“The guys and the women I work with are all excellent,” he said. “We like to stress to ourselves we are a brotherhood. As far as the ironworkers, I believe we truly are. We kind of look out for each other.”

Safety on the job has improved during his career. The top concern of contractors is employee safety, he said.

“They want to make sure that everybody comes to work everyday, with all 10 fingers and toes, and that we go home with them.”

Workers today get more special training for safety. They also use things like tie-out lifts, safety cables and aerial lifts. There’s a lot less chance of a guy working off a ladder, over-reaching and falling, he said. “If they work out of a work platform or an aerial lift, they actually have their feet on a solid surface and a hand rail all around them.”

Teamwork in terms of safety, is another positive, he said.

“You can always rely on the guy next to you when you are at work as far as being safe,” he said. “I can rely on that same guy to support his weight in the gang everyday. That’s why we like to work.”

There’s an actual shortage of ironworkers currently, Caldwell said.