“The Donut Box” Stadium Takes Safety to New Heights

The Tim Hortons Field, nicknamed “The Donut Box”, is a multi-purpose stadium in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Built as a replacement for Ivor Wynne Stadium, the Tim Hortons Field is primarily used as a sports venue for football and soccer. It is the home of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and Forge FC.

The stadium currently seats approximately 24,000 fans, potentially boosting capacity to more than 40,000 seats for special events.

When watching a late-night game or outdoor event at the Tim Hortons Field, the one thing we can’t live without is outdoor lighting. The outdoor high-intensity floodlights help the 20,000 plus fans see the action live. If you’re wondering, the illumination at a sporting event can be anywhere from 25 to well over 100 feet tall. The Tim Hortons Field has its lighting suspended at approximately 144 feet!

When the Tim Hortons Field was looking for a safe means of accessing their stadium floodlights for servicing, they reached out to our team of height safety experts to ensure safety compliance with local regulations.

The contractor reached out to our team of height safety experts to learn how they can go about adding four 43-foot access ladder systems to reach the stadium’s floodlights for routine maintenance. Once construction of the stadium was complete, a site visit was conducted, along with a review of the building and floodlight tower designs. Our team of safety experts recommended an aluminum fixed access ladder that included an integrated lifeline system. A lifeline allowed for free movement up and down the entire height of the ladder, eliminating the need to reconnect to new tie-off points while ascending or descending. Climbing up and down four 43-foot access ladders with all of your tools, sometimes requiring multiple trips, is no walk in the park. The lifeline system offered a safer solution while drastically reducing the time needed to maintain the floodlights. The four central ladder systems also included a base platform and a mid-way rest platform.

Based on the contractor’s experience working with our team on the four main stadium floodlights on the east side of the field, four additional systems were installed to access the lights above the “presenter box”. These lights were much lower in height and were accessed with our modular aluminum cage-style fixed access ladders.

All the access ladders provided were constructed using high-grade aluminum, incorporating a profiled rung design with size and spacing meeting ladder codes and regulations. The efficient modular design of the ladder made it extremely easy to ship and simplified the overall installation process for the contractor, saving the stadium time and money.

Don’t discover safety by accident! Reach out to our rooftop safety specialists to learn how you can create a safe and compliant rooftop environment.