Goodtenks

Hahahahah a joystick slave! There are times when I get to kick back and have a sleep in the crane but as a tower crane operator you are also a dogman, a dogman works on the ground an directs the crane with radios, whistle signals or hand signals, we swap driving and dogging day by day, so the days your not in the crane your on your feet running all day directing the crane and hooking up/landing loads, it's much more physically and mentally demanding that you would expect!

Hahaha all good if you cant lift theres no way your climbing down so sleep it is!

Hey I just saw another video from the street yeah it was a crawler crane, I thought it was just a big pin jib tower, all good, got some good questions in, yeah we alternate days operating, we work in teams of four: coordinator and 3xRigger/dogman/Crane Operators, how does it work over there? At what speeds do you hook up in the wind? do you work in the rain? heat?

To get onto a tower crane crew here is very difficult generally and like most things getting your foot in the door is often about who you know, as it was in my case, Id worked in similar industries prior and had been around mobile cranes (cranes that are built as a truck/crane in one and can move themselves around) it wasnt always a dream to be on a crane and when I first started was extremely demanding, there is a lot to take on board and the fact that your in control of something that could potentially kill your workmates, other people on site and civilians around you is something you always need to remember, there are certain things than are done certain ways and this is drilled into you very hard, there is no room for error as the consequences can be catastrophic. I was trained and still am in training, you will always be learning, at first a driver will come up and explain things to you and teach you some of the tricks they use, then one day they will throw you in the deep end and say up you go by yourself, you need to be licensed so you also receive training as you obtain your license but generally you would be expected to have a good knowledge of the workings of the crane and be able to "catch your slew" and "catch your jib" during the practical assessment. note: the headache ball (the weight on the end of your wire rope just about your hook) will swing like a pendulum left and right as you slew(turn the crane left or right) and you are expected to be able to slew at the right pace at the right time to meet the sideways momentum of the crane and "catch" the swing so that as you line up with your mark the hook becomes settled as it comes down, catching your jib is the same principal but with up and down movement instead of side to side the jib is the big metal frame the sticks out the front of the crane, like the arm of the crane... hope i got all the info in there!

As much as you sometimes dont want to, we need to trust in engineering reports, believe me, when doing heavy lifts at distance or when the wind gets up the amount of rock in the crane sometimes makes its feel like your going to topple over...you just need to clench your ass and hope for the best as your leaning forward with the crane looking through the glass window between your feet....