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Working on a steel girder more than 50 storeys over Edmonton would unnerve most people, but for ironworkers building one of Canada’s tallest towers it’s another cool day on the job.

“It takes a little nerve, but you kind of tune out the height after you have been doing it for a while,” said Keith Stevenson, business manager for Ironworkers local 720 on Thursday.

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About a dozen of the local’s 2,200 members are installing trusses and putting in bolts at the top of Edmonton’s 66-storey Stantec Tower, which will be Canada’s highest office building west of Toronto when it’s completed by the end of the year.

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The skilled tradespeople are captured in a series of heart-stopping photos posted on Facebook by the Building Trades of Alberta, doing what Stevenson admits is “a fairly specialized type of work.”

“You have to really like the heights. You don’t always get to work at heights like that … You also have to be able to climb up without assistance.”

All their work is done with harnesses and other safety equipment.

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While ironworkers don’t have many chances at such projects because towers are often built with concrete rather than steel, some members enjoy working on such a lofty perch, he said.

“I think the excitement of it (is the appeal). It gives you a bit of a rush. And the knowledge you’re doing something other people can’t do. A lot of these guys are thrill-seekers in their off-hours.”

gkent@postmedia.com

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