Almost had my head taken off today.....

Oh lord here comes another climber/operator! Glad you're okay, does the op have much experience with tree work or was he just in a rush without thinking of all possible consequences? The stakes get higher as the pieces get bigger and speed gets faster...
 
The cable issue is not uncommon with vertical brush lifts, wether they started off that way or ended up that way because they were butt heavy. I've never thought or been close enough to the climber to worry about the cable being the hazard when it comes loose. Normally it's the top of the lift breaking off an launching anywhere. Usually my guys would try to turn the lift away from the snag or block the lift down with a saw until the cable is free. But I won't bs you most of the time we'd get everyone out of the way and I'd cable down until she'd break loose.
So, my advice... Explain to your groundies and the op what happened and what to look for every time a pick gets lowered in your tailboard talk. And remember that anyone on that crew can stop the op if they think he's doing something dangerous. But how you deal with a cable snag is totally situation dependant. Be glad you didn't get hit and learn from it.
 
sounds like the op tried to kill you... that's the way I'd think before working with him again..

I had an op swing a shackle hard into my hard hat for no good reason once (almost like he was doing it on purpose)... he copped a little attitude when I said something, so I grabbed the end of the sling and started beating the trunk with the shackle as hard as I could, then pointed to my hard hat.. that seemed to calm him down some...
 
Crane operator seems to have lost sight of you. However, you said it in your vid, "I wasn't paying attention:". I work with some great crane ops who are very skilled in tree work. They'll move the piece away from me and maintain their cable clear while lowering the piece for processing. Until such time as I'm well clear my eye is on that piece and the boom in relation to me. I'll move away to a point out of potential harm. This could be upward into the next pic or down lower and on the opposite side of the stem.

Count your blessings but look at what you can do differently. Discuss your concern with the crane op and what could be done in the future to avoid a similar situation.
 
Been great having you back on the Buzz Danielson. What a close call! Glad your okay. It's amazing how fast things can go wrong.

Did y'all have any radio communication?

I've been having people in my area sign up to abouttrees.com

I post craigslist adds when i need to offload the truck. People respond and I tell them to sign up. It works! I can see who's signed up and network that way, sooooo much better!
 
That stuff happens a lot, but usually just becomes a risk to ground workers when the branch breaks or the load shifts. The op was obviously focused on his issue and didn't think of how it might hurt you. Bix is right- headsets would be the way to eliminate these from happening.
 
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sounds like the op tried to kill you... that's the way I'd think before working with him again..


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God Daniel, do us all a favor and never work with a crane operator again, you've got a bad attitude towards them or something. killing one of your clients is bad for business, no matter what business you're in. Maybe you should try to see the situation from the operator's perspective, sounds like he doesn't have that much experience with tree work, and he was concentrating more on getting his line free than anything else, maybe he was worried the broken branch might hurt groundie if he didn't deal with it when he did, the climber may have been slapped by the cable at the end of it's swing, but have you ever been the guy on the ground getting hit by a 300 pound ball moving at 100 mph trying to get back under the boom tip and over the load, or hit by the limb it launches as a result?

Crane operators are not out to kill anybody, and if you have that attitude don't hire them and please would you and ole jon boy stop making stupid comments like that.
 
I have had a similar incident. In my after the fact analysis I determined what I usually do after a close call. When the cable was caught under that limb it was time to stop, listen to the little voice in your head that says" something is different here". Given a few extra seconds of looking at the possible scenarios might have made you position yourself differently , in a more safe position.
When I am doing a crane job I get into a "rhythm" that I don't like to disrupt. You have to have the ability to look at a given situation and factor in what could possibly go wrong even when it is a seemingly slight anomaly.
Good ya didn't get yer head knocked mate!
 
Near misses are too often taken for granted and not seen for the warning sign that they are. A good crane op doesn't add unnecessary drama to the job. In fact, it should look pretty damn boring to an untrained observer.

Remember we're not paid to entertain the clients.
 
Also you have to understand that if the cable becomes out of plumb at a 90 degree angle from the operator it is very easy for him to see the problem. If the cable becomes out of plumb either directly towards or directly away from the operator it is hard for him to see that it is out of plumb and also how much out of plumb it actually is.
 
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