Work & Money

Ironworker Prayer

Ironworkers build the skeleton of the modern world: bridges, towers and stadiums, assembled beam by beam by people walking on steel hundreds of feet up. The famous 1932 photograph of eleven men eating lunch on a girder above Manhattan is about them. So is the tradition of “topping out,” when the last beam goes up with a flag and a small evergreen tree tied to it.

3 minute read

It is one of the most dangerous trades there is. These prayers are for the people who do it and the families waiting for them to come down.

Historical Context

Patron of workers: St Joseph the Worker, 1 May

Patron of metalworkers: St Eligius, 1 December

Tradition: topping out, with a tree on the last beam

Scripture: “Except the LORD build the house,” Psalm 127:1

Psalm 127 begins with a builder’s warning: “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it.” Construction crews have prayed it for centuries, and it fits ironwork better than most trades, where every connection holds up everything above it.

An Ironworker’s Prayer

Lord, I’m going up on the steel today.
Keep my feet sure and my tie-off secure.
Let every bolt be tight and every weld be sound.
Watch over my partner, the crane operator and the whole raising gang.
Keep us sharp when we’re tired and careful when we’re rushed.
And bring every one of us down safe tonight.
St Joseph, pray for us.
Amen.

For the Crew

Lord, bless this crew and this job.
Give us good weather, good communication and good sense.
Let nobody take a shortcut that costs a life.
Amen.

For an Ironworker’s Family

Lord, he works where one mistake is too many.
Keep him safe up there.
Give me peace while he’s working,
and bring him home to us every night.
Amen.

For an Ironworker Who Fell

Lord, receive our brother, who died doing the work he loved.
Comfort his family and the crew who were with him.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon him.
Amen.

Best Times for This Prayer

At the start of a shift, before going up.
Before a big lift or a high-wind day.
At a topping-out ceremony.
On 1 May, St Joseph the Worker, and Workers’ Memorial Day, 28 April.
At the funeral of an ironworker.

Scripture Connection

“Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” — Psalm 127:1

The psalm doesn’t tell builders to stop working; it tells them who they’re working with. Every structure an ironworker helps raise is, in the end, held up by more than steel.

Related prayers

For other trades, see the Welder Prayer, the Logger’s Prayer and the Lineman’s Prayer. For the patron of workers, the Saint Joseph Prayer.

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About Stephen S. Griffin

Stephen S. Griffin is the pen name of the person who runs Guided by Prayer, a reference library of prayers. How the prayers are written and sourced.