Crane Truck Outriggers, Sidewalks and Dirt

[amer28]

Greetings and thanks for input. We are ultra safe with our crane as no sign is worth one of our guys lives. Radocy 80 footer. Great truck by the way. Going straight up or at an angle no big deal but my question relates to basically going out to the side. On pavement, good concrete, etc., all is good. On dirt we know is solid all is good. Generally, when we have to go with full stick out, say to reach a sign 30 ft in the air but 65 ft (about) from the truck we have said no to outriggers on sidewalk to get to sign or any lawn, sidewalk, etc. Im talking about 1 man for service work out of basket and not lifting weight with crane.

When thinking this through it seems that the sidewalk should be sound. I'm not worried about cracking it since we would get the ok from the customer. We are only worried about safety. Most sidewalks around here are 4" concrete but more importantly below the concrete is packed good solid dirt. Is a sidewalk an safe place to put an outrigger with your stick out that far.

Also, on a lawn or dirt you are not sure is hard packed at what point would you say no for safety. How would you guage how compacted it is, again, with stick out at full extension.

Again, thanks for any input.

[Signsfast]

are you working off the side or back? I think it is fine for not lifting anything or a light lift. Always use outrigger blocking.

[teksign]

We should always be aware of what our outriggers are positioned on. One of our agents crane started to go over when his outrigger sunk in non compacted soil, lucky that the pylon sign was only a foot off of the ground and prevented the truck from going over past the point of no return.

In some parts of my city there is chutes under the public sidewalk from the days of having coal delivered to heat the buildings, the city never filled these in, leaving hollow areas under the sidewalk. The pressures exerted from the outrigger and crane lifting creates a very dangerous situation. Also we have made it mandatory that there is pads under every outrigger at all times.

As for the agent above he had a strange way of gauging when the load was too heavy, when he bends an outrigger.(manual outriggers on a skyhook). Thank god he is no longer in the business.

Dave

[bluarms]

There are a lot of variables with a question like that. Truck configuration, type of boom, outriggers, size, and weight all need to be considered. Sidewalks are pretty easy to crack. You have to not only figure out how thick the sidewalk is, but how solid is the ground is under it. What is under the sidewalk is also a consideration too. Baltimore is a good example of that, in that we have a lot of steam pipes running under the sidewalks. Pads under the outriggers can help, as well as heavy cribbing to spread the weight out over a greater area, but each time you set up a truck, you have unique characteristics that need to be considered. I've never been a big fan of working off of the side of a truck personally, but sometimes it is simply unavoidable. I have always believed that working off of the back of the truck provides the safest most stable set up. Also setting up so you are working between two outriggers rather than directly over one will spread the weight a little better. As far as sidewalks are concerned, keep in mind that the customer isn't always the person who owns the sidewalk. If you're setting up on dirt, grass, gravel, use pads, plywood, cribbing, and watch the outriggers when you swing your boom around. If something starts sinking into the ground, or bends, or cracks, then you had better stop and try something different.

If you have a specific situation you are trying to figure out, and can give more information, maybe I could give you some ideas.