Rant: Used to hate doing daily wire rope inspections until one snapped on me

Old timer at a yard in St. Louis told me 'skip it once and you'll learn the hard way' and sure enough I found a broken strand that would've taken out a load of steel beams last Tuesday, has anyone else found something nasty during a routine check that saved your hide?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathankim12d ago

Wait, why does everyone act like skipping one inspection means you're gonna die tomorrow? I get that it's a serious job, but the way people talk about it sounds like superstition more than safety. I've been doing inspections for years and most days nothing is wrong, so one missed check probably isn't gonna cause a disaster if you're paying attention the rest of the time. The real issue is people acting like every single rule is life or death when half the time it's just management covering their butts. Not saying ignore it completely, but maybe chill with the whole "old timers know best" stuff.

robinp8912d ago

Had a buddy who was a rigger over in Kansas City, he skipped the inspection on some old wire rope one morning cause he was running late. Next day he found a frayed spot that was basically hanging by a thread, would've snapped under a light load. Said his foreman chewed him out for missing the first check but then bought everyone lunch cause he caught it in time. Stuff like that makes you realize it's not just rules for the sake of rules, it's literally saving your butt. Old timers know what they're talking about even if it sounds like nagging.

barbara_jenkins6612d ago

@robinp89 that story hits close to home. I was working a job up in Portland once, we had this old crane cable that looked fine from a distance but nobody had checked it in a couple days cause we were behind schedule. I finally got around to it one afternoon and found a spot where the strands were basically dust inside the sheath. Would have snapped for sure on the next lift. The foreman didn't yell at me thank God but he made everyone sit through a safety meeting the next morning and showed the piece we cut off. You're right about old timers too, my dad was a millwright for 30 years and I used to roll my eyes at his constant nagging about checking things twice. Now I get it.