Jerry B

[Tino]

What about having Independent controls on each outrigger , on the sampe side as the outrigger. So that the person lowering it can see them. I know this will not work for older machines unless they are retro fitted, but for newer machines it may work. I know the bucket truck at work has this feature.

 

[Gerald_Beranek]

In time it may come to that, but until then......

 

[TreeCo]

[ QUOTE ]
What about having Independent controls on each outrigger , on the sampe side as the outrigger. So that the person lowering it can see them.

[/ QUOTE ]

Another idea would be to have the 'backing up' or some other alarm go off any time an outrigger control is operated.

 

[Gerald_Beranek]

People become complacent with audible warnings. Just 2 years ago near Ft. Bragg a California dept. of Transportation worker and paving contractor were both backed over by a dump truck on a paving site. one killed the other maimed for life. There was two lines of trucks backing up to the pavers, multiple beepers and bells going off all day long. The workers just shut them out of there heads during a discussion about the job. Got backed over by a dump doing 3 miles an hour.

 

[Colin]

Those backup buzzers can also cause hearing loss after continued exposure. They are obnoxiously loud and can damage eardrums, so therefore everybody has to wear hearing protection all the time to protect them from the fugging buzzers! So you end up with a jobsite (such as in road construction) where buzzers are going off all day long and it's a complete nuisance to be around, all the workers are wearing earplugs and can't hear what's going on around them.

IMO the buzzers are more of a nuisance than a help. They might help the occassional civilian who is stupid enough to wander through a busy jobsite but they are a hindrance to the people working around them all day long.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

The alternative to backup alarms is to have a person on site as a flagger/spotter. That is an expensive, and sometimes undependable, alternative.

 

[TreeCo]

Maybe a good solution would be to have the outrigger control at the outrigger. It would take a little more set up time but it would decrease the chance of someone not knowing an outrigger is being operated.

 

[inztrees]

my outrigger controle is at the outrigger Iv had them both ways and it is better at the outrigger I think

 

[Gerald_Beranek]

A good point about independent controls is, you can at least see what each rigger is sinking into when setting it. soft ground, road edge, ice, feet!!!

 

[willie]

i always bend down and watch the rigger till its set

 

[Colin]

It's a habit with me. I always bend down and look.

 

[Gerald_Beranek]

On the older High Rangers I remember I could lean over and watch the offside rigger come down. It only had two. There was four out riggers on the crane and the back two were behind the wheels. It would've been difficult, if not impossible, to view them from the controls.

 

[Jamin_Mayer]

Maybe a convex mirror could be mounted on a crane to look around the corner. Kind of like the kind you see on a bus.

 

[drouintree]

[ QUOTE ]
It's a habit with me. I always bend down and look.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought you was outta here bro? glad to see your back.

 

[Gerald_Beranek]

Mirrors could certainly help, but are broken only too easily and with complacensey are seldom ever replaced in a timely manner.