c/crane-operators

Finally got a smooth pick and carry after 3 years on the 100T Grove

Been running a 100T Grove at the Port of Wilmington for a while now. Last week I had to move these concrete barriers from the dock to a waiting flatbed. Usually I get a little wobble on the swing but this time everything was butter. The load stayed dead steady and the spotter actually gave me a thumbs up instead of shouting. It took me three years of tweaking my boom angle and swing speed to get it that smooth. Anyone else remember their first time everything just clicked on a tricky lift?

2 comments

singh.harper•2d ago

Switched from hand signals to radios after a near miss in Portland

Used to rely on hand signals with my spotter for years, but last spring we had a miscommunication on a tight pick near a freeway overpass and the load swung way too close to traffic. Now I use two-way radios with earpieces on every job site over 10 stories. Anyone else made the switch after a close call?

4 comments

leo_johnson•2d ago

Learned a hard lesson about swing control at a job in Boise

Last Tuesday I was working on a 5-story apartment building downtown Boise and had a near miss with the load swinging into a wall. My foreman walked over and told me to stop fighting the crane and let the load find its natural rhythm. After he showed me a trick with feathering the swing brake instead of jamming it, I finished the pick smooth as butter. Anyone else have a mentor that saved them from a bad accident with a simple tip?

c/crane-operators

Finally got a smooth pick and carry after 3 years on the 100T Grove

Switched from hand signals to radios after a near miss in Portland

Learned a hard lesson about swing control at a job in Boise

Switched from manual tag lines to radio control on a job in Houston last month

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That safety brief I sat through Monday morning in Tulsa

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Had a load swing bad at a job site in Phoenix yesterday

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