Learning A New Trick For The Ol' "operating" Tool Belt.

TMatt142

Well, I always fancied myself mainly a backhoe/trackhoe operator, and it's pretty much been that way for 17 years now. Now, I was put with the bridge crew and my boss threw me on a 50 ton off-road crane last week. Told me it's high time you learn something new instead of not being challenged anymore on a trackhoe. I've always watched the crane operators and have a huge amount of respect for what they do as well as the stress that sometimes comes with their job. So last week my first pick was a bridge paving machine, not heavy, maybe 12,000lbs at the most but still.....Way different than swinging something around with my usual trackhoe!!! I had fun though, but am still aprehensive about going further with it. Just thought I'd share that with all of you since that was probably the first time in years I've had butterflies in my stomach doing something at work!

ron schenker

The last time I had butterflies, I was on a roof in the winter installing a bathroom exhaust vent. There was no snow on the ground to soften my fall if I hadda slipped, so I was hangin' on for dear life.

denick

Lots of luck TMatt lifting and hoisting. In CT crane operators need licenses and there is an apprenticeship and testing at different levels

__________________
Nick

"Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving" Albert Einstein

rino1494

I don't blame you. Alot of responsibilty comes with being a crane operator. Glad you had fun.

__________________
Life is hard. It is harder when you are stupid

Uncle Sam wants YOU....to speak ENGLISH

reveivl

I did a little of that as a youngster. Did it for a while on a ship putting supplies in the hold of a seismic survey boat in the North Sea. You pick something on the dock and the boat heels over and sinks a bit before you get it off the dock. Then you swing over the hold and the boat swings too. It's a real trick to swinging the load so that it comes to a dead stop. Craziest lift was when we had a re-supply at sea and I was picking stuff off another boat and into the hold on ours, didn't do it very well, tore some antennaes out on the other craft but didn't kill anybody. Haven't run one in decades now, but (almost) always enjoyed it.

__________________
From where does knowledge come? If you need to know what is in a box, you could ask someone (not reliable), you could pray, (not useful), you can consult with the scripture (not helpful) or you could open the box (science)

Nac

Before I went on my own I show up to work and find this thing sitting in the parking lot the super tells me you know how to run this right? I said how hard can it be and the rest is history.

Attached Images

  

Double-A

Cranes make me nervous, very very nervous. The reason is, unless they have fixed angle and fixed boom, the capacity is constantly changing. Just because you can lift and swing it, doesn't mean the machine isn't working well past its design limits.

I've been on three commercial jobs where there were crane failures. In each case, it was ruled to be the operator's error. The operator had too heavy a load for the configuration of the crane. Seven men lost their lives in these accidents, 3 others were unlucky enough to live and never work again.

Fortunately, we don't need cranes much in our line, but when we do, we hire the crane and the operator.

__________________
"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

MC Excavating

I worked as an estimator and project manager for a large union fence company in Southern California for about a year and a half. Ocassionly the estimators as well as the crews would have safety meetings. One meeting we had involved cranes. The company did not have nothing very large, just flat bed 2 axle trucks with Pitman or Hiab crane attachments. But safety is very important when it comes to any piece of equipment. The estimators needed to be in on these meetings also because when we would estimate a job we needed to understand what these machines are capable of doing. If we didnt understand, we could lose money or get someone killed!

The stuff I had learned about crane safety, made me realize how tuff those operators have it. They showed us some videos of crane accidents that made my jaw drop!

One was 2 cranes making a pick on a very large single steel beam. These where those large stationary job site cranes that sit on stilts (dont know what they are called). The video was shot from quite a distance away so you can see both cranes and alot of the jobsite. One of the cranes had some slack in the spool. When the slack broke free the beam dropped a couple of feet. This created a dynamic load and pulled the first crane over and then the other one followed. They also managed to pull a guy down that was working in a boom lift. They said one operator and one laborer died.

Another issue to worry about is trying to pick something when its in the mud. When making the lift the mud will create a suction and when it releases you will have problems.

Another issue is side loading. Never try to drag or pull a load sideways. Cranes are designed to pick things straight up and set them straight down.

Below are some videos of crane accidents I found trying to find the video for the one I wrote about.

Heres a site with alot of photos and videos.
http://www.craneoperator.com/CraneMishapVideos.htm



Here are some links to videos.
http://www.lookatentertainment.com/v/v-572.htm

http://craneaccidents.com/bigblue.mpg

http://craneoperator.com/images/Citadel.mpg

rino1494

Yeah, 99% of the time it is the operators fault. Using the crane past its' limits. My dad told me stories of how he used to chain the 977 to the front of the crane for heavier lifts.

__________________
Life is hard. It is harder when you are stupid

Uncle Sam wants YOU....to speak ENGLISH

PipeGuy

That illustrates just how well modern heavy equipment is designed and built. One of our local guys has one of these and it's awesome .

__________________
Fortunately I keep my feathers numbered for...for just such an emergency. -Foghorn Leghorn

reveivl

"One of our local guys has one of these and it's awesome "

Only one?

Here's some pictures of a mishap (or two).

The white car has gone in the drink, the crane picks it and follows it in.
What do you do? Get a bigger crane!

Attached Images

   

__________________
From where does knowledge come? If you need to know what is in a box, you could ask someone (not reliable), you could pray, (not useful), you can consult with the scripture (not helpful) or you could open the box (science)

reveivl

You knew this was coming...

Attached Images

   

__________________
From where does knowledge come? If you need to know what is in a box, you could ask someone (not reliable), you could pray, (not useful), you can consult with the scripture (not helpful) or you could open the box (science)

TMatt142

Those pics were hilarious! In ST.Louis we need to be certified CCO training and all that to be hired out for crane work. It just so happens that the only loads I needed to lift were the paver, and steel for the iron workers. Nothing very heavy, my boss won't allow that till I get some experience.

Nathan

That's awesome!

__________________
Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot