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A steeplejack is a craftsman
Trade (profession)

A trade as an occupation usually refers to the profession that require some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in most kinds of crafts and small-scale production of goods....
 who is prepared to scale tall buildings and in particular church steeple
Steeple (architecture)

A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian Church es and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure....
s to carry out general repairs.

Britain's most famous steeplejack was Fred Dibnah
Fred Dibnah

Fred Dibnah Order of the British Empire , born in Bolton, Lancashire, was an English steeplejack, engineer and eccentricity who became a television personality, a cult figure and, latterly, a national institution....
, who became a television presenter and minor celebrity as a result of his craft.

Steeplejacks erect ladders on church spire
Spire

A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from Anglo-Saxon language, so it is related to "spear," rather than the Romance languages and "spirit."...
s, industrial chimney
Chimney

A chimney is a structure for venting hot flue gases or smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside Earth's atmosphere. Chimneys are typically vertical, or as near as possible to vertical, to ensure that the gases flow smoothly, drawing air into the combustion in what is known as the stack effect....
s, cooling tower
Cooling tower

Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to the atmosphere. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the Wet-bulb temperature or rely solely on air to cool the working fluid to near the Dry-bulb temperature....
s, bell towers, clock tower
Clock tower

A clock tower is a tower built with one or more clock Clock face. The clock tower is usually part of a church or municipal building such as a town hall, but many clock towers are free-standing....
s, or any other high inaccessible structure. In the UK, steeplejacks now use a belay rope fall-arrest system (similar to the method used by rock climbers) attached to the ladders as they are erected to eliminate free climbing and greatly reduce the risk of falls from height.

Once ladders have been erected, the next stage is usually to suspend a bosun's chair
Bosun's chair

A bosun's chair or boatswain's chair is a device used to suspend a person from a rope in order to perform work aloft. It is distinguished from a climbing harness by the inclusion of a more or less rigid seat, providing more comfort than even the best-padded straps for long-term use....
 (a strong wooden plank on which the steeplejack can sit very comfortably, pull himself upwards or lower himself downwards, or sit in a stationary position), but abseil equipment is replacing the bosun's chair on many operations because of its lighter weight.

Once this has been done it is possible to use this access to begin building a scaffold to carry out any repairs which may be required.






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A steeplejack is a craftsman
Trade (profession)

A trade as an occupation usually refers to the profession that require some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in most kinds of crafts and small-scale production of goods....
 who is prepared to scale tall buildings and in particular church steeple
Steeple (architecture)

A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian Church es and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure....
s to carry out general repairs.

Britain's most famous steeplejack was Fred Dibnah
Fred Dibnah

Fred Dibnah Order of the British Empire , born in Bolton, Lancashire, was an English steeplejack, engineer and eccentricity who became a television personality, a cult figure and, latterly, a national institution....
, who became a television presenter and minor celebrity as a result of his craft.

Steeplejacks erect ladders on church spire
Spire

A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from Anglo-Saxon language, so it is related to "spear," rather than the Romance languages and "spirit."...
s, industrial chimney
Chimney

A chimney is a structure for venting hot flue gases or smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside Earth's atmosphere. Chimneys are typically vertical, or as near as possible to vertical, to ensure that the gases flow smoothly, drawing air into the combustion in what is known as the stack effect....
s, cooling tower
Cooling tower

Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to the atmosphere. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the Wet-bulb temperature or rely solely on air to cool the working fluid to near the Dry-bulb temperature....
s, bell towers, clock tower
Clock tower

A clock tower is a tower built with one or more clock Clock face. The clock tower is usually part of a church or municipal building such as a town hall, but many clock towers are free-standing....
s, or any other high inaccessible structure. In the UK, steeplejacks now use a belay rope fall-arrest system (similar to the method used by rock climbers) attached to the ladders as they are erected to eliminate free climbing and greatly reduce the risk of falls from height.

Once ladders have been erected, the next stage is usually to suspend a bosun's chair
Bosun's chair

A bosun's chair or boatswain's chair is a device used to suspend a person from a rope in order to perform work aloft. It is distinguished from a climbing harness by the inclusion of a more or less rigid seat, providing more comfort than even the best-padded straps for long-term use....
 (a strong wooden plank on which the steeplejack can sit very comfortably, pull himself upwards or lower himself downwards, or sit in a stationary position), but abseil equipment is replacing the bosun's chair on many operations because of its lighter weight.

Once this has been done it is possible to use this access to begin building a scaffold to carry out any repairs which may be required. This is done by fixing anchor
Anchor

An anchor is an object, often made out of metal, that is used to attach a ship to the bottom of a body of water at a specific point. There are two primary classes of anchors?temporary and permanent....
s into the wall (whether concrete, stone, or brick) and "kicking" the scaffold off from there.

It is also possible to carry out major repairs from "suspended access cradles". These are the same type of "rigs" many people will have seen window cleaners using on skyscraper
Skyscraper

A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building. There is no official definition nor height above which a building may clearly be classified as a skyscraper....
s. The cradle is suspended from 4 wires. Two of these run through an electric motor which can "climb" or "descend" the wire, and the other two run freely through a small but reassuring box which allows the cradle to travel upwards with no obstruction, but will stop it instantly if it starts to fall. These "suspended access cradles" are popularly called "swing stages" by their crews.

Steeplejacks are called upon to repair or replace masonry
Masonry

Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar , and the term "masonry" can also refer to the units themselves....
 (brick, stone or concrete), carry out general carpentry or painting
Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting....
 or roof repair, remove and clean and repair windows, as well as sandblasting and other masonry cleaning tasks.

In Ontario
Ontario

Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
, Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, many are represented by Local 598 of the OPCMIA union (Operative Plasterers, Cement masons and Restoration
Building restoration

Building restoration describes the process of the renewal and refurbishment of the fabric of a building. The phrase covers a wide span of activities, from the cleaning of the interior or exterior of a building - such as is currently underway at St Paul's Cathedral in London - to the rebuilding of damaged or derelict buildings, such as the re...
 Steeplejacks International Association of the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and Canada), and are required to complete a five-year apprenticeship.