Dad went on to tell me about another large job he was working in LA when a skip with four men aboard fell eight floors when the rigging for the three-to-three rope blocks failed. Three men rode it out but didn�t survive the impact. The fourth man managed to grab a spreader beam during the descent and was able to hang on, unfortunately he was hit by the rest of the rigging coming down the hatch and was also killed.
During those days accidents were commonplace with no safety skips, guard rails or harnesses. The companies tried putting guard rails on the skips, but found out we would just use them to gain the extra height to work rather than pulling the skips up by hand. Also, there were always things coming down the hoistways. Guard rails just barred our emergency exit so the crews resisted the idea. I, personally, never worked off a skip equipped with safeties until about 1970. Once the idea caught on and the crews got used to them, they saved many lives.
