Captain of the Ship vs Lift Directors

Can we talk about Lift Directors? I really only have a small sample size, but I'm concerned we aren't making the most of the change going on in the industry. I'd like to point out some viewpoints and get a discussion going on how the lifting community is best served by adding a Lift Director and removing the Captain of the Ship.

I love the idea that crane operators are Captain of the Ship. It's an old premise from ASME B30 series of old. Today we have changed that to Riggers and Lift Directors handling the ground and the operator handling the crane. Of course operators should share any experience or opinions. I lifted a boom lift once that struck me as all wrong. COG above the four attachments with nothing retaining the balance. Get 18 inches off the ground and ask the rigger to find the manual to double check. He's away and it rolled back pretty hard towards the counterweight. In mid air, that would have been... well let's not carry that too far. As the operator, I can't know how every machine lifts. The riggers are just running like mad men. So it's a pretty great premise to have a Lift Director to set everyone up for success.

The challenge I'm seeing is that the Lift Director has paperwork to do. But they are also someone the job is paying as a rigger, so they want that benefit. The government is going to be asking for lots of paperwork. If anything is missing at some point, the finger pointing is sure to happen even when it's entirely irrelevant. And these competing interests just crush the benefit of asking someone to "oversee" and guide the crane operations.

I would suspect that every superintendent has a story of standing back scanning a job and seeing something they imminently need to intervene on because it's about to go bad. It's the same premise with the Lift Director. They need to be afforded time to just look out. To stand back and take in what could be improved. It's great to have them jump in and sling up with the crew. Establishing teams, competency, setting standards and all. But they also need that time to watch. To double check. To not simply become the secretary of the lift diary as jobs and government inspectors may want, but don't realize they are polluting the purpose of a Lift Director. The reason I see so many crane issues that I raise here is because I'm not there to rig or operate. My eyes are tuned to what's wrong and how do I sell the fix. Lift Directors should be doing essentially the same thing without sales being the solution.

As we transition to Lift Directors across North America, and the Captain of the Ship sets sail as a premise, we need to be deliberate with how we implement this change. We have a massive expense in adding these people to jobs. Let's benefit and grow that person into something valuable and not just a paperwork pusher. You gain nothing from paperwork. Of course, it's required. Occasionally it shows a problem. But safety comes from ability in the field and leaders that guide those people towards expertise. It comes from removing those not progressing or with poor decision making skills. The Lift Director needs to be the information officer and the trainer overseeing that progress. If we can ensure they are able to do that job, versus just being the fastest to whip out a lift plan, we'll benefit from this change. Resist the urge to create paperwork because another person exists. If you do that, you'll suddenly have no Captain, no Director, and you'll find yourself adrift at sea.