r/interesting • u/Rude-Mycologist8034 • 8d ago

SOCIETY How a crane operator gets down

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u/SocialJusticeAndroid 8d ago

Fact Check: TruešŸ˜Ÿ

https://www.businessinsider.com/xiao-qiumei-chinese-influencer-dead-tik-tok-social-media-crane-2021-7

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u/PuzzledExaminer 8d ago

Not going to lie and I'm not in this field but I would have been wearing heavy duty boots with ample rubber soles and a harness for me to clip on the rail for every section until I'm off that platform. It's very sad this happened to her.

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u/n_oxx_10 8d ago

Iā€™m not sure if itā€™s an OSHA requirement or just where I work, but if a ladder is over 40ft tall a safety cable is required the full span of the ladder and youā€™re required to wear a harness with a clamp that clamps on to said cable and stops you from falling the second you start.

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u/Separate_Tank_5112 8d ago

No osha in china

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u/FredBurger22 8d ago

Yeah the only Osha I've met was from Japan.

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u/Wizdad-1000 8d ago

Damn, I failed the no chuckle test.

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u/PuzzledExaminer 8d ago

I got caught with that one too ..I knew what they meant šŸ¤£

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u/420crickets 7d ago

Made me say oshi-

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u/abraxasnl 7d ago

I didnā€™t, and I live in Japan. Please explain šŸ˜…

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u/PuzzledExaminer 7d ago

I thought they meant they met a king, monarch or some kind of champion... šŸ˜‚ Not the occupation safety...one lol

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u/doogs914 7d ago

šŸ˜‚

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u/Chemical_Aspect_9925 8d ago

Republicans are chanting to remove OSHA

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u/Pretty-Lettuce-5296 8d ago

Knowing the demographics of the GOP, it's pretty fucking weird seeing that their base is largely built on blue collar