Ironworker Red Seal maintenance, repair and dismantling practice questions.

Five free practice questions on maintenance, repair and dismantling: block F of the Ironworker (Generalist) Red Seal exam, 12 of its 120 questions. The same work is block D of the Structural/Ornamental exam (19 of its 120 questions). The Reinforcing exam does not include it. Each question is labelled with the exams it belongs to. They are in the exam's format: four options, one correct answer. Answer each one before opening the explanation. No account, no email.

01The questions

1. Recall · Ensures decommissioning of structure and components · Generalist and Structural/Ornamental exams

   An old pump house at a pulp mill will be dismantled down to its steel frame. Drums of solvent and a part-full tote of lubricating oil are still stored inside. What must be done with them?

   1. Moved into one corner and covered with a fire blanket.
   2. Removed only from the areas where torch cutting will happen.
   3. Left in place, with a fire watch posted during cutting.
   4. Removed from the building before dismantling begins.
   Show the answer

   D. Correct. Toxic, flammable and explosive substances are taken out of a structure before it is dismantled. Falling steel can rupture a drum, and sparks and slag travel well beyond a planned cut, so nothing of the kind is left inside.

   Why not the others

   A. A fire blanket guards against sparks only; it does not stop a falling member puncturing a drum or a fire spreading from a spill. The substances are removed from the building before dismantling begins.

   B. Sparks, slag and falling pieces reach beyond the planned cutting areas, and plans change during dismantling. The substances are removed from the whole building first.

   C. A fire watch responds to a fire; it does not prevent one, or a spill from a crushed drum. Flammable and toxic substances are removed from the structure before dismantling starts.

2. Recall · Disassembles structural, ornamental, mechanical and miscellaneous components · Generalist and Structural/Ornamental exams

   A loaded haul truck struck a column of an elevated conveyor gallery at a mine, and the gallery may collapse. The engineer orders shoring and bracing before any dismantling. In what direction are those safeguards installed?

   1. From the damaged column outward, where support is needed most.
   2. From both ends of the gallery toward the middle at once.
   3. From a safe area, working progressively toward the damage.
   4. From the top of the gallery down, as dismantling proceeds.
   Show the answer

   C. Correct. Safeguards on a damaged structure are installed progressively from a safe area toward the hazard, so the workers installing them are always behind supports already in place. Starting at the damage puts the crew where collapse is most likely.

   Why not the others

   A. Support is most needed at the damage, but that is also where collapse is most likely, and the crew would start under the least stable part with nothing in place. Work from a safe area toward the damage.

   B. Working from both ends puts two crews moving toward the hazard at the same time, with no defined safe area for either to fall back to. The safeguards go in progressively from a safe area toward the damage.

   D. Top-down is the order for dismantling, not for shoring a damaged structure, and the shoring must be in before anything is removed. The safeguards go in from a safe area toward the damage.

3. Recall · Assesses current condition of components · Generalist and Structural/Ornamental exams

   A square HSS column in a road-salt storage shed has heavy corrosion near its base, and only its outside face can be reached. Which tool measures the wall thickness that remains?

   1. An ultrasonic thickness gauge.
   2. A pit depth gauge.
   3. A vernier caliper.
   4. A magnetic coating thickness gauge.
   Show the answer

   A. Correct. An ultrasonic thickness gauge sends a sound pulse into the wall from one face and times the echo off the far face, so it reads the steel that remains without access to the inside. The readings are compared with the thickness on the drawings to work out the section loss.

   Why not the others

   B. A pit depth gauge measures how deep a pit goes below the surrounding surface. It cannot tell how much steel is left, because the inside face of a closed column may be corroding too. Remaining thickness from one side is read with an ultrasonic thickness gauge.

   C. A caliper's jaws must reach both faces of the wall, and the inside of a closed HSS column cannot be reached. An ultrasonic thickness gauge reads the wall from the outside face alone.

   D. A magnetic coating thickness gauge measures the paint film lying over steel, not the steel itself. The remaining wall of the column is read with an ultrasonic thickness gauge.

