My first foreman swore by a three-part hand signal system for blind lifts, and I thought it was overkill

Back when I was a greenhorn on a high-rise job in Charlotte, my foreman, a guy named Carl, drilled into me that for any blind lift where the operator couldn't see the load, we had to use a three-part signal: spotter to tagline guy, tagline guy to me, then me to the operator on the radio. I thought it was slow and pointless, adding extra people for no reason. A few years later on a different site, the crew was rushing and we skipped the middleman, with the spotter talking straight to the operator. A gust caught a panel, the spotter yelled 'stop' but the operator heard 'drop', and we had a near miss that bent a steel beam. Carl's method was about a clear chain of command, not speed. Now I won't run a blind pick without it. How many of you stick to a strict signal chain, or do you think modern radios make it less needed?

3 comments

3 Comments

paige_owens52mo ago

My uncle's crew got lazy with signals once and put a forklift through a wall.

karenb972mo agoMost Upvoted

That's wild, @paige_owens5. Makes you wonder how much damage a full-speed forklift could actually do.

the_olivia2mo ago

Wait, the operator heard "stop" as "drop"? That's terrifying. One wrong word and you're not just bending steel, you're dropping a load on someone. It really shows how a clear chain isn't about being slow, it's about being alive. That near miss story is gonna stick with me.