Spider, a division of
SafeWorks LLC, has provided powered access throughout the eight-year construction of the new self-anchor suspension span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in California.
American Bridge/Fluor Joint Venture, the general contractor for this massive bridge project, turned to Spider in 2008 for a variety of swing stages, work baskets, and hoists. Over the past six years, it purchased and rented standard Spider equipment to enable workers to access the bridge’s cables, underside of its roadway deck, and its 525-ft. tall tower.
Spider’s engineers also designed a custom platform to reach around the exterior of the tower shaft. The equipments’ lightweight and easy connections enabled American Bridge/Fluor Joint Venture to change the platform’s length as needed to gain better access to the sloping tower face. This maximized working space on the platforms and helped maintain productivity.
Spider fall protection equipment including harnesses, safety lines, rope grabs and lanyards was also implemented on-site.
In order to ensure safe, productive equipment operation, Spider’s San Francisco-based team provided both Competent Person Training and on-site User Training to American Bridge/Fluor Joint Venture. This significantly contributed to six years without any suspended access mishaps or incidents.
“The Bay Bridge project provided many opportunities to think outside the box to get the job done,” said Levi Gatsos, design engineer with American Bridge/Fluor Joint Venture. “Spider’s engineers and local support team rose to every challenge. All in all, their responsiveness to our needs and our experience with their equipment have been excellent.”
Additionally, Spider equipment has also been used by painting and elevator contractors during bridge construction.
