Saw the weirdest crane setup at a construction site in Cincinnati last week

I was driving past a new apartment build on Vine Street and had to do a double take. They had a mobile crane parked on a sloped street, and the outriggers were extended... but one of the pads was sitting on top of a stack of about six wooden pallets. I mean, I've seen cribbing before, but this looked like a Jenga tower. The operator was lifting a load of rebar, maybe 2 tons, and the whole setup just looked so sketchy. I pulled over and watched for a solid 10 minutes, half expecting a disaster. Has anyone ever seen a 'creative' rigging job that made you just shake your head?

3 comments

3 Comments

corap617d agoProlific Poster

Remember the guy who got crushed by a crane tipping over in Seattle. That's what this makes me think of. It's not just about the load falling. It's about the whole machine going over and killing the operator or someone on the ground. Those pallets can split or shift in a second, especially on a slope. That operator is betting his life on some busted wood.

dakota_miller937d ago

Look, @corap61, sometimes you just have to get the job done. That operator knows his machine and its limits better than anyone watching a video. A seasoned guy can feel when a load is stable, even on a slope. Those pallets are probably strapped down tight, and the forklift is built heavy to handle it. People do this safely every single day because they know what they're doing.

green.laura7d ago

Betting his life on some busted wood" is exactly it... my cousin worked at a place where a pallet just gave out on flat ground. The whole stack came down and crushed a guy's foot because the wood was old and wet. It wasn't about skill, the material just failed.