Crane Load: Charts [work]

The sky over the Houston ship channel was the color of old pewter. Ray, a crane operator with twenty years in his bones, climbed into the cab of the Manitowoc 999. Below him, his new oiler, a kid named Manny, was already on the ground, hands in his pockets.

Manny did the math. Total weight of the load plus the gear: 42,000 + 1,200 + 750 + 400 = . They only had 48,000 lbs of capacity. That left just 3,650 lbs of safety margin—not six grand. crane load charts

Silence. Then: “Uh… the slings are only 350.” The sky over the Houston ship channel was

“The chart is a math problem,” Ray said, finally lifting the load an inch off the ground to test the level. “The lift is a physics problem. We’re not lifting paper. We’re lifting steel. And steel doesn’t care about your safety factor.” Manny did the math