Had a close call with a load swing that made me rethink my hand signals

I was guiding a steel beam up six floors in a stiff wind, and the ground guy kept giving me the 'raise' sign when I needed to hold. Turns out I'd been reading his 'hold' signal wrong for months, thinking his palm facing me meant 'come ahead'. Has anyone else had a signal mix-up that almost went bad?

3 comments

3 Comments

wendy6282mo agoMost Upvoted

That "palm facing me" thing is a classic mix-up. I saw a guy once use two hands for stop and one for go, which just seems backwards to me. Makes you wonder how these signals even get started.

dianaanderson2mo ago

Honestly, people get so worked up over tiny hand signal differences. It's not like anyone's causing a crash over it, they just look a bit silly for a second. Tbh, as long as the car actually stops or goes, who even cares which palm faces where.

jamie7702mo ago

Right, @wendy628, that two-hands-for-stop thing is just people overthinking it.