4. Procedural · Performs repairs, revisions and reinforcing of components · Generalist and Structural/Ornamental exams

   A 900 mm long reinforcing plate for a mine conveyor bent gets five holes in one line. The end holes are 50 mm from each end of the plate and the rest are equally spaced between them. What is the centre-to-centre spacing of the holes?

   1. 160 mm
   2. 180 mm
   3. 200 mm
   4. 225 mm
   Show the answer

   C. Correct. The end holes are 900 − 2 × 50 = 800 mm apart. Five holes in a line make four spaces, so the spacing is 800 ÷ 4 = 200 mm.

   Why not the others

   A. This divides the 800 mm by five, the number of holes (800 ÷ 5 = 160). Five holes in a line make four spaces: 800 ÷ 4 = 200 mm.

   B. This divides the full plate length by the number of holes (900 ÷ 5 = 180), leaving out the 50 mm end distances and counting holes as spaces. The holes span 800 mm in four spaces: 200 mm.

   D. This divides the full 900 mm by four spaces (900 ÷ 4 = 225), leaving out the 50 mm end distances. The end holes are 800 mm apart, so 800 ÷ 4 = 200 mm.

5. Procedural · Replaces components · Generalist and Structural/Ornamental exams

   A corroded beam under a mezzanine floor in a food plant is being replaced while temporary shores carry the floor. The new beam has been landed in position. When do the shores come out?

   1. Once it has two erection bolts in each end.
   2. After its connections are complete and have been accepted.
   3. Once every bolt is in its hole, before the final tightening.
   4. As soon as it is landed and checked for level.
   Show the answer

   B. Correct. Until every bolt or weld in its connections is in and inspected, the new beam cannot be counted on to carry the floor. The shores stay until the connections are complete and accepted, then are released gradually.

   Why not the others

   A. Two erection bolts hold a beam in place during erection; they are not the designed connection. The floor stays on its shores until the connections are complete and accepted.

   C. Bolts that are in but not yet tightened are not the finished connection, and nobody has checked or accepted them. The shores carry the floor until the connections are complete and accepted.

   D. A beam that is only landed and levelled has no designed connection yet. The shores stay until every connection is complete and accepted.

02Answer key

03What block F covers

Taking structures down and keeping them up: confirming that systems are decommissioned, de-energized and locked out, clearing hazardous materials, dismantling structural, ornamental, mechanical and miscellaneous components in the engineer's sequence with temporary support, assessing the condition of existing steel, repairs, revisions and reinforcing, replacing members and bolts, and preventative maintenance.

The Red Seal Occupational Standard for Ironworker (Generalist) names this block “Performs maintenance and upgrading”. On the Generalist exam it carries 10% of the questions, 12 of the 120, split across two tasks. The share column is each task's weight within the block, as the Generalist standard publishes it; the other columns are the questions each exam gives the task, from each exam's information page (a dot means the task is not on that exam; Structural/Ornamental numbers its tasks as shown in brackets).

04What the questions turn on

Release only what carries nothing

A truss or girder is disconnected only when it carries nothing but its own weight and is held by temporary support. The order in which members come out, and the shoring needed while they do, come from the engineer's dismantling procedure, not from the erection drawings read backwards.

Stand on what stays

The cutter works from the part of the structure that will remain, tied off to it and clear of the member being cut free. On a damaged structure, shoring and bracing go in from a safe area toward the damage.

Change loaded bolts one at a time

Where the engineer allows the bolts in a loaded connection to be replaced, they are changed one at a time, each new bolt in and tightened before the next comes out. In a slip-critical joint the new bolt is snugged, then pretensioned by the method the job specifies.

Shores stay until the connections are accepted

A replacement beam cannot be counted on to carry the floor until every bolt or weld in its connections is in and inspected, so the temporary shores stay until the connections are complete and accepted. In heat straightening, any jack force is set or adjusted only between heats, once the steel has cooled.

05The other blocks

The Generalist exam has six blocks, and the Structural/Ornamental and Reinforcing exams are built from four of them each. Every block has its own page of free questions:

The Ironworker Red Seal practice exam page describes the full question bank. How these questions are written and checked: how our questions are made. Found a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it.