Serious question, a crew in Houston argued with me about using a tagline for a tight pick last week.

We were setting a 12-ton HVAC unit on a roof downtown, with maybe 10 feet of clearance between two walls. I wanted to use a tagline to control the swing, but the riggers said it would slow us down too much. Three years ago on a similar job in Dallas, we had a load spin and clip a parapet wall, costing us two days of repairs. Last month, my current foreman backed me up and we used one without issue. So what's the call, always use a tagline in tight spots or trust the riggers and go without to save time?

3 comments

3 Comments

rose_reed2h ago

Remember that story about the guy who dropped a pallet of tile in a fancy lobby? My buddy was on that crew. They skipped the tagline to hurry, load swung, and the whole thing just peeled off the forks. Took them a week to fix the marble floor and the GC banned them from the site.

rowan9692h ago

Heard a similar story where a load hit a support beam. Oliverhernandez is right, that fake time saving always bites you later.

oliverhernandez2h ago

Rose_reed's story is exactly why you push for the tagline. That lobby repair bill probably cost more than the whole tile job. Time saved skipping a safety step is fake money, it always comes out of your pocket later. I've seen a load kiss a glass curtain wall because someone was in a hurry, and the cleanup made that crane look cheap. Your foreman had the right idea backing you up.