TIL about crane load charts the hard way today

I've been operating smaller rigs for about 4 years now but never really studied load charts closely. Today my foreman made me sit down and calculate boom angle against radius for a 50 ton pick. I thought I had it dialed but was actually 3 feet off on my radius estimate. That would have put us way over capacity on the chart. He showed me this quick trick of pacing out the distance and checking it against the chart before every lift. It's wild how small the safety margin can be. Anyone else learn load chart details way later than they should have?

2 comments

2 Comments

butler.shane16d ago

Got a similar wake up call last year when I misjudged my radius by 2 feet on a 30 ton lift and nearly tipped a boom truck. Load charts are no joke, that 3 feet could have been a real bad day for both of us.

young.emma16d ago

Tightened up one time on a deadlift and my grip gave out halfway through. Dropped the bar right on the safeties. Scared the crap out of me. Loud bang echoed through the whole gym. Point is, that split second of bad form almost crushed my foot. Your story reminds me - one tiny mistake and things go sideways real fast.