've even been putting railings up around the roof along with our normal toe boards as we sheet, it's either that your you're harnessed the whole time.

like i said, things haven't been real clear, i've been laid off a lot this past year so it was news to me when i went back to work over the summer and found out about this.

curapa

Cant walk on walls? That's a great way to slow production down, but I admit I have seen several people that didn't have the balance or were plain ole' goofy footed and they shouldn't have been up there.

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silvertree

I think we should build 4' walls, frame and sheet the roof and then with a crane lift the assembly onto another 4' wall. Then we should all hold hands and sing Kuumbya.

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Brandito

you're not far off from how i hear one company in the area has been doing it. these guys have their own panel shop so they panelize everything. not just walls, they even do their decks and roofs on the ground or in the shop.

i guess they'll pre-frame sections of deck, sheet them and have them sent to the job and lifted by crane into place. for roofs they'll frame them on the ground, run rat runs and stay lathe and lift them into place with a crane. i don't think they're sheeting the roof sections on the ground though.

if they can't do that they have to build scaffolds around the outside of the building to walk on in order to spread the roof trusses.

in my experience everyone has to walk the top plates, unless you've been around a while, don't wanna say old, but you know what i mean. the guys who can't, usually don't last very long because there's not much for them to do.

silvertree

Saying old is OK with me, I did high rise among other things so I got nothing to prove. I remember when you get used to it its like being on the ground, just a more careful on the ground.

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loneframer

Did lots of "whacky wall walking" back in younger days. One guy I used to work for got a stopwatch for a gift, so we obviously had to see who could walk the perimeter of the second floor the fastest.That was dumb, nobody got hurt fortunately.

Brandito

some of my first experiences on top of the wall was watching my lead guy hope from one side of the hallways to the other and run up and down the plates. i'm guilty of taking the leap of faith from time to time, but this guy was a ninja.

i've met a couple others like him, usually the shorter guy are a bit more agile up there. one thing i don't like to do is layout while walking plates. on 2x6 walls it's not so bad, but as soon as i get bent over on those 2x4 walls i start looking for an exit strategy. i don't care what anyone says, that's when i go grab a step ladder.

loneframer

Yup, twenty some years ago we would walk backwards and layout 2nd floor 2x4 walls, untill my boss fell, luckily to the inside of the building. Now I only walk interiors, and the last time i had to do a controlled fall, I thought my shins split from knees to ankles. Thats the difference 20 years and 40 pounds makes. Luckily I don't do much wall walking anymore, if I can't lay it out before I stand it, a ladder is nearby. 12' pics come in handy sometimes too.

Warren

Some people are just naturals at it. My former boss would only come on the framing crew once in a while. He could go 6 months with no framing,stop out outta the blue and pull himself up at the middle of a long wall and just go! I swear this guy was so good at it he could probably walk off the end, realize what he did, and walk back on just like in the cartoons.

knucklehead

The good old days . I try to avoid it myself . Most of the houses or buildings I do anymore have 2x6 walls or 2x8, at least on the outside . I try to lay them out before we stand them up if possible. I try to discourage my help to be safe and do it off of ladders or scaffolding . OSHA has made me that way.

Brandito

sounds like the days of wild west framing are coming to an end, but who am i to talk? i'm just barely done apprenticing

i guess some day i'll be glad they got all these new safety rules and and what not, probably help me to live longer!

joasis

At 48, I don't walk the walls or climb the steel either. I know guys that do it that are way older then I am, but I do not. And....I don't need to prove it anymore.

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curapa

UPDATE: I have just found out that my old boss, the "wall master" has fallen off an 8' wall. He landed wrong and is now suffering from two broken legs.

This guy was good, he'd walk on anything, any height, braced or not , He was one of the best wall walkers I had seen but his day came and now hes laying in bed with broken legs, He was an asshole

I put the smilies in because he was a showboat on the walls or for anything for that matter. He had it coming.

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loneframer

Karma's gonna get you for them smilies Earl.

curapa

Ha HA Ha, It seemed nobody else wanted to play, maybe I'll go stir up some trouble there now.

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loneframer

Dang skippy Earl.

wallmaxx

10' or above in WA state require fall arrest.

Back in the day...no rules. I would even race guys running up a rafter to the highest ridge on the house (16" oc you're never going to fall through). Then when we got to the top, we'd tuck our hammers under our butts and slide back down the same way we just ran up. Fun at 20...silly at 40.

curapa

Sounds like a splinter in the groin@!

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