The profession of steeplejack is reserved for a general craftsman who is prepared to scale tall buildings and in particular church steeples with the object of carrying out general repairs. Although the job is perceived by outsiders as dangerous it is actually less risky than more mundane jobs, as the workers are forced by "their position" to be very alert.-1...

Britain's most famous steeplejack was Fred Dibnah, from Bolton, who was awarded an MBE by the Queen. Fred with his MBE Fred Dibnah MBE (29 April 1938 – 6 November 2004), born in Bolton, Lancashire, was an English steeplejack who became a television personality, a cult figure and, latterly, a national institution. ... Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions, in decreasing order of seniority: Knight or Dame Grand...

Steeplejacks erect ladders on church spires, industrial chimneys, cooling towers, bell towers, clock towers, or any other high inaccesible structure. A church building is a building used in Christian worship. ... A modern spire on the Lancaster University Chaplaincy Centre A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. ... A chimney is a system for venting hot gases and smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. ...

Once ladders have been erected the next stage is usually to hang (suspend) a bosun's chair (a strong wooden plank on which the steeplejack can sit very comfortably, pull himself upwards or lower himself downwards, or sit in a stationary position). Note that Bosun, spelled that way, is the NATO reporting name for the Soviet Tupolev Tu-14 bomber. ...

Once this has been done it is possible to use this access to begin building a scaffold to carry out any repairs which may be required. This is done by fixing anchors into the wall (whether concrete, stone, or brick) and "kicking" the scaffold off from there. Scaffold may refer to: scaffolding as used in construction A gallows The Scaffold, UK musical group Scaffold - GNOME Development Environment Scaffold (Protein ECM) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The purpose of a ships or boats anchor is to attach the vessel to the ground at a specific point. ...

It is also possible to carry out major repairs from "suspended access cradles". These are the same type of "rigs" many people will have seen window cleaners using on skyscrapers. The cradle is suspended from 4 wires. Two of these run through an electric motor which can "climb" or "descend" the wire, and the other two run freely through a small but reassuring box which allows the cradle to travel upwards with no obstruction, but will stop it instantly if it starts to fall. These "suspended access cradles" are popularly called "swing stages" by their crews. Taipei 101, considered the worlds tallest skyscraper. ...

Steeplejacks are called upon to repair or replace masonry (brick, stone or concrete), carry out general carpentry or painting or roof repair, remove and clean and repair windows, as well as sandblasting and other masonry cleaning tasks.