Had a safety guy tell me my hand signals were too fast, it got me thinking

I was setting a beam on a job site in Phoenix last Tuesday when this safety officer I've never met before comes up and says I'm waving my arms too quick for the operator to read properly. At first I blew it off because I've been doing this for 12 years and never had a complaint. But later that night I was replaying the conversation in my head and realized he might have a point. A younger operator I trained a few months back once asked me to slow down too but I just joked it off. Now I'm wondering if I've been making things harder for guys who aren't used to my style. Has anyone else had an outsider point out a bad habit you didn't know you had?

2 comments

2 Comments

simonmoore1mo ago

But here's what I'm wondering - was that safety guy someone who actually runs a crane himself, or was he just going off a handbook? I've seen too many rulebook types who've never touched a load line try to tell operators and riggers how to do their jobs. Your younger operator's comment might carry more weight since he's the one who actually has to read your signals day to day.

margaret_singh11mo agoMost Upvoted

That "rulebook types" phrase hit home. I read somewhere that most major crane accidents happen because of inexperience, not bad rules, but the guys with the hands-on feel always seem to catch problems a checklist misses.