They are getting fixed right now, but they did haul them to another site to fix them, so i may not know if they just added more weld or fixed them right!
By awspartb 
Date 02-06-2008 03:37
Edited 02-06-2008 03:44
Every contractor has an insurance company who is liable for death or injury. If it's as bad as you think it is, they would be interested in your observations. Better be damn sure if you decide to take this route. Another possible way to go is OSHA and the governing body in your state that handles structural steel inspection. If it's bribery, the Attorney General or District Attorney would be the people to contact.
CTacker -- I am glad they are reworking the welds. I assume the building belongs to your company, and your company contracted out the work. That makes your company the "Owner". The owner has full power to reject workmanship that does not meet the contract. That essentially gives YOU THE POWER, working for the owner, to inspect and reject poor workmanship...... You should ask for all weldor certs, welding procedures and all MTRs for material added that go along with this job, it would be within your rights.
(The actual list is long)
Also check to see if some of the welding would fall under AWS D14.1/D14.1M:2005 SPECIFIC...Where Requirements are presented for the design and fabrication of constructional steel weldments that are used in industrial and mill cranes, lifting devices and other material handling equipment.
Think about it.
Oh by the way your boss must be a fool!!!!!!!!!!!
Some people may think that,in fact sometimes i may think it also, but to the corporate office he turned a 15 mil company to over 89 mil in 3 years! but that is not what i came here to debate!
i just can't believe that work was done by journeyman union ironworkers.......
they wouldn't last 2 minutes here in L.A........
and wheres the welding forman on this job....?
i just can't believe that work was done by journeyman union ironworkers.......
they wouldn't last 2 minutes here in L.A.........and wheres the welding forman on this job .......?
Not to roil up the sediment and get the water muddy again: I have seen crane booms, overhead crane bridges, rail support on columns, and etc. where the welds would frighten you to see them.
In one particular case, we were asked to examine a 10 ton overhead single beam bridge when it had been side loaded. The operators had turned over a 15 ton rotor and it "got away from them". Yep - that's right. 10 ton crane with a 15 ton load and they had been doing that routinely. This time the bridge bent in the center so that now jammed the trolley in travel when it had a load on it.
The first thing I could see from the floor is that the beam had a 20 section spliced in the center of the bridge. The crane had been built for a 60' span and the building was 80'. So they had simply cut the bridge in the center and added in 20'. I never did find out if an engineer had approved it.
The owner had wanted us to heat straighten the beam, so I went up in a manlift with the maintenance manager to have a look. The welds didn't look good from the floor level and they looked worse as we got close. At the splices, I could clearly see there was no weld on the outside of the bottom flange; just a few "goobers" flattened by grinding. The lead from my mechanical pencil went in 3/4" deep - apparently the splices were made in position and the welder didn't feel comfortable making overhead welds. From what I could tell, the web welds looked pretty good, so it seemed odd the vertical welds could be made but not the overhead welds.
The crane had been used in that state for about 15-20 years; routinely used to position heavy parts on multi-million dollar machines. Even though the crane capacity was 10 tons, they had "load tested it and found it could handle 15 tons with no visible signs of damage" (10 tons was the manufacturer's original rating; don't forget that 20' was "spliced" in the middle.)
It is surprising to see just how much a weldment will actually hold, and for how long, when it has known defects. Yet other times the disaster happens much more quickly. That's why we call it "Russian Roulette".
Anyway, we declined the work and recommended they buy themselves a new crane.
You have done the right thing. EXPOSURE!! Also in the future, even if you are not signing for it, documentation is everything and CWI is also CYA, document it to cover your ***.
Man, I can't believe thats union labor on those beams. Somebody needs to get an a$$ chewing and then sit the bench for awhile to think about what he did and could of done. That's just sad.
