[SML] Genie lift safety

[Kristi R-C]

I would never go up in a Genie without the outriggers screwed down and at least two competent, trustworthy people as ground crew.


Lesson time:

When I began the Battle Pony tour, I was told the tours' management company had gotten express permission from Genie to use triple throw caster cups under the outriggers to move while at height. This aligns with a similar statement I'd been given from another tour (Feline Rex) about that situation a few years ago, so I did it. 

Some of the trusses on the Pony show followed a kind of C shape, thus the Genie movement wasn't straight across the stage. I was supposed to have a local crew of 6 on the Genie - one to watch each outrigger/caster, one pushing from behind and one pulling/steering using a handle designed for that purpose while looking up at me to keep from running me into obstacles. This was in an AWP-40. The number refers to the mast height. Most Genies are 26 or 30. Genies have "tilt" at height - the greater the height, the more tilt. If I stepped toward the mast, the lift tilted back; if I moved away from the mast, the basket tilted forward, away from the mast position. At full height, that tilt was about 8 inches. Because of the sway in the mast and how close the trusses were, there was very, very little room for error. 


There was a tower DSR of 12" box truss standing on end with 6 pairs of par cans hung on it. Because there was a wall right next to it, the only way to reach those fixtures for focus was to step on the top edge of the kick plate and lean out. I'd ask the local crew to stand/sit on the outriggers when that was necessary. Unlike my predecessor, I never climbed onto the rail of the lift to reach them. 
 

In most venues it worked fine. In some, it was a nightmare. In several cities, local crew looked upon being part of the Genie crew as a joke. ("I haven't had my IA card for 27 years to push a damn lift!") I'd explain about the tilt and the fact I'm moving between two sets of truss with about 3" of clearance and occasionally sticking my head into the truss to fix things which meant no clearance, but some guys just didn't get it. I'd get people who didn't understand that I needed to move at an angle to the proscenium, yet parallel to the trusses. I'd get people who'd give a sharp shove to get started or stop suddenly which caused the mast to sway hard. I'd get people who would take phone calls or get into a conversation with someone in a different department or just walk away. There were a couple of times when I hit my head because someone bumped the base of the lift or kicked an outrigger. When I spoke to my department head about my safety concerns, I was told I could suck it up or be replaced. **I** was scolded for yelling "STOP!" to the crew on the floor as they kept crashing me into the truss in one city.

Eventually, an edict came down from the safety officer at the GM company (a man whom I respect and who is making great strides in bring safer work practices to the road) that we were no longer permitted to move at height. It only added about 20% onto our focus time. I got good at looking up from each of the four corners to check clearance and allow for the tilt. There were times it took a couple of tries to get into the tighter spaces, but overall it wasn't a big deal. 

I look back at what I did and think I'm lucky. DAMN lucky. And I will not do that again, nor permit someone to harass me about it. No job is worth my life.

It comes down to this: Everything we do has risks. Do everything you can reasonably do to minimize them. Read the manual. Don't assume what someone tells you is correct - talk with the manufacturer's reps yourself, read the manual, read the books on how to do things safely by Bill Sapsis, Monona Rossol, et al. Don't accept nor let someone else harass you into accepting more risk than you are comfortable with - even if that person is your supervisor who verbally berates and threatens you.

It's much better to be alive so you can share a beverage and BBQ with friends. 

HTH



Kristi R-C
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