Finally tried a tagline on my crane boom after years of saying no

I always thought putting a tagline on the boom was just extra hassle (more gear to trip over, right?). Last month I had to lift a 2,000 lb steel beam near a window in a tight warehouse downtown. My spotter convinced me to try it, and honestly I stopped the load swing in like half the time. Has anyone else had a job where a tagline saved your bacon?

3 comments

3 Comments

mason.drew1d ago

Wait, did you mean you put the tagline on the load or on the boom itself? Taglines usually attach to the load to control swing, not the boom. I've seen guys tie a rope to the load hook before but thats different. On a beam that size a tagline would definitely help the spotter keep it from banging into that window.

blake_kelly191d ago

Hold up @mason.drew, wait, you're telling me some guys don't even use taglines on loads that size?

anna71720h ago

Hang on, is everyone acting like a tagline is some revolutionary safety device now? I've been running boom trucks for fifteen years and I'll take a good spotter over a rope any day if you ask me. Maybe I'm wrong but it sounds like a little bit of an overreaction to me.