Hi Mike, My name is Robert and I am a union steel worker in one of the most upgraded steel mills in the western region of the united states. I found your show very cool and might have a dirty job for you if you are up for the challenge. I work in the melt-shop as a caster helper. My job is to pour 90-110 tons of 2500 degree liquid steel from a ladel to the tundish. As a caster helper I am in charge of keeping track of tempratures in 15 minute intervals. this means standing over the tundish and sticking a glorified thermometer into the liquid steel as it pours out of the ladel. Along with tempratures I also have to take samples of steel and send them to the lab to be tested for high lead, tinsel strength, grade,exc.. But what I really wanted you to come check out is a scheduled down day in the melt shop. A down day is where the melt shop shuts down and I,(and a group of other poor folks), get to go clean up. There is a lot to be done. First on the list is the heat exchangers over the fourth hole. The heat exchangers are HUGE filters that suck out all the lead and other feris materials as the Electric Arc Furnace is charging a heat,(Melting the steel). We get to go up to the top of the heat exchangers and blow them out.....ALL 800 holes... Remember I said lead filters, as you know lead is very bad so for safety, we get to dress up in tyvec suites and resperaters before we clean. I'm sure you'r used to dressing up and fitting gear which can be a big pain in the butt itself. After the heat exchangers we get to clean the fourth hole and the alloy belts, which is very dusty,dirty,filthy, and dark. After shoveling and scooping and wheel-barrel after wheel-barrel, we clean the furnace. Now, since we need steel, to melt steel, to make steel (kinda funny isn't it) we get our steel out of recycle scrap metal from the scrap yard. Yes anything from refrigerators to cars, if it's metal it will melt. Dropping scrap into the furnace is almost an art, but even the best miss the furnace and scrap lands well...every where. We get to scoop and shovel and clean some more. There are hundreds of exciting dirty jobs throughout the entire steel mill...there are the stands in the Rod Mill, bearing tenders in the Rolling Mill, trackmobile and switching in the Scrap Yard, and the list goes on and on. I would love for you and your crew to come out for the day and spend some time . There are a lot of details that I missed and some things I scimmed over, but if your interested in my job as a caster helper, Down-Days, or any other part of the plant; please let me know and I will give you all the details of how dirty this job can really be. Thanks for your time. Hope to hear from you soon. Robert Kay.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: kim g,
Hi, I'm with the DIRTY JOBS research crew. Please contact us at: dirtyjobsresearch@yahoo.com with more information on how to get in touch with you or more information on your job. Thanks, djresearch2
