The 50 ton Grove that humbled me last Tuesday

Rigged a 14,000 pound HVAC unit onto a roof in Tacoma, easy job on paper. Set the outriggers on the pad they gave me, leveled up, all good. Halfway through the lift I heard a pop and the cab tilted maybe 2 degrees. Turned out the ground under the pad was old fill from a demo, packed but not compacted. The site boss shrugged and said 'we've used that spot for years'. I had to set the unit back down and respot the whole crane in the alley. Took an extra 3 hours and the GC was pacing the whole time. Any of you ever trust a pad that looked fine and got burned, or do you always probe the ground first?

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1 Comment

logan_gonzalez23d ago

Man, ground pads are a straight up gamble half the time. If it ain't got a plate or a soil report, I'm probing it or moving.