Switched from hand signals to radios on crane jobs and it cut my setup time in half

Used to rely on hand signals for everything until a job last summer at a construction site in Austin where the sun was right in the rigger's eyes and we almost dropped a steel beam. Been using Motorola two-ways ever since and honestly the old way feels like working blind now. Anyone else made the switch and found it awkward at first?

2 comments

2 Comments

abby6982d ago

Sun in the rigger's eyes is a classic recipe for disaster. Hand signals work great until you're basically playing charades with a blindfolded guy. Radios are definitely the way to go once you get past the initial "wait, did he say left or right?" confusion. I remember my first week with them I kept keying the mic by accident while yelling at a coworker about lunch. Setup time dropping by half sounds about right though, no more walking over to clarify if that was two fingers or three. Have you found any weird issues with interference on your site?

grant9012d ago

Nah man the interference thing is real lol. We had this site right next to a cell tower and every time someone walked past a certain spot the radio would just start buzzing like a angry bee. Couldn't tell if it was the equipment or just bad luck but it made crane signals sound like we were underwater half the time. One day I was trying to tell the operator to lower the load and he just heard static for like 10 seconds, finally he looked over and I'm waving my arms around like a lunatic. We switched to a different channel and it helped but still got some weird crackling when trucks drove by. Radios are great until you're shouting "CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW" for the fifth time while everyone stares at you.

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