Tried rigging the load with a single sling to save 10 minutes, and the load spun on me
Last Tuesday at a job site in Fresno I had a load of steel pipe that needed to go up to the third floor, and I figured a single choker sling would be faster than setting up a two leg bridle. Bad call. The moment I picked it up past 20 feet, the whole bundle started spinning like a top. I had a guy on the ground yelling at me to stop, and I could not get it under control until I brought it back down and re rigged with two slings at a wider angle. Cost me 35 minutes and a lot of dirty looks from the ironworkers. What I learned is that saving a few minutes on rigging never pays off when the load goes sideways, and the tag line would have helped but nobody had one set up. So my question is, do you all run a tag line on every pick over 15 feet, or only when you know the load is off balance?
Back in 2019 I dropped a bundle of conduit off a forklift because I swore I didn't need a tag line on a "short" 12 foot pick, so yeah, I have zero room to laugh at anybody here. The rule on our crew now is anything over 15 feet gets a tag line, even if it looks balanced, because steel pipe is sneaky and once it starts spinning you are just a spectator with a remote. Your 35 minutes was actually cheap, I have seen a spinning load take out a railing and half a day. So no, you are not wrong for asking, and honestly the wider two leg bridle should have been the first move anyway. The 10 minute shortcut is always the one that bites you.