Unpopular opinion: switching from hand signals to radios cut my blind lifts from 4 minutes to 45 seconds

Mary Gonzalez · 2026-09-23T13:15:04.433949+00:00

For the first 6 years on my 80 ton crawler I waved my hands at the rigger and just dealt with the slow pace. Then in March my company finally put a pair of cheap 2 way radios in the cab and on the rigger's belt. Now a typical blind pick over a wall at the Riverside job takes 45 seconds instead of 4 minutes because the rigger calls out inches as I swing. The biggest change is the tagline guy can stay out of the pinch zone instead of walking into my blind spot. I get maybe 6 extra picks done in a shift and my neck hurts a lot less from craning around. Anyone here run radios full time, and do you keep them on a dedicated channel or share with the crew?

🎙️Chatter Central

Loading…

Unpopular opinion: switching from hand signals to radios cut my blind lifts from 4 minutes to 45 seconds | Crane Operators - Chatter Central