Old foreman told me to always lift with the boom at 60 degrees - he was spot on

Back when I was working a site in Houston, my foreman Bill kept hammering me to never try lifting with the boom under 60 degrees unless it was absolutely necessary. I ignored him once on a 12,000 pound steel beam and nearly tipped the whole crane because the load shifted weird. Has anyone else found that rule to be that critical, or did I just mess up the math on my rigging that day?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo82513d ago

Wait, was the load actually 12,000 pounds or was that an estimate? I mean, I've seen guys blame the angle when the real issue was bad rigging or a load that was swinging. Ive been running cranes for about 15 years now and Ive done plenty of lifts at 50 degrees or even a bit lower without any trouble as long as the ground is solid and the load is balanced right. The 60 degree rule is a good starting point for sure, but it's not a hard line that applies to every situation. Maybe your foreman was just being extra cautious because of that specific crane or the conditions that day.

piper91213d ago

Wait, did they ever say what kind of ground they were on? Because I swear, that's the part everyone skips over when they talk about the 60 degree rule. I feel you on the bad rigging thing too, man. I've seen guys blame the angle all day long when the real problem was they didn't check the slings or the load was shifting. Its frustrating to see a solid operator get second-guessed like that. Honestly, your foreman probably had a bad experience with a similar setup before, and he just didn't want to risk it. Its a tough call but I don't think you were wrong to question it.