Pro tip: check your load line for twist before you lift, saved me a bad drop last week

Doing a job over by the port in Charleston and we had a load of steel beams. Rigged it up, took a quick look at the hook, everything looked fine. But something felt off when I started to take the slack out, the beam just didn't sit right. I stopped and climbed up to eyeball the line itself and sure enough there was a slight twist near the top pulley, maybe half a turn. Never would have caught it from the ground. Fixed it in like 2 minutes and the lift went smooth. I guess I always trusted the visual from the cab but now I'm wondering, how often do you guys actually check the upper sheave area for line twist? Or is that just me being paranoid after that one video of the bundle swinging into a dumpster?

2 comments

2 Comments

jana_scott22d ago

Paranoia is just experience wearing a hard hat, my friend. That dumpster video lives in all our heads rent free. Better to look like a fool checking a line for two minutes than explain to the boss why the steel went flying.

jake_torres6821d ago

Buddy of mine skipped the check once on a job, crane hook swung and knocked a pallet of bricks clean off the second floor. Nobody got hurt but the foreman made him re-walk the site with a clipboard for a week, so yeah, paranoia's cheaper than that.