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Warning: A simple rigging check turned into a three hour delay on a site in Tacoma
We were setting a big HVAC unit on a roof, maybe 8,000 pounds, and I did my usual look at the slings and shackles. Everything looked good to go. The signal guy gave me the thumbs up, and I started the lift. About twenty feet off the ground, I felt a tiny, weird vibration in the boom, just a little shake that wasn't right. I stopped everything right there. We lowered the load and spent the next hour going over every inch. Turns out, one of the brand new wire rope slings had a single broken wire strand right where it was hidden in the basket hitch. You couldn't see it unless you bent the sling just right. We had to send someone to get a replacement, and the whole thing killed the morning. Has anyone else caught a flaw in new gear that almost got missed?
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joseph_murray81mo ago
Man, that's a close one. Good on you for feeling that little shake. Reminds me of a time we were about to lift a generator. Did the check, all the new straps looked perfect. Just for the heck of it, I ran my hand down one and got a nasty poke. Found a small cut in the nylon core, totally hidden by the outer cover. It was maybe an inch long. Brand new strap right out of the package. That stuff just makes you second guess everything now.
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hayden_black291mo ago
Yeah, that's how you learn to trust nothing at face value.
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