a crane virgin

[Andy Collins]

Things CAN go wrong!! I worked on quite a few crane jobs in the past, on the ground, for a reputable local company with many lifts under its belt. But!

I turned up at the end of the day after my job was done to assist with the clear up on one crane job, to see the cab of the crane about 8-10feet above where it should be. Absolute chaos on site, boss screaming at the crane driver that he was an idiot as the lump of wood was too big for the lift, and trying to tip the crane jib into the house. communication had broken down on site, confidence in each other was lost. Turns out they were scrabbing to get the job finished in the day, Heavy rain had slowed things down, so boss tried to lift out the butt in one, too big.

Another job, the tree was a large multi-stemmed beech, crane driver had never done tree lifts, climbers had minimal experience, and the crane driver kept catching the climbers lines and pulling them up through the tree. I ended up talking the crane operator through each lift, pita.

Culverts. Had a crane doing a lift on a Holm Oak by a house, as he did the lift, his leg went down through a culvert beneath the road, tipping the crane, bloody dangerous!!

Of course, we did many other uneventful lifts with cranes, which went without a hitch, but these cases could have gone so much worse, with each having the potential for fatalities. Never get complacent, dont rush your jobs, communicate properly with the crane, and survey the sites properly, and I like the sound of Andy Gentles idea of a course for slinging banksman quals, makes sense!!

[squirrel]

Have a good time and enjoy its fun ,and most of all be carefull , up a big tree use your secondry climber as a chocker man to put your chains on this makes it even more fun as all you do is cut and wave bye bye

 

VIRTURES FORTUNA COMES

[minty]

I just thought I might say that there was an incident here in NZ recently.A piece was being lifted thru the foliage of a neighbouring tree and while it was not visible to anyone on site,the hook caught on a limb and turned,the strop moved onto the safety latch on the hook which then broke and the piece then fell out of control to the ground.

This leads to my question.Any ideas how to prevent this from happening ?

[Mike Hill]

Use a "Buzzard Hook".Its a normal hook but with a "Dead Gate" that unlocks either with a Bolt or by pushing a button on the Hook.

 

Sounds like the crane driver was trying to "yard" the lift,pulling it towards the Crane rather than straight up as it should.Every attachment method has its disadvatages,Grapples,Chains,soft strops,wire rope.

 

If the peice had to come through obstructions,then included loops,ie Strops should not have been used as there are loops to catch things on.A "D" Shackel attached above the Hooks (if its a light peice) and a wire rope with choker would have made a bit more sence.

[Topcat]

we've just done a massive beech. 50 ton crane and came down in 5 ton lumps.Until the butt which stilled had a couple of limbs on. Climber knew best and decided to take it in one go and the driver said he would lift it easy without moving...whoops, 9.8 ton, bells ringing, two crane legs off the deck. Luckily the crane driver dropped the butt and although the weight of the limbs took the lot to a 45 degree angle he was able to stop it hitting the £10k play area. My advice get some one in to learn from and when you bring in a subby make sure he does it the way YOU want.

[Arbocop]

got my first crane job coming up and im a bit nervous to be honest, any words of wisdom from all you older and wiser than i?

 

i got 4 big monterey pines over a road to dismantle.

 

bit unsure of the procedure for for stroping sections, strop ratings, connecting to crane, step cuts or felling cuts? section weight estimating?

 

tell you what chap dont do the job yet as if you are unsure of all of the aboove, weather you cheak your insurace or not will not protect you.

 

crane jobs with or without mewps are absolutly the best way to do big jobs but....

 

have you got an apointed person (APP)

have you devised a lifting and site plan

have you arrange how you will keep the drop zone clear and move the timebr

do yiu have any slinner/signeler quals????

have you ever cut with a crane before??

 

i think the answer is no to a lot of those, so not only will you be breaking several laws but also putting peole and property in danger. so i suggest

 

find an APP, who is experianced in tree work, i can recomed one in kent and one in suffolk andone in milton keynes, but be awar they are not cheap ...

 

make sure the crane driver you get is experianced in crane work, you whant a steady thoughtful driver.

 

hire in someone who has cut with a crane befor to guide and breif you. as some one said you sit back and enjoy but..... there are safe efficent ways, there are quick and hazodouse ways get experianced help

 

as others have said once you have all that in place do cheak your ensurance and make sure it covers you...

 

for those that dont know when you get a crane you have 2 hire roughts ( BAsically)

 

crane hire or contract lift (name varies a bit depends were u r ) hire you get the crane and driver say £400 quide as a figure, nothing else the driver does as his told and you spec things

 

the other whay lift you get an app, they are an interface between the job and the crane, they spec and supervise breif and controll the buc stops whith them that is the one you need unless you have APP quals eg bs 7121.

 

 

as with so many things there are right and wrong ways not only to do the job but also to plane manage and exicute jobs.

 

sorry if it sounds like a lecture but really dont do it get help and learn from it. if you whant contacts for good apps with tree experiance drop me a line and ill gladly give you numbers, like wise if you whany access to slinner signaler training let me know off forum

 

cheers

 

kev

[tommer9]

That is really good advice mate- with gear that big the potential for things going very very wrong through the slightest miscalculation is very present.Use this job as a learner, by getting in some experience- it will stand you in really good stead, and your name can still be on the top of the job sheet. Good luck mate.