Just realized nobody is checking sling angles on the smaller lifts

I was on a site over in Oakville last Tuesday and watched a guy hook up a 4,000 pound steel beam with a single leg straight vertical. No spreader bar, no second point, just one choker and go. I asked him what his angle was and he looked at me like I had three heads. That beam could have easily shifted and killed someone on the ground. I see this constantly on residential jobs especially, everyone is careful with the big tower crane stuff but they get sloppy with the little pickups. Why do people act like sling ratings only matter on 20 ton loads? Has anyone else caught a crew ignoring basic rigging math on a simple lift?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabeth_king15d ago

Wait did that guy just say "feel" is better than actual math for a 4,000 pound overhead lift? That is terrifying to read from someone who clearly works around rigging. Experience is great but a hitch can fail exactly the same whether you've done ten lifts or ten thousand, the physics doesn't care how long you've been on site.

felix15515d ago

That's an interesting take but I think there's something to be said for experience over calculation every time. A good crane hand who's done a thousand small lifts can feel when the load is right even if he can't quote the angle chart. Sometimes all this math gets in the way of just getting the work done safely and on schedule.