Rant: A rigger in Houston told me he never trusts a load chart he has not seen laminated
Last week a rigger on a job in Houston pulled out his own laminated copy of the load chart while the rest of us were squinting at a faded one taped to the cab window, and it got me thinking about how lazy I have gotten with chart checks. He keeps a fresh copy in his truck for every crane he runs and swaps it out every 6 months or so, which sounds like overkill until you see how fast those cab copies get sun bleached and greasy. Am I the only one rolling with whatever chart was in the machine when I climbed in, or do some of you keep your own set too?
Six months seems short until you climb into a machine where the chart is basically a white piece of paper with a few smudges left on it. I ran a 60 ton in July where you could barely read the boom angle column, and the guy before me just shrugged and said it was fine. My favorite part is when the chart in the cab is held on with duct tape that's older than some of the operators on site. I've been meaning to make my own set for a while, but then again I also keep telling myself I'll clean out my truck bed someday.