Man of Honour
- Joined
- 11 Apr 2003
- Posts
- 9,389
- Location
- London
I had to lower a portacabin onto the back of a wagon a few weeks ago (I'm a crane driver). It was a blind drop, i.e. I couldn't see the area I was lowering it in, so I was acting purely on instruction from a man on a radio. Unbeknownst to either of us the luffing gearstick, which I'd used to bring the load out over the building above the road next to it, had locked in 1st gear.
That meant that not only was the portacabin being lowered towards the ground, as we thought, it was also very slowly going forwards/out from the tower of the crane. We had it lined up to land on the middle of the wagon, but by the time it was almost touched down it was a few feet off centre and none of the berks there noticed until it was too late, and the wagon started tilting to the side, into a busy road.
A frantic emergency stop instruction came through. I told him the crane wasn't moving, but he said it was still going down (sorry, forgot to mention that luffing out also has the side effect of lowering the load) and the wagon was going to tip. I thought he was winding me up, but I reacted quickly enough and killed power to the crane. I then saw the joystick which had locked wasn't in neutral.
It was more the crane's fault than mine, as the joystick shouldn't have been able to stay in a non-neutral position without my hand on it, but in reality I was somewhat to blame for not immediately killing power as soon as he said emergency stop. I was practically discussing it with him, when I should have just acted, so I let the problem persist for a few more seconds than was necessary. Fortunately though, the wagon didn't go over and we then lifted up the load and corrected its position. No injuries or damage in the end, but it could so easily have ended up differently...it was a busy road in a town centre.
That meant that not only was the portacabin being lowered towards the ground, as we thought, it was also very slowly going forwards/out from the tower of the crane. We had it lined up to land on the middle of the wagon, but by the time it was almost touched down it was a few feet off centre and none of the berks there noticed until it was too late, and the wagon started tilting to the side, into a busy road.
A frantic emergency stop instruction came through. I told him the crane wasn't moving, but he said it was still going down (sorry, forgot to mention that luffing out also has the side effect of lowering the load) and the wagon was going to tip. I thought he was winding me up, but I reacted quickly enough and killed power to the crane. I then saw the joystick which had locked wasn't in neutral.
It was more the crane's fault than mine, as the joystick shouldn't have been able to stay in a non-neutral position without my hand on it, but in reality I was somewhat to blame for not immediately killing power as soon as he said emergency stop. I was practically discussing it with him, when I should have just acted, so I let the problem persist for a few more seconds than was necessary. Fortunately though, the wagon didn't go over and we then lifted up the load and corrected its position. No injuries or damage in the end, but it could so easily have ended up differently...it was a busy road in a town centre.
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