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Philadelphia
City Hall
by Kelly
Streeter, Photos by Jon Reis
 During
the week of December 1st, Vertical Access
Technicians Kent Diebolt, James Banta, Mike Gilbert, Tom Zajicek and
Star Atkeson conducted a close visual inspection of the 8 bronze
sculptures high on the tower of this 1901 building. Built in the Second Empire Mode
of French Renaissance Revival architectural style, Philadelphia City Hall
is the nations largest municipal building (even larger than the US
Capitol Building). Completed in 1901, construction spanned 30
years and therefore boasts a long list of architects in charge,
including John MacArthur Jr, who won the original design competition,
John Ord and W. Bleddyn Powell.
 The Vertical Access
sculpture inspection, completed in collaboration with the City of
Philadelphia Office of Arts and
Culture and Keast and Hood Co, concentrated on eight bronze principal
sculptures designed by Alexander Milne Calder. The Vertical Access
team provided hand-sketched drawings and photographs of the sculptures
and obtained samples of sculpture material including surface patination, soiling
and fill materials. The team also opened access panels and climbed
inside the sculptures and used the See Snake and live-feed video to
assist the conservation efforts.
The VA team also
inspected the steel and cast iron cladding
on the clock tower. The intent was to ascertain the condition of
the cladding to identify possible sources of occasional water
infiltration into the tower. The condition of the cladding
panels, joints, fasteners and paint were all noted on elevations;
digital still and video photography were also taken to document
conditions found.
View the project
profile on our website.
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Harness
Suspension Trauma
by
Kelly Streeter
The primary life
safety concern
for those who work at height is fall protection. What happens
after a arrested fall, however, can be just as serious. Harness
suspension trauma (also known as harness-induced pathology) is a
little-known hazard to a person hanging in a harness.
Two articles,
available on the Vertical Access website, explain and highlight the
dangers of harness suspension trauma. These articles are highly
recommended reading for anyone who ever works in a harness.
Article
1: Will Your Safety Harness Kill You?
Weems, B., Bishop, P., Will Your Safety Harness Kill You? Workers and
Emergency Response Personnel Must Be Trained to Recognize the Risks of
Suspension Trauma, Occupational Safety and Health, March, 2003.
Article
2: Suspension Trauma and Rescue Harness Safety
Weems, W., Bishop, P., Suspension
Trauma and Rescue Harness Safety, Fire Engineering, December, 2003,
pp. 67 - 69.
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Technology
Highlight: Leading Edge Nets
by Kelly Streeter
 Recently,
Vertical Access has been approached by its clients to add to its suite
of services the installation of safety netting to structures as a
temporary stabilization measure.
In August of 2003,
Vertical Access technicians Mike Gilbert, James Banta, and Donn
Hewes installed netting over the slate tower roofs at 5 Beekman Street
as a temporary public safety measure. The
client, Newmark Realty, was concerned about falling slate tiles.
The team used polyester debris netting supplied by Leading Edge
Safety Systems, a Deep River, CT company specializing in safety netting
.
When approached to
install netting in conjunction with an inspection project at the Church of the Holy Trinity in New York City,
Vertical Access again contacted Leading Edge Safety Systems, and learned
more about their netting. Their
patented shrinking net is constructed of polymer-modified fibers that
shrink when wetted with water. John Rexroad and Herve Rivard of Leading Edge Safety Systems
met with the Vertical Access team to help choose the appropriate
products for the project.
The
investigation, completed in September allowed the Vertical Access team to
establish the existing conditions and measure the
building.
In October, the netting was
secured to the terra cotta gargoyles and bandcourse using 5/8-inch
diameter shrinking rope (#20S Ultimate Shrinking Spalling Net with
Debris Liner attached, as per technical specification).
After placement the netting was wetted and the net conformed, as
planned, to the 3-D terra cotta, allowing for a secure fit, without hours of
adjustment or worries about stretching. For more
information on Vertical Access netting installation, see the debris
net or the shrinking
net technical
highlights on our website.
Leading Edge
Safety Systems
Leading Edge Safety Systems continually provides innovative products
emphasizing quality, durability and value. We
take pride in supplying cutting edge technology to meet or exceed the
increasing netting-related demands. Our
extensive Patent portfolio has evolved through creative designs,
real-world applications and unbeatable results.
www.netting.com
contact Herve Rivard
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Technology
Highlight: New VA Inspection Tools by
Kelly Streeter
Vertical Access has
added to its collection of visual inspection tools, recently
purchasing video equipment that connects to our range of boroscopes.
This allows the operator to view the boroscope image or screen and
to capture both video clips and still shots of an
investigation. The addition of a powerful 300 watt light
source rounds out VA's new boroscopic capabilities.
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Employee
Updates
James
Banta's Painting Shows
My
artwork takes inspiration from world history, geography, and questions
of cultural identity. My
paintings are abstractions of the physical world viewed from different
perspectives as a means to examine current or past social and political
situations.
CURRENT SHOWS
 CULTURAL CARTOGRAPHY: Paintings and Photographs
by James V. Banta
An exhibition examining the relationships between diversity and
common ground using geography as a medium.
http://www.mcdaniel.edu/news/headlines/cartography.shtml
February 6 - March 26, 2004
Rice Gallery in Peterson Hall at McDaniel College, Westminster, MD
Artist's 'Cultural Cartography' on display at
McDaniel College
The interplay between geography and political boundaries is what has
inspired
artist James Banta to create his latest collection of paintings.
For more of this story, click on or type the URL below:
http://www.carrollcounty.com/articles/2004/02/07/news/news5.txt
"Circumanhattanation"
See
the show at
Local Project
2136
44th Road, Long
Island City, NY
James Banta, Evan Kopelson, Jay Platt,
and Andaleeb Banta
Opening Reception Party: Saturday, March 6, 2004
The "Circumanhattanation" project is based on the
exploration of a New York
different than the one familiar to most pedestrians. This
exhibition offers
an alternate perspective on our immediate surroundings by portraying
the
familiar geography and cityscape of Manhattan with different points
of
reference.
Kelly
Streeter
Kelly received passed her Professional
Engineering exam in October. In January she took a five-day
Welding Inspection seminar offered by American Welding Society and
took the Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) exam.
Stardust
Atkeson
 Stardust Atkeson recently had the
opportunity to help create a Sol LeWitt wall drawing with a crew of
artists at The Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, New York. The museum
(designed by Edward Larabee Barnes) is having a unique exhibition of
Sol LeWitt's work including new sculptures; "Domes," a
gallery of paintings on paper and the site specific wall drawing that
Stardust was able to work on. The show closes on April 24 2004. After
which the
wall drawing will be painted over.
The wall drawing took two weeks to complete and
consisted of a lot of ladder climbing, masking areas off with drafting
tape and paper and painting six coats of blue, green, red, orange, and
purple acrylic paint on all four walls. The end result was a vibrant
mural that looked like multi-colored bands that wound around the room
on a background of blue. The best part of the project was meeting and
working with eight interesting artists.
http://www.katonahmuseum.org
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