Pittsburgh ironworkers touch the sky

The only way to erect a building is by hand, an ironworker's hand, one beam at a time.

Though technology advances at exponential rates each year, the job of the ironworker remains the same.

Since the 1880s, the only advancement in how to make skyscrapers is the change from using hot rivets to high-strength bolts. That, and safety practices.

“It's not for everyone,” said Greg Bernarding, a vice president of Iron Workers Local Union No. 3 as he climbed 13 stories of scaffolding to a job site. He has put in more than 20 years as an ironworker.

Ironworkers once climbed hundreds of feet into the sky unfettered as depicted in the famous photograph “Lunch atop a Skyscraper” in 1932 from atop the RCA Building in New York City. Today, workers are fitted with safety harnesses and lanyards used to tie-off to secure beams, and wear hard hats and safety glasses.

The union local is busy working on The Gardens at Market Square project, Downtown. It combines a 197-room Hilton Garden Inn with an office building known as Tower Two-Sixty. The project is expected to include retail and restaurant space on the first and second floors, and a 330-car garage.

On New Year's Eve, the workers braved 6-degree wind chills on the top story of the structure as they connected girders and braces, weighing several thousand pounds, on the building arising over Market Square.

James Knox is a Trib Total Media photographer. Reach him at jknox@tribweb.com.