joelh64•7d agoProlific Poster

Rant: I keep seeing guys skip the hand signal for 'dog everything' and it's a problem

I mean, maybe it's just me, but I've been on three different sites in the last month and seen the same thing. Guys will just yell 'hold' or give a stop sign when they need everything locked down, but they don't use the proper 'dog everything' signal, you know, fists in front of the chest. It matters because 'hold' can be for a quick pause, but 'dog everything' means secure the load, set the brakes, the whole deal. I saw a near miss last week where a rigger thought we were just pausing and started to walk under the hook. Has anyone else had to really push the proper signals on their crew lately?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas_martinez7d ago

That point from @walker.cole about signals maybe needing an update is a good one. Is the real problem that we have too many signals that mean almost the same thing, or is it that crews just aren't trained well enough on the big difference between a pause and a full secure? I've seen guys get lazy and use 'hold' for everything because it's faster.

shane6557d ago

My buddy had a close call on a site last year because of this exact thing. A crane op gave a 'hold' signal, so his crew just stopped moving, but they didn't lock anything down. A gust of wind caught a panel and it swung right where a guy had been standing seconds before. They had to have a full safety stand-down about signal clarity the next morning.

walker.cole7d ago

Read an article about how "hold" signals get confused with "stop and secure" all the time. Makes you wonder if the hand signals need an update for different situations.