Snapped a hoist cable on a job in Milwaukee yesterday

Was lifting a steel beam near the downtown area and the cable just let go around 30 feet up. No one got hurt cause the drop zone was clear, but it made a hell of a noise when it hit the concrete. Got the crane shut down and had to call in a mobile tech to check everything. Anyone else ever had a cable fail on them like that out of nowhere?

3 comments

3 Comments

abby_morgan1819d ago

but that's exactly the thing that bugs me about these kinds of posts, you know? Everyone always jumps straight to "oh there had to be warning signs" but how many of you are actually climbing up and doing a full inspection on every single lift? I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just asking a real question here. On a busy jobsite, who's actually got the time to stop and run a finger over every inch of cable between picks? Cause in my experience, the guys who do that get yelled at for wasting time, and the guys who don't end up with snapped cables and close calls. So my pointed question is this: when was the last time you personally did a hands-on inspection of your own hoist cable, not just a quick glance from the ground?

young.ryan19d ago

Yeah, not to nitpick too much but "out of nowhere" might not be totally right here. Cable failures like that usually have some kind of warning sign, even if it's subtle, like a couple broken wires or a little birdcaging you'd only catch on a close inspection. I'm not saying you missed anything, just that it's rare for a cable to snap clean with zero prior damage.

evan54318d ago

Fair point but you'd be surprised how clean those snaps can look even with prior damage.