Used to run all my mobile crane rigging by eye, now I measure everything twice after a close call 3 years ago

I used to just eyeball the center of gravity and hook placement on smaller lifts. After I nearly tipped a 12-ton load on a job site in Houston because I was off by a foot on the pick point, I started using a load cell and tape measure every single time. Anyone else change their rigging habits after a scary moment?

3 comments

3 Comments

william_carter3d ago

bro how long did it take you to get back to trusting your gear after that? i had a similar wake up call with a chain hoist that slipped and i still get twitchy whenever i hear metal creak. now i do the whole song and dance with straps and a spreader bar even for stuff under 500lbs. peace of mind is cheap compared to hospital bills or worse.

miamitchell3d ago

Took me a good six months after a chain snapped on a job. Every time I heard anything creak I'd stop and recheck everything. @william_carter you're right about peace of mind being cheap. I do the full safety dance now too even for light loads. Never worth skipping steps because you got complacent. Better to look like a paranoid idiot than end up with a story for the orthopedist.

parkerp801d ago

Oh man, 100% same here. I had a near miss with a 15-ton cooling tower unit where I was off by maybe 8 inches on the pick point and the whole thing started tilting on the way up. Scared me so bad I couldn't sleep for two nights just replaying it in my head. Now I break out the tape measure and load cell even for stuff under 500 pounds, and I recheck my spreader bar setup like three times before every lift. I get weird looks from the younger guys sometimes but I'd rather look like a paranoid nutcase than have one more close call. That peace of mind is worth every extra minute of setup time.