Saw a tower crane operator in Chicago working with a tablet instead of paper charts

I was on a site visit in the West Loop last month, and the guy running the big Liebherr was using a digital tablet for his load charts and lift plans. He said it was faster and he could zoom in on details. But the old foreman on the ground said it was a 'glorified toy' and that paper never crashes. It got me thinking about tech on the job. Do you think digital tools like that are the future, or is sticking with paper the safer bet?

2 comments

2 Comments

harper_singh185d ago

That paper backup story from @emeryp23 is a good point, but tech fails are just a new kind of problem to solve. We used to lose paper charts in the wind or rain all the time, and nobody called for going back to memory. The future is digital tools with better batteries and sun shades, not avoiding them.

emeryp236d ago

Remember my buddy's drone survey got messed up when his iPad overheated on a Texas site. The foreman had a paper backup in his truck and saved the day. Tech is great until it fails, so maybe the smart move is using both.