Rant: I used the hand signals wrong for 4 years straight

At a job site in Phoenix last Tuesday, the signalman yelled at me because my boom up signal looked like swing left. That's when I rechecked my training card and realized I had been mixing up the hand signals since day one.

3 comments

3 Comments

wendyg434d ago

My buddy Tom from a solar farm in Nevada had the exact same problem for almost 3 years. He'd give a "dog everything" signal which is raising and lowering your arm (you know, like picking up a dog) for when he wanted the crane to raise the load. But that's actually the signal for "boom up" not for lifting a load, so his operator was always confused and Tom just thought the guy was slow. Then a safety inspector pointed it out during a site walk, and Tom felt like a complete idiot (bless his heart). He still jokes about it every time we see him at the bar.

hart.sage4d ago

I mean honestly that's kind of amazing nobody said anything for years. Like you'd think at some point the operator would be like "hey man are you trying to tell me to boom up or lift the load because I'm just guessing over here." But nope, they just vibed it out and figured it meant the same thing anyway. Classic construction site logic. At least your guy yelled at you so you finally got it sorted out. Could've been way worse you could've spent another 4 years waving your arms around like a confused mime.

murray.drew4d ago

@wendyg43 made me think of my cousin who did boom up vs. load raise for 2 years straight at a storage lot in Texas, his operator never said a word about it they just figured out what he meant.