That time a steel beam fell off the crane in 2017

Was working a site outside Denver back in 2017. We had a 40-foot steel beam swing loose from the crane rigging around 10 in the morning. Landed right where I had been standing 2 minutes earlier to grab a coffee. After that I started double checking every single strap and shackle myself before lifts. Anyone else have a close call that changed how you check rigging?

3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

3 Comments

christophers275mo ago

Holding your coffee two minutes away doesn't mean anything... steel beams don't wait for nobody. The real issue is people getting too comfortable with their own "gut feelings" instead of trusting the actual rigging process. Every job site has rules for a reason, and if you start second guessing the crane crew every time, you're just slowing things down for everybody. Most close calls come from guys who think they know better than the engineers who designed the lift plan in the first place. You gotta trust the system or you're gonna drive yourself crazy checking everything yourself. Sounds like you got lucky, but that doesn't mean your way is the right way to do things going forward.

7

gonzalez.vera5mo ago

@christophers27, you really think trusting the process has never led to a close call?

4

nancy8243mo ago

@g christophers27 you got it mostly right but engineers sometimes miss things too buddy.

4