[TowerTalk] Thoughts on Tower lifting cable broken strands

[Jim Lux]

On 8/22/13 10:16 AM, Grant Saviers wrote:
>
> There are standards for when a wire rope should be replaced, one from OSHA
> https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=34
>
>
> another at
> http://www.grainnet.com/articles/Inspecting_Wire_Ropes-10905.html
>
> As I read this guidance, you absolutely need to replace the cable,
> particularly since the breaks are so close together.
>


Yes, if you're using it in an occupational setting, or if you want the 
conservative approach.

However, hams do things that are "unsafe" from an occupational or 
workplace regulatory standpoint all the time.  They just have higher 
risk than is considered acceptable for workplaces.

For instance, at my workplace, standing on the top 3 steps of a ladder 
is not supposed to be done.  But an awful lot of people stand on higher 
steps at home, accepting the risk (and the inevitable injuries that result).

How many people have safety railings and restraints on their roof when 
they go up to work on antennas?  What about in their back yard?  I have 
a retaining wall in my backyard that is about 5 ft high, and you can 
walk on the fill above the wall, and there's no safety railing.

How many people lift more than 55 lb by themselves without using a 
lifting device (e.g. that 60 pound sack of concrete, or a 100 pound bale 
of hay, or changing a tire)?

I would venture that very few recreational rock climbers are compliant 
with occupational fall protection standards.

It is good that we discuss the usual standards, but they have a time and 
place.  And, in particular, for someone who cannot evaluate the relative 
risk, regulatory limits are a valuable check point.

But part of what this mailing list is all about is to discuss the 
relative risks, and create knowledgeable users who can make those sort 
of judgement calls.   The going in assumption is that only YOU is going 
to be affected by the judgement, of course.  I think all of us tend to 
take a more conservative standard when doing work for someone else, than 
when doing it for yourself.  Folks who have come out on the unfortunate 
side of the decision personally also tend to be more conservative.  Age 
has a lot to do with it.  There are things I did in my 20s that I would 
not do now, 30 years later.