Dizzy!

The Circus Circus tower was finishing up as we placed the large roof panels. But there were still plenty of projects to work on downtown. Every casino wanted part of the action and there were remodels being planned almost daily.

One project that I was sent to was the final phase of the Sahara hotel and casino. They were hanging the last 3 or 4 floors of panels and help was needed. Especially help that knew something about panels, hoisting and welding. That was us.

These panels were being made in Arizona and shipped via truck to the jobsite. Once the trucks pulled into town, the drivers wanted to unload and get back on the road, but with no storage available on the site, we had to quickly hoist the panels off of the truck and install them at the same time.

Luckily, the Sahara had two tower cranes on the job; one about 40’ taller than the other, so they could swing over and under one another. And they were always busy, hoisting panels and steel.

One day, I was working with the North crane, the taller of the two, and I was unloading a truck that was parked in the alley. I was actually up on the roof, about 280’ up, but I could see the crew on the ground and see their hand signals. The crane operator couldn’t see into that alley, so it was my job to relay the instructions via radio. No problem; at first. But then an odd thing happened in the middle of the day; the sky was a perfect blue as the sky in Reno usually is and I had glanced up just after I told the operator to begin hoisting a panel. There were puffy while clouds sailing by and just then the South crane rotated and the boom and his load swung past me, I felt a twinge of dizziness and looked down. Oops! As I looked down, I saw the panel coming up out of the alley and at the same time I watched the manlift begin its descent. I looked up again, quickly, and I suddenly had a sensory overload! I was falling! Luckily, I remembered that I was standing with one foot on the parapet, a parapet that was only about 2’ high, so I tried to make sure I fell back onto the deck… and I did.

It took me a few minutes to recover and in the meantime, the panel simply hung there in the air while the crane operator, who could see me, tried calling me on the radio. Another one of the crew grabbed the radio and talked the panel into place while I tried to figure out what had happened to me. Vertigo?

I was shaky for the rest of the day and certainly didn’t want to get too close to the edge of the building. Next day, I was back at it, but with a new awareness of my surroundings. And I never forgot that day.