Crane Op Screw Up

Yeah I totally agree with the mismatched cuts. totally
He was a climber. The no hard hat still climbs on a taught line hitch, usually climbs up to the first branch with no flip line kinda climber. He never heard of having a climber tie in above the ball before me, much less two attachments riding the hook. He calls all the safety stuff I do new school shit.

We tried the safety meetings and they fizzled out. He and I discussed it and it came down to him "i've always done it this way, you shoulda blah blah blah. Me "this isn't my first fucking cut in the tree John". Him "I'm just saying bud".

You've gotta understand i'll get nowhere discussing it again. He's actually a really good guy to work for and super nice but you can't tell him anything because of his time doing trees and "we've always done it that way and never had a problem" attitude. He's not a dick about it but the kinda guy you feel like your talking at, no talking to.
 
Thanx for sharing your close call, and very glad there was no blood shed. Over tensioning is an easy mistake to make and also impossible to observe on more vertical pieces.
We like to intentionally under estimate weight for crane ops for this reason (or tell them how much cable tension the climber wants.) Some of the smoothest picks happen when the crane has just a little tension (maybe half the final load), the cutting is all easy because there are less forces in the wood (no pinching), the saw is put away (no kerf grabbing), and the crane just lifts the piece off the cut.
Oh yeah, and the crane guy is on your side and paying attension!
 
Even if he acts like a (fill in the blank)... you could still try to learn something to help in the future..... no gain in blame...
maybe you could get radios, or keep a better on movement during pretension etc...

if nothing else...................................... you picked the wrong boss. That could be the most important lesson here!
 
Thanks Daniel. I did learn quite a bit from this experience including my choices in bosses. We do have comms but some times he hears me but doesn't listen if that makes sense.
 
Yup just messing with you


Your guy doesn't have a lmi right? I watch my numbers to put the tension on. I would imagine it would be harder to be spot on without one
 
That is crazy scary I had a boss like that once great guy but like you said it's like talking to a wall. Glad your OK it could have come out much worse than if you got hit by the chain . Like you said it hit your rope or you could have gone for one hell of a ride. Any way to install a LMI on that crane?
 
Those load cells are very available and easy to work with Dynafor makes a good one. I think that one is a Dillon made one. Here is one minor problem with the cells is they require yearly calibration and have a life span. Meaning after about 5-9 years they tend not to maintain cal for a long period time.
 
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