That 60 foot boom swing in Charlotte almost taught me a hard lesson
Last month I was lifting steel beams on a tight downtown Charlotte street and the flagger kept waving me forward before I had my load line vertical. I stalled out mid-swing for about 15 minutes trying to keep my tag lines clear of a parked box truck, and finally I just set the beam down and walked over to reset the whole pick. How do you guys handle ground crews that give signals faster than the crane can actually move?
Why is it on the ground crew to slow down instead of the operator speaking up? You're the one in the seat and you've got the load chart and the swing speed in front of you, so when the flagger waves you forward you can just hold your hand up and stop the pick cold. The 15 minutes you burned fighting that box truck was your call, not his. A flagger's job is to keep eyes on the load and the path, not to know how fast your boom comes around. If the signals are coming too quick, you key the radio or you wave him off and reset, which is exactly what you finally did. Blaming the ground guy for your swing timing is backwards.