My old boss told me to always double-check the lift bag rigging, and a job in the Gulf last month proved him right.

We were pulling a piece of steel off a rig in about 90 feet of water, and I had the lift bags set up the way I always did. Right before we started, I remembered what he said and went over every shackle and strap again. Found a pin on a main shackle that was only finger-tight, not moused at all. If we'd lifted with that, it would have popped under load for sure. Has anyone else caught a simple rigging mistake that could have turned real bad?

2 comments

2 Comments

ben4364d ago

Used to think that kind of double-check was just busywork for new guys. Figured if you set it up right the first time, you were good. Seeing a shackle pin back out on its own during a surface check last year changed my whole view. Now that final look is just part of the job, no questions asked.

matthew_owens94d ago

My own overconfidence has bitten me more than once.