Construction Safety News
Spring 1998 - Cover Feature
"Threading The Eye"
(Excerpts)

How do you get a 500 gallon diesel tank and a 8,000 pound generator at the end of a 200 foot cable through a 14 foot by 6 foot hole on the roof of the 13th floor?
Interesting question? Read on...

Background: The Spring 1998 issue of Construction Safety News features a cover story titled "Threading The Eye" by Gary Christiansen, Regional Safety Director of Kajima. The article deals with the safety issues associated with a complex project for the installation of a diesel fuel tank and a generator in the Civic Opera Building in Chicago.
Quoting from the article -
The Opera House is shaped like a King´s chair with a seat that is 13 and 8 stories high, arms that are 24 stories high, and a back that is 45 stories high. The building is bordered on three sides by streets and the Chicago River runs right next to the back side. How do you get a 500 gallon diesel tank and a 8,000 pound generator at the end of a 200 foot cable through a 14 foot by 6 foot hole on the roof of the 13th floor? Not only that, but at the end of a 450 to 500 foot cable, how do you place three condenser units and one motor up on the roof of the 8th floor and within 20 feet of the high part of the building? Actually getting this equipment up there was the easy part of the lift. Getting the diesel tank and generator through the hole in the 13th floor roof that only allowed inches to spare, lowering these two units about 22 feet to the floor, and then turning the units 90 degrees had everyone concerned.
 
The 1st lift would be to drop 250 to 300 feet of cable on the 13th floor roof and to check wind conditions. The 2nd and 3rd lifts would be the fuel tank and the generator respectively using 200 feet of cable. The fuel tank was to be secured in its resting place before the generator was placed on top of the tank. The 4th, 5th 6th and 7th lifts would be done to get the condensers and motor to the roof of the 13th floor. The 8th lift allowed the extra 250 to 300 feet of cable on the 13th floor roof to be picked up and added to the 200 feet of cable already under the helicopter. The 9th, 1Oth, 11th, and 12th lifts were required to get the condensers and motor off the 13th floor roof to the 8th floor roof.
 
Because of the Preplanning and the Site Specific Safety Plan, only one hour was required to do this job and to get vehicle and pedestrian traffic back to normal. 
 
Clearly, this job required the highly skilled and experienced pilots and crew from Carson Helicopters as well as the proper equipment and aircraft. Another Carson success story!