I was talking to my old pal Rick this morning, which is always a pleasure, and he brought up a very valid point, as he is known to do.

“Operators on the end of the hose” is a relative term and condition. There is a bigass difference in the happening, case to case.

When you are out there pouring a rocking chair pad in Mr. Smagelski’s back yard with 75 feet of 2 ½ “ hose and some sweet 2” line mix pouring nice and slow and it is easier for you to be the hose man than to try and communicate to Mrs. Smagelski, the current  hose man, who’s hearing aid batteries aren’t in any better shape than her recent hip surgery; that  may be an all right time for the operator to be the hose man… maybe.

The operator helping out the crew of weight lifters of “We Bad” construction with his Putz 14000 trailer, pumping 150 yph with 5” steel braid hoses is not the same thing as the rocking chair pad in the Smagelski’s back yard.

The point is this. There are lots of different people reading this forum. They each bring with them their own idea of ‘trailer pump’ and the job that is done with it. Add that to the idea of ConcretePumping.com’s base function of making us all better safer operators; well, a reasonable person must come down on the side of safety and reason by rejecting the idea of an operator helping with the hose.

We seem to get on this subject on a regular basis. To me, this is just like seeing the same accident on a regular basis. As someone that is not interested in seeing self induced human suffering like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer, letting the car down off of the jack onto your foot, holding the can of spray paint backwards and painting your own face or hose whipping yourself; there has to be a way to differentiate sane from insane. There also must be a way to communicate “operator helping on the hose” that doesn’t take with it all operators and all hoses.

If any of you have an idea of a way to make this a better understood topic, we need the help. Until then, well, I have to take the high road of “never.”

an old problem of do you or dont you, if you are stuck on a private job with a guy drawing his pension, or a crew used to nailing timber you help, otherwise you are gonna be there till 2moro, if the gang/crew are perfectly able.. then let them get on with it

Here's another scenario:

A company has both line pumps and booms.  All the line pumps are booked and a boom pump and operator is elected to cover a line pump job.  ...and this customer was expecting a 2 man line pump.  A 36m + 200' of whatever hose...2", 2.5", 3" is dispatched.  The operator, having started on a line pump, knows exactly what to do and how to successfully complete the job.  However, if you don't run a line pump every day, your body isn't adjusted to all the extra labor intensive strain it's getting.    This has the highest probability for an injury to occur.  At the end of the day you're already feeling sore...and the next morning, you can barely move.  So was covering the line pour with a boom operator a good idea?  It solves an immediate problem for the dispatcher...or does it open the door for a bigger one?  A boom operator on light duty?  Now the dispatcher's out a boom operator and line pumps can't cover boom jobs.

This thread is titled: the old "operator on the hose problem"

I guess what I'm talking about is: The "old boom operator on the hose problem"

The most labor intensive part of a boom operator's day is putting out dunnage and outrigger pads -- please be careful when doing line jobs as a boom guy. 

Every boom operator should have to do line jobs, not just once and a while, I mean on aregular basis. Some guys will go such a long time with out line pumping that when they have to they fall on their face or hurt themselves, or both. It not only keeps you dialed in, but it also keeps you in shape and reminds us where we came from!

This thread is titled:

the old "operator on the hose problem"

Raymond,

That is correct. It was not titled:

the"old operator on the hose problem"

;~)

Nice!

I was wondering if you would catch that I moved the quotation mark to the left a little...makes a huge difference eh?

yup ;~)

Good try, since it was you I took extra care reading your post.

Seriously, you are right about older boom operators. They do what they do very well, but they have to be careful

For the company's sake as well as their own.

In aust we do what ever job comes !! if its a line job straight off the back of the pump or is 100 meters off the boom it doesnt matter the operator should help to an extent , our boss is very fair when it comes to putting a 3rd mad on the job to help pull hose , i agree its a lot harder on the body if you havent done it in a while .

Pulling hose by yourself is for the cave man or the man that wants to hurt himself, if i go out operator only my boss makes sure its all out of the stick and i can see the pump, you guys were talking about 2 inch hose by yourself.. I really dunno about that it only takes a split second to go bad and kick your arse if you finger isnt on the stop it will take at least 3 to seconds before you realise its blocked then hit the stop button first you shit then you havent got time to look down at the remote so you hit just about every button there trying to stop it while holding the hose ....... I think you can figure out what happens next!

Going out by yourself should be up to the operator all out of the boom and close to the pump, being able to see your pump while operating is most important  ...

We pump everthing that comes up everyday at our company.  This week I ran a 43m off the boom, 32m off the boom. Stroked a set of big/wide walls off with a 36m & line pumped a slab of the back of a 36m with 70' of 3" hose and it was me and 2 finishers on the job.  They never touched the hose.  I ran the pump, adjusted the hose and poured it out.  Today, I put 80' of 3inch off the boom of a 36z that I stuck 3 sections inside the building.  They ran the hose then when we got back to the boom, I swiched to a reducing hose and "z" the thing on out.  I feel to be an operator you have to be able and willing to do all aspects of the jobs as the arise, especially in this cut-thoat economy

"Elkhunterz" aint afraid of hose!

 I've seen guys cry like babies and almost quit their jobs because they were told to load up 100 feet of gear! But after seeing how hard they make it on themselves I kind of understand? These are the guys that never learned how to line pump in the first place. They're not afraid of the labor, they're afraid of the whole process.

 A good line pumper is never afraid of hose, regardless of age or how long he's been boom'n. This is one of the reasons why every operator should learn how to line pump before they run a boom.

 Part of this "hose phobia" comes from not knowing how to do it properly. Just think, Somewhere out there is a guy on a 52m that does'nt even know how to mix a good slurry to prime with? 

I agree there is areason we are called operators and not laborers, if the company wants to supply hosemen letm hire some laborers, now I will still on occasion get on the hose but its my choice not mandatory