Signalman vs. voice radio, which one do you trust more on a tight blind pick?

My operator buddy in Houston swore by hand signals over the radio after a misheard 'left' almost swung a 4-ton beam into a wall last month, but my foreman says voice is faster on long reaches, so which do you guys lean on when the load is out of sight and the margin is 2 feet?

2 comments

2 Comments

viola_ward22d ago

Twenty years running cranes and I've seen more close calls from radio static than from a hand signal. Last spring on a job in Tulsa we had a hoist operator hear "swing right" when the signalman clearly meant "swing left" through the receiver, cost us a full afternoon re-rigging. Hand signals are dumb-simple, nobody argues about what a closed fist means, and on a blind pick with two feet to spare you need that kind of certainty. Voice is faster, sure, but speed don't help when you're wrong. I'll take the slower, sure signal every time.

the_claire22d ago

Damn, @viola_ward is exactly right, my buddy almost dropped a load last year from a radio mix-up like that.