Had a real eye-opener with a load chart in Memphis last month

We were setting roof trusses on a new build, using a 50-ton mobile crane. The chart said we were good for the radius, but I didn't account for the new, heavier composite shingle bundles already staged on the roof deck. When I went to swing the last truss, the load moment indicator started flashing and the crane felt sluggish. I had to set it down fast and re-check everything. Turns out we were way closer to the limit than I thought. Anyone else had a close call because of extra materials on site they didn't plan for?

3 comments

3 Comments

rileyfox3mo ago

We had a similar scare with a pallet of brick pavers left near the pad. Now I do a full walk of the swing path before we even start the pick. It adds five minutes but saves a ton of stress later.

phoenixa643mo ago

Take that walk a step further and make it part of the lift plan on paper. I sketch a simple site map now and mark where all the stored materials are, not just the path. That way the spotter and the operator are both looking at the same page, literally, and you catch things like a stack of block around the corner you might miss on foot. It turns a quick check into a solid game plan everyone follows.

oliver7191mo ago

Man, that exact thing happened to me on a job in Nashville last fall. We were setting steel beams for a warehouse and the ground guy had stacked a bunch of rebar right where I needed to swing the boom. The chart said I had plenty of capacity, but the crane started leaning hard when I tried to move. I had to stop everything and get it down slow, then we spent an hour moving that rebar pile. Now I always have the spotter double check the whole swing radius before we pick anything, not just the planned path. It makes a huge difference when you actually see what's sitting there that wasn't on the blueprint.