We’re swapping 4-inch transfer hoses twice a shift on the catwalk; we lift with a 2-ton come-along and two taglines, but the resets are eating time. Anyone have a staging setup or pre-rig trick that keeps hands clear and stays within JSA and LOTO? I’m trying to cut wasted steps, not corners.
@OP I’ve had good luck hanging a small beam trolley with a short lever hoist over the catwalk and leaving a choker/masterlink on each 4" hose — we “park” the outgoing hose on the trolley, pop the come‑along over to the incoming hose, and never re‑rig the chokers so hands stay on taglines. Just make sure both hoists are covered in the same JSA/LOTO and use rated latch hooks; do you have an overhead I‑beam to hang a trolley?
Building on @derek_holt47’s trolley idea, we cut resets by leaving a short chain drop with a self-locking hook on the trolley and pre-slinging both 4" hoses with a two-point yoke marked “A/B” at the same pick lengths; the hook never comes off, so it’s clip, lift, park. We stage with a low roller cradle at the catwalk edge so the outgoing hose lands hands‑clear, then break the camlocks and swing straight to the parked incoming hose — no come‑along re‑rig. Caveat: tag the yoke WLL with softeners and put witness marks on the chain so hook height repeats; do you have the headroom to leave the chain drop permanent?
And @OP We stage on a catwalk V-head stand and use captive-pin shackles; faster, hands clear. Okay per JSA/LOTO?
Quick one: we cut resets by putting a compact swivel hoist ring inline with the pick and marking each hose’s balance point with paint, so spin stops and the pick is the same every time — saves us a dance with the taglines. We also bolted two chest‑height “parking horns” on the catwalk so the next hose sits staged with a soft shackle and keeper, keeping hands out of the bight. @OP would a swivel on your hoist line fit, or is clearance tight there?
Leave a Hosebun cradle sling on each 4-inch so the pick is the same every time and hands stay out. @OP does your permit let you keep slings on the hoses between swaps? We added a small rated parking lug on the catwalk to stage the next hose at height — transfer the hook and go; link for the sling: https://hosebun.com.
We added a small pivoting J‑hook stanchion with a keeper on the catwalk rail at the swap point; we park the 4‑in in it, clip the 2‑ton come‑along to the stanchion shackle, then hand‑free transfer to the hose at chest height. Our JSA signed off as a ‘staging aid’ since it’s rated and pinned, and the taglines just steer — @OP would your permit allow a bolt‑on stand‑off like that?
Use a 24-inch mini spreader and two fixed chokers; hook the ‘2‑ton come‑along’ center. JSA ok?
Swap the ratchet puller for a lever hoist with true free‑chain and paint a ‘home mark’ for both heights on the rail; we pre‑set sling length once, free‑chain to the mark, then a few clicks to land it — hands stay clear (just make sure it has a load‑limiting clutch). @brandon_garcia_55 you running free‑chain, or still standard?
If “resets are eating time,” stop resetting — run two 2T pullers, one dedicated to each 4‑in hose, pre‑set to the swap heights with bolt‑shackle chokers you don’t remove. JSA/LOTO stays the same since the pick path doesn’t change; slap A/B marks on the rail and park the hooks on labeled padeyes. Do you have space on the catwalk for a second anchor point?
But we sped it up by bolting a UHMW hose cradle (Hosebun-style, https://hosebun.com) to the rail at swap height with a padeye above; both 4" lines park in the cradle on captive-pin shackles and the hoist just jumps between the two eyes, so “hands clear” stays true. Small caveat: space the cradle off the rail to kill pinch points and run it through your JSA/LOTO — @OP do you have room for a clamp-on padeye on that section?
We solved this by adding a short adjustable chain sling with a grab‑shortener between the 2‑ton come‑along and a yoke on the 4″ hose — two tagged links for “swap” and “park” so you move the hook instead of cranking, which keeps hands clear. “Resets are eating time” — , this cuts them to seconds because you’re only shifting the shortener, not running the hoist. Do you have enough headroom above the catwalk rail for a 12–18 in drop and a swivel?
One small change that saved us time was putting a rated load swivel between the hoist hook and the hose choker so the pick can unwind itself and you’re not burning minutes fighting twist with two taglines; we used a Crosby HR‑125 sized to the hoist (The Crosby Group has moved!). Just make sure it’s on your lift plan and you keep the hoist in a straight pick — does that fit your layout, @rig_rat?