Module 1 — My First Hard Lesson

I wasn't directly involved, as it was another crew performing the same work down the road.

I was APE 1, first month on the job. Doing tower work, grunt work, the real reason kids even exist in the trade, all the digging, all the rigging and pulling that nobody else wants to do. Well, crew down the road had a real salty guy, been doing it longer than I been on the shitter. This was right when 100% fall arrest was really gaining traction. He came up the old way, bare knuckles and all balls. Nobody was going to tell him what to do or how to do it. Well, he was skating the lattice that day and fell, and needless to say he died. Big eye-opening kid, this is real. Every day you are learning, and if you aren't learning anymore, you are already dead. This thing will kill you if it you let it. Have the balls, have the attitude, but back it up with work ethic, brains for what's right, and know what is actually safe and what is just bureaucratic oversight disguised as safety.

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