Has anybody asked if they could tie off to your boom? I've been asked this twice on different jobs.

Tie off, as in lanyard themselves to the boom? Must be a structure or wall pour?

I've never had anyone want to do that. Not a real good idea. Did you let your customer do it?

Sounds like a good idea to them, but you are then responsible. Not a good idea. Though if whomever is tied to it pisses you off..... Answer is no.

I did on a pour at the lawrence livermore lab in CA. they had all their steel in place and I think we had a week of solid rain torrential rain. Most of their steel sunk. They had 6 more cranes brought in added to the 6 they had already onsite to save as much of it as possible. It was a very rush job for the government and they did haven time to re excavate let the ground dry out etc etc. I went there 2 weeks straight at night after a regular day pumping in the Bay Area and poured 800 - 1000yds a night of CDF with a hose man tied off the the boom with his lanyard and a rope tied to the end of my whip in case he needed to direct it to a low spot. I forget how big the area was off hand but it was a boat load it averaged 6ft deep

Hi joe

When they were building DIA we did hundreds of yards of cdf every night encasing fuel lines.The average was perhaps 4' to 5' deep and probably 15' to 18' wide.All they did was spray painted grade on the banks and a 5" tip.There was no need for a hose man and we got really close to grade.Sometimes I wonder why they think we should risk safety.

Part of your job is “RISK MANAGEMENT” you need to be thinking of ways to transfer the risk to another party, avoid the risk, reduce the negative effect of the risk.

There are some situations in which “tying off to the boom” seems like the best option. It may in fact be the safest option for the hoseman. The problem is how do you manage the risk for your company? Do you wish to assume the risk that goes along with being a nice guy?

Are the potential negatives greater than the compensation? Is it even insurable?

Who pays when the hose man breaks his neck?

it wasnt the smartest move or decision, but we did I would roughly say the project was semi circular, oval what have you and probably pretty close to 500 plus feet across. And he was only out there in the middle at max reach they had range finders and lazers trying to get as close as possible in the middle. It isnt something the company would make me do again or even ask with liability the way it is now. But as the old saying goes just because you can do it doesnt mean you should...

mrmike36z --

Great subject, by the way!

It's my opinion, the only time to tie off to the boom is when you're hooking up rigging so you can either fly it on or off of a building.  The GC sometimes supplies assistance (labor) to aid in flying booms.  That's the only time I've seen someone that wasn't with the pump company allowed to be tied off to the boom.

A hoseman or any other employee working for the contractor has no bidnez being tied off to OUR booms--while pumping activities are taking place-- They need their own, safe, stationary obstacles to tie off to--otherwise they don't need to be out there. 

Hey, we should make a hardhat sticker:

"Only our Goons can tie off to our booms"

What happens to the man tied to the boom if you have an outrigger fail or the ground gives way under the outrigger, or maybe a boom sections shears or fails. What happens if some unforseen situation comes up and requires you to move the boom immediately to avoid an accident. ( like the crane guy misjudges your location or forgets you are there ) The point is that there are many reasons not to be tied to a boom. Anything that happens, your fault....their fault,....act of God,..... anything,.... it is your fault in court because you allowed the man to tie to your boom.

Doc

I said absoulutly no!!!!  It was against company policy.  I told him what happens if I tip over, what happens if a mixer backs into me knocking me off of my pads, what happens if I loose my mind and forget what I'm doing.  Can you imagine the kinda of ride you will be on if I tip over.  ABSOULUTLY NOT!!!!.  They figured out something else and we went on without a hitch.

This is a question for BOB probably.  Isn't that against OHSA rules?  Doesn't it have to be a fixed immovable object to tie off to?  I saw your post on fall protection but I couln't find a set defenition in there, or mabey I  needed a translator.

no way    never

That about wraps it up

I'm with Art NO WAY NEVER and if it happens on one of my pumps operator is history no if ands or buts about it 

So i take it i should not have tied my nephew to the boom to put the Xmas lights on the tree in front of the house?

I dont think so Tim

whats worse tying off to nothing at all or the boom?I would not want to let them tie to the boom but if they have nothing else what do you do ? would you be liable if you said no and they fell ? This is what I have done in the past when block mason wanted to walk a 30' wall with no tie off line ,they can either build scaffolding put up a anchor line or I can go to the house if you do something you know isnt safe you become part of their problem,and you may get away with it but statistics will catch up with you in the end,and if you put yourself in that position you will be opening you and your company up to lawsuits anything over 6' OSHA states you have to be tied off to a secure point that will hold up to 5400 lbs our booms most have the sticker none have that much of a rating