Every time you go up on the iron, it could be the last time. But the danger hasn't disappeared, as Wednesday proved. A newspaper clipping posted at the union building in West Allis commemorates an ironworker who fell to her death in Pleasant Prairie in 1996. OSHA estimates that implementing new safety rules and enforcing existing standards could save all but two lives a year attributable to steel erection accidents. A spokesman for the agency in Washington said Thursday that the agency hopes to finalize the new rules by the end of the year.
Ironworkers carry the stories of their own brushes with danger like badges of honor.
Jorgensen broke a kneecap. Sometimes we'll stay up all night because we can't wait to do it in the morning. Joel Dresang of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Dan Cross talk Thursday at Bennett's tavern in West Allis. Joecks worked at Miller Park on Wednesday, the day Big Blue collapsed.