Construction has its ups and downs. Literally. As the construction industry grows, great achievements have been made, like construction of soaring skyscrapers, while closely following safety guidelines. But there are also those who use substandard tools or shoddy methods, like the workers who rushed to finish Willow Island cooling tower. What have been some of the biggest hits and misses to date? Read on to find out!
Wins:
- Hello down there! The tallest building (and the tallest free-standing structure in the world) is Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. Standing at 2,722 ft. (829.8 m), the massive structure is 946 ft. taller than the new One World Trade Center, that stands at a comparatively measly 1,776 ft. (541.3 m).
- Planning a trip across the country? The amount of concrete used to build the Hoover Dam, a whopping 4,360,000 cubic yards, is enough to build a two-lane highway across America. It could also build a monument taller than the Empire State Building.
- Slow and steady wins the race. Sometimes. In China, a 30-story, energy-efficient hotel, that has air 20 times cleaner than comparable hotels and can withstand a magnitude 9 earthquake, was built in 15 days or 360 hours. This time-lapse video shows the construction of the hotel.
- How many inches are in a foot? The Newby-McMahon building in Wichita, Texas is considered the smallest skyscraper ever built. J.D. McMahon, owner of an oil-rig construction firm, raised $200,000 for construction of the building in 1919 (about $2M in 2015), but never mentioned how tall the building would be. Investors in the building clearly didn’t read the blueprints or they would have known McMahon planned for the building to be 480 inches tall, not 480 feet. McMahon’s scheme presumably allowed him to keep a large portion of the investors’ money, and since he never verbally stated the height to investors, he won most court cases brought against him.
Misses:
- Collapsing cranes. You may remember that in 2008 a crane collapsed in New York City killing multiple people.
The reason? Workers used safety straps that were in poor condition and used half the amount of straps required for the job.
Lesson: Don’t cut corners.
- Falling walkways. In one of the most fatal accidents to occur in America, two walkways at the Hyatt hotel in Kansas City, Kansas collapsed and fell four floors onto an active dance competition.
The reason? The design for the walkway had recently changed. The tie rods and support beams that would usually support just one walkway instead now supported two. The additional weight of the people pushed it over the edge.
Lesson: Pay attention to detail.
- Faulty mirrors. Believe it or not, it may be a good idea to make sure everything is attached to an object you send into space. This wasn’t the case for the Hubble Space Telescope.
The reason? The faulty mirror on the Hubble reduced the quality of images on the first launch. It had to be brought back to earth before it could continue its journey. Repairs cost U.S. taxpayers around $6 billion.
Lesson: When the stakes are high (and even when they’re not), double check your work.
- While switching the single-prime and double-prime symbols may have worked for McMahon, it didn’t work so well for Nigel Tufnel of fictional rock group Spinal Tap.
The reason? When Tufnel had an idea to create a life-size model of Stonehenge for their newest song by the same name, he wrote the wrong dimensions and the results were hilariously embarrassing.
Lesson: Keep musicians away from construction projects.
Humor aside, construction safety is no joke. Strong Man supports safe practices on construction sites and encourages everyone to stay safe wherever they are. We make sure your project stays strong, every time.