Jul. 2—LOWVILLE — Construction site safety is so important there is an entire industry forged around it. When people climb steep ladders nearly 350 vertical feet inside a gradually tapering metal tube while carrying at least 30 pounds of gear, the tighter the safety practices are, the better.

The more than 200 men and women constructing the Number Three Wind Farm project in the towns of Lowville and Harrisburg — owned by Chicago-based Invenergy — had logged 100,000 worker hours without a safety incident by May 15, and 200,000 hours by June 25, when a catered barbecue lunch was planned to reward the crews from five different contracting companies.

By the time the celebration took place on Thursday afternoon, 213,000 worker hours without an accident had been logged.

"That is 100% accountable to the craft workers," said Peter C. Geelan, Invenergy's construction manager.

Craft, or trade workers include the laborers, operators, iron workers, the electricians and the linemen in the field, loading and unloading massive turbine parts that get "stacked," assembled, wired and connected to the state's energy grid to produce 104 megawatts of power every year — enough electricity to power about 29,000 homes.

"(It's) the fact that you want to be your brothers' keeper — when you see something you say something — and you all chose to work safe and you chose to go home safe ... It wouldn't have mattered if we put on 50 safety managers, it's the craft guys that make the difference and make this a safe job site," Mr. Geelan told the team sitting at tables enjoying food and the chance to relax. "We just want to show our appreciation to you guys for all the effort and all the work that you've done for us and making this a successful project."

The milestone is a good sign for two of the climbers who will be heading up each turbine as they are completed, Ruben Gutierrez Jr. and Derek J. Smoger.

The men said the attention to safety on the Number Three site is not a fluke and that industry-wide, safety is an important focus with clear, strict protocols put in place that are crucial for maintaining long stretches without major accidents or injuries.

The two climbers have worked together on a number of projects and have the easy camaraderie that comes from having each other's backs in what are potentially dangerous situations.

"We climb in teams. You never want to be up there by yourself with nobody around because if anything happens you have somebody to rescue you," Mr. Gutierrez said.

The majority of the turbines in the Number Three Wind Project — Vestas V150s — are among the tallest turbines available worldwide and are the second-tallest turbines either climber has worked on with base heights "just shy of" 350 feet. That's almost double the size of the turbines on the nearby Maple Ridge Wind Farm completed in 2006, and they're capable of producing triple the power, according to Invenergy's project manager Justin R. VanCoughnett, an Adams native.

The Vestas are about 60 feet taller than the GE turbines that are also included in the Number Three Project.

That extra height, however, makes no difference to the climbers.

"Once you're up there, you're up there," Mr. Smoger said. "It kind of stops mattering."

To get to the top of turbines, climbers "monkey up" a ladder secured with high-power magnets or bolts, depending on the manufacturer, that rises up the inside of a hollow tubular base in the space between the ladder and the wall.

Atop the base sits the hub where the massive blades attach and the "nacelle," which is where the wind energy is transferred through a gear box into a generator. The electricity generated travels to a transformer and along power lines to the grid that powers homes and businesses.

"The ladders, they're not like normal ladders, you know, leaning against the wall," Mr. Gutierrez said, gesturing to the ladders. "These go pretty much straight up."

The ladders are interrupted by a "floor," or platform every 50 to 100 feet. They give climbers a place to rest or regroup during their jaunts to the top, and help them keep a calm perspective on the incredible heights they reach.

"It helps your nerves. The height would get to you if you didn't have that floor, depending on who you are," Mr. Smoger said.

The climb itself takes between 10 and 30 minutes, impacted by the work that needs to be done, the type of tower and the climber making it happen, they said.

"If we're trying to race, (it takes) maybe six," Mr. Gutierrez added as they both laughed and shook their heads indicating they would never do such a thing.

Despite that joke and the fact that climbing is arguably one of the most dangerous jobs in wind farm construction, there's a seriousness with which they approach their work and safety equipment measures that are built into the process.

"We climb in teams. You never want to be up there by yourself with nobody around because if anything happens you have somebody to rescue you," Mr. Gutierrez said.

First aid kits stay on the ground because there is always someone there to use chain hoists positioned both inside and outside the turbine to get a kit up to a climber, even at the tower's top, in about five minutes or less.

Climbers monkey up the ladder wearing a safety harness and carrying a 30-pound bag, called a "rappel kit," which has various tools and everything they would need to get out of the tower fast if there was an emergency. That could mean rappelling outside of the tower all the way to the ground or using a series of ropes and pulleys inside the tower without manually climbing down the ladder.

There are two different areas of work for turbine climbers — those who climb up each of the turbine base sections as the towers are "stood up," bolting the sections together as they go, and those who, like Mr. Smoger and Mr. Gutierrez, go through each completed turbine to "check every single bolt." They have a long checklist of other items to ensure the turbines are as strong and safe as they were designed to be.

The men agreed that the climbers who build the towers have the more difficult and in many ways more dangerous jobs.

"Those guys go up with, like, 80 pounds of tools and everything they need," Mr. Smoger said. "And they're building it as they go."

Both men said they happened into the work through a series of connections, and they come from very different backgrounds.

Mr. Gutierrez, who hails from Texas, was a corrections officer for 2 1/2 years and completed his training at the police academy to become an officer. His brother-in-law, who owns the Texas-based Marhofer Renewables LLC, offered him a job until he found his first police position.

"I've been doing this for going on five years now so — I like it," he said.

Mr. Smoger, who hails from Michigan, has been working as a climber for the better part of three years and came from an automotive repair background.

The only thing they don't love about their work is the extreme heat and the extreme cold that makes being inside the turbines more challenging, especially in the summer in southern states and the north during the winter.

"It's been beautiful here, though," Mr. Smoger said, gesturing. "It's awesome looking out on all of this."

According to Invenergy project developer Marguerite Wells, Number Three Wind is on target to be completed as planned by the end of the year.

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