That time I nearly dropped a 2 ton load because of my sling angle

I was setting steel on a job in Cleveland last Tuesday and my foreman walked over and told me my choke hitch was way too shallow... turns out I'd been running a 30 degree angle instead of 60 for months and never realized it was that bad. Has anyone else had a close call from misjudging your hitch angles?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryan_clark4020d ago

Huh, I gotta push back on that one. Look, I respect your foreman knows his stuff, but 30 degrees isn't automatically a death sentence if the load is stable and you're not maxing out your crane capacity. I've seen guys walk steel with angles that flat for years without a peep. The real problem is not knowing your load weight and not checking the hook block for clearance. If the load is balanced and you're under the limit, the angle matters way less than people make it out to be. It's when you combine a bad angle with a heavy, swinging piece that things go sideways. That close call might've been less about the angle and more about the overall setup.

lee73320d ago

Man, you're spot on @ryan_clark40... I've been on jobs where we ran flats all day long and never had a problem, it's all about knowing your load and not pushing the envelope...