Local 92 earns praise from owner, contractor

Members’ rigging and welding skills dazzle observers

IT WAS A dirty job that fell into the capable hands of Local 92 members (Los Angeles). A dirty job that when completed earned kudos from both the owner and the contractor.

When a wastewater line — buried deep in the basement of the Grayson Station Power Plant in Glendale, Calif. — needed to be replaced, the City of Glendale Water & Power hired ARB Inc. The project required ARB to replace approximately 220 feet of a partially-collapsed large-bore condensate/wastewater line using a slip-line method —pulling out the old pipe while slipping the new pipe into place.

“This was a high-profile job for the city, with a lot of concern as to whether or not it could be accomplished, let alone accomplished within budget and on schedule,” said Larry Jansen, industrial group manager for ARB. “Due to the degree of difficulty and the skills required to perform the rigging, demolition, installation, and welding of this pipe work, we elected to utilize a composite crew, which included Boilermakers Phil Stevenson and Todd Kennedy. Their combined skills were instrumental in our success of this project. The tugger and snatch block rigging dazzled observers, and the welding was second to none, with zero rejects,” Jansen said.

Larry Moorehouse, power plant superintendent, wrote a letter of appreciation to ARB commending the outstanding work and efforts of the repair crew: “These gentlemen had a hard, dirty job and completed it on schedule and with no safety violations or injuries. We are back in operation, with thanks to you.”