Executive Summary. Listen to my discussion with Mr. Clem Conceicao, long time operator of friction cranes, tower cranes, and squirt booms in Hawaii.

Running a crane, or any piece of equipment. Being an operator of any piece of equipment carries an obligation of safety combined with the demands of production. “The equipment always wins” Clem says, when referring to the safety involved in working around heavy equipment. Safety is paramount for any operator, but equally so for the workers within the radius of the machine. Construction is dangerous and respecting the swing radius of any machine is vital to survival in the field.

Coming up in the crafts. Clem, like his father and grandfather, has operated cranes over the decades. But his son went a different route – engineering. Clem is a proud father and respects his son’s choice. Me and Clem dive into that as well.

My story. As a college graduate in engineering myself, a heavy/civil estimator, and professional engineer, I’ve sat on the site looking out my field office window thinking of “how easy” it is to run equipment. However, if you sit in the seat of one of these rigs, that Clem has been running for years, you learn firsthand the magnitude of the role these operators play. Scary stuff if you don’t have someone like Clem at the controls.

Work safe!