My foreman ripped my hand signals and now I actually make sense

I been running a Liebherr LTM 1050 for about 2 years now. Last month my foreman pulled me aside and said my hand signals were sloppy and looked like I was waving at a parade. He showed me how to crisp up the stop and boom up signals with my elbows locked. Now I got way less confusion on site and the ironworkers actually follow my moves. Anyone else get called out on something basic that made a huge difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabeth_gonzalez1mo ago

You said "crisp up the stop and boom up signals with my elbows locked" like that's a good thing. But locking your elbows stiff like that is how you get repetitive strain injuries after a few years. I've seen old hands with messed up shoulders from doing that exact thing. Also, having sloppy signals forces everyone to actually pay attention and communicate more instead of just going through the motions. If everyone follows your robot moves without thinking, that's when mistakes happen. You took the soul out of your signals, man. Now you're just another machine giving orders instead of working with people.

the_vera1mo ago

Nah but I gotta push back a little here. Locking your elbows isn't about being stiff, it's about consistency. When I say crisp I mean the same exact movement every time so my crew knows what to expect without guessing. Sloppy signals don't force better communication, they just add confusion on a busy site where people already got too much going on. I've been doing this long enough that my joints are fine because I stretch and warm up before shifts. It's not about being a robot either, it's about being reliable so nobody gets hurt from a mixed signal. You can keep the soul in your work without having messy form.