working for big oil

[Courierguy]

Here's the first shot, showing my 22 ton Manitex rigged to a supposedly (as confirmed by the sign shop manager the day before, whi I've worked with before and trust/trusted). This was actually the second day on the job, the day before I showed up at 3:00 PM. The sign crew, working out of a 135' manlift,had problems and it got dark on us before we got all (26) of the bolts out. I left the crane rigged to it and went home, after hearing 2 bolts were still in place. I didn't like it but really didn't have much choice at that point. This shot was the next AM, and everything looks like I left it.

 

[Courierguy]

The sign crew and I were standing underneath discussing the days work while warming up the equipment, when all of a sudden one yells RUN!!! We followed his advice without comment, covering 100'+ in no time, (the sign is 110' tall). When we looked back up this is what we saw. After over 12 hrs of nothing moving, it tipped, putting more weight and a side load on my boom. I had not realized the 2 remaining bolts were the BOTTOM two, thus the instability. I was not pleased. It gets worse....

 

[Courierguy]

Right after this happened the foreman told me that the shop manger had mistakenly given me the wrong weight, instead of less then 2500 lbs at most, it was maybe as much as 6,000. My load chart showed me good for a max of 3,000.This new information changed everything. Not knowing the condition of the two remaining bolts and now unsure of what I was dealing with I chose to do nothing. My load moniter showed 1800 lbs, as the day progressed (note the time stamp on photo's) it rose to 2400 lbs. I immidiately started calling around the area for another crane, friend Mike with his new 26 ton Altec was the first to respond, some hours later. This photo shows how in the middle of a very busy area we were operating in.

 

[Courierguy]

This is the previous posts attahment

 

[Courierguy]

Mike and the Altec arrive.
Once we rigged him to the sign, the immidate problem was abated, he applied enough pull (nearly 2 blocked as you can see)to allow my boom to unside load and go back down to 1800 lbs. but we wern't out of the woods yet. The wind had come up, note the flag in the lower left of some shots. Also, if the damn thig weighed 6 K I did not want to do it in that wind, even with two of us, as we'd both be very near our max, and having it bang around our booms would not be good.

 

[Courierguy]

rigging Mike's crane to the sign, the guy in the manlift had the bad part of this deal as he'd have no where to go if anything moved again, it was a tense moment.

 

[Courierguy]

Closeup of the hero of the day

 

[Courierguy]

In the meantime the sign company had called for the local 50 ton, but he was down for repairs. Its a real beater...but it looked good that evening when he finally got there. Now we had 3, make that 4 cranes on the job, counting the sign companies little ladder unit, which was used to put the jib on the 50 ton as Mike and I were a tad tied up. 4 cranes and the big manilift...and the new sign is another Chevron sign with some minor change, whatever...
As soon as the 50 ton got ahold of it Mike and I got out of there ASAP, the wind was still blowing and it was dark again. Assuming he picked it (I'll know tomorrow) but he doesn't have a load moniter so I'll have to be the one to see what it really weighs. Hopefully not 6 K, and I was being overcautious. Thats OK, if it does weigh near 6K I still did the right (after the fact that is) thing by not aggavating the situation untill more help got there. The sign company manager and I have yet to get together, I am planning on asking how the weight was so far off, if indeed it was. He's always been spot on before.
The last shot, the wind still blowing.

 

[Colin]

Wow! I wonder what the crane bill for that day was! Until the manlift arrived, how were you doing the rigging?


<font color="green">The TreeHouse</font>

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[Courierguy]

The manlift was there from the getgo, the crane/cranes bill is being negotiated. Friend Mike will get paid (7 hours at 90 per) direct by me, and I'll probably give them my day for free as long as they reimburse me for Mike. Live and learn.
Tom

 

[Riggs]

good job getting out of that jam , could've been real ugly .

 

[RogerM]

If Chevron is footin' the bill.....I think they maid enough this last quarter to cover your cost...Bill them for every cent you can. Seriously, Bill them. They can afford it.

 

[Jamin_Mayer]

[ QUOTE ]
If Chevron is footin' the bill.....I think they maid enough this last quarter to cover your cost...Bill them for every cent you can. Seriously, Bill them. They can afford it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Totally!

I agree.

Bill them.

They shouldn't care one bit. They have plenty of money

 

[jerseywild]

[ QUOTE ]
If Chevron is footin' the bill.....I think they maid enough this last quarter to cover your cost...Bill them for every cent you can. Seriously, Bill them. They can afford it.

[/ QUOTE ]

The station owner will have to pay for the sign not Chevron unless the station is company owned. In most cases the stations are independent and are only a branded dealer.

 

[Courierguy]

Yeah... I just billed for my first day, and ate the second day timewise, figuring it was either the local sign company or the station owner on the hook. That seemed to make everyone happy, I got paid right away, rather then the usual 30 to 45 days, plus a free cup of coffee at the station. Plus diesel has hit below 3.90 a gallon here recently, thanks Chevron!