That time I blew off a rigging class back in 2014

I figured I already knew how to sling a load after 10 years on the ground, but a senior operator in Seattle made me take a half day refresher last spring. Turned out my choker angles were way off on certain lifts, and fixing that saved me from a sketchy situation on a steel beam job. Anybody else ever get humbled by something they thought they had down?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_kevin8d ago

My crew down in Long Beach had me using a 60 degree choker angle for years until we got a new safety guy who ran the numbers... turns out I was losing like 30% of my rated capacity on some lifts. The way he broke it down with a simple angle chart on the job site really clicked for me, I still keep that crumpled paper in my truck. After I started checking my angles on those wide flange beams, I noticed the load sat way more stable and I didn't have near the sway I used to fight. That little tweak probably saved me from more than a few close calls on those tight urban builds.

matthew_baker9d ago

The choker angle thing bit me too. A old hand showed me how to read the tag lines better and it changed everything on wide flange beams. Feels dumb looking back but that refresher probably saved my back or worse.