That moment a load shifted on me at a job site in Seattle

I was running a 50 ton crawler on a high rise job downtown Seattle about a year ago. Had a steel beam swinging up to the 12th floor when the wind caught it wrong. The load started to twist and swing hard to the left, I felt the rig lean a bit. My heart stopped for a second, I just focused and cut the swing speed, lowered it slow and let the tag line guys get control again. Took about 20 seconds but felt like forever. Nobody got hurt but the foreman chewed me out for not waiting for the wind to die down. Has anyone else had a load get squirrelly on them from unexpected gusts?

2 comments

2 Comments

robinwalker2d ago

...and I just read that new OSHA report about crane accidents in urban areas. They said wind tunnels between high rises are way more dangerous than open sites. That Seattle thing sounds nasty, I've seen gusts bounce off those glass towers and hit from two different directions at once. Smart move dropping the load slow instead of fighting it, I remember some old timer telling me never to jerk the controls when a load starts swinging because it just makes the leverage worse. The foreman was probably scared more than mad, those guys have seen things go bad quick when the wind sneaks up like that.

dylan_stone332d ago

Man that's a scary situation. It's funny how the small things like wind can sneak up on you, just like when you're driving and a gust pushes your car sideways on the highway. @robinwalker is right about the wind tunnels in cities, I've noticed it walking downtown too, how the air just funnels between buildings and catches you off guard. Good on you for keeping your head.