That job site in Cleveland taught me a hard lesson about tag lines

I was working a tower crane gig last spring on a tight downtown Cleveland lot, right by Euclid Avenue. We were picking steel beams for a 12-story building and I figured I had plenty of room to swing, so I skipped using the tag line on a load. Big mistake. A gust came out of nowhere between two buildings and that beam started spinning like a top, nearly clipped a parked delivery truck. The operator on the ground yelled at me over the radio to get a line on it fast, and I had to scramble to hook one up while the load was still swaying. After that day, I never leave the ground without a tag line attached for anything over 500 pounds, even on what looks like a calm site. Has anyone else had a close call that made you change a basic habit on the job?

2 comments

2 Comments

jennifer8331d ago

That 300 pound rule quinna89 mentioned actually makes a lot of sense. I started using tag lines for anything over 400 pounds after my Cleveland close call, but some guys I know in Pittsburgh swear by anything over 250 because the wind patterns there are just nasty coming off the rivers. The thing is, when a load starts spinning unexpectedly, it is not just about hitting something nearby - it can backspin into the main crane cable and cause serious damage to the sheave or the hoist mechanism. A buddy of mine had a 600 pound bundle of rebar flip on him once because he skipped the tag line on what looked like a dead calm morning, and it took out a section of scaffolding that set the project back three days. Those cheap nylon straps with a metal ring on the end are like ten bucks on a supply truck, but they can save you from a hospital visit or a lawsuit. I cannot believe how many experienced guys still treat them like optional equipment just because they want to work fast.

quinna891d ago

I read a piece in a construction safety newsletter last year where a guy in Chicago had a similar close call with a beam on a windy day near the river. He said a tag line would have stopped the spin before it even started, but he was in a hurry too. After that I saw a lot of guys in our crew started using them for anything over 300 pounds, not just 500. It is one of those cheap pieces of gear that can save you from a real headache or worse.