jenny_lane12•18d agoMost Upvoted

The safety briefing on my first dredge job said 'watch for snapping cables' and I thought they were joking until I saw a 2-inch wire whip across the deck

After that I started double-checking every cable before startup, has anyone else had a close call with something you didn't take seriously at first?

3 comments

3 Comments

richard_young8017d agoMost Upvoted

Jumping in here because that 2-inch cable detail literally made me flinch. I had a similar reality check on an old tugboat where the captain warned me about a frayed line and I just shrugged it off. Then I saw that rope snap under tension and it sounded like a gunshot - pieces flew everywhere and one piece actually dented the metal railing. After that I started treating every cable and line like it was a loaded weapon because honestly, that energy doesn't care if you're new or experienced. It's the stuff you brush off that'll mess you up the fastest.

thomas_price17d ago

That frayed line story is REAL. I saw a 1-inch steel cable snap on a dock once and it whipped back so fast it sliced through a wooden piling like butter. The sound was this horrible crack and then a high-pitched whine. People don't get how much energy is stored in those things until it lets go. You absolutely have to treat every single line like it's about to kill you because it can. I have a buddy who lost two fingers to a mooring line that snapped and he still says he was lucky it wasn't his whole hand.

taylor95717d ago

And that rope energy doesn't care about your experience level at all.