ConstructionRigging and signaling a crane lift
Guiding a crane lift takes two jobs: a qualified rigger who rigs the load and a qualified signal person who talks to the operator. This guide follows OSHA's crane rule, 29 CFR 1926 Subpart CC.
Free to startWhen a signal person is required
A signal person is required when the operator cannot fully see the load travel or the landing area, when the view in the direction of travel is blocked, or when the operator or the person handling the load decides one is needed. Before giving any signal, the signal person is qualified by a third-party or an employer's qualified evaluator, with an oral or written test and a practical test.
How the signals are given
Hand signals follow the Standard Method of Appendix A, and the chart is posted at the crane. Only one person signals at a time, every direction is given from the operator's point of view, and voice signals go in order: function, direction, distance or speed, function, stop.
Rigging the load
When workers hook, unhook or guide a load in the fall zone, a qualified rigger rigs it so it cannot shift, with self-closing latch hooks. Rigging is inspected before every shift, never loaded past its tag, padded at sharp edges, and hands stay out from between the sling and the load. Practice every signal free with Blocky.
Official sources
The crane rule
29 CFR 1926 Subpart CC says when a signal person is required, how hand, radio and voice signals are given, who may stop the crane, how the signal person is qualified and who may stand in the fall zone. The full text is free to read.
The official hand signal chart
Appendix A, Standard hand signals draws the Standard Method: every hand signal with its gesture, from stop and emergency stop to hoist, lower, swing and dog everything. It is the free chart that must be posted at the crane.
The rigging rule
29 CFR 1926.251 makes rigging get inspected before every shift, carry a legible tag with its safe working load and never be loaded past it, and sets how slings are used around the load.
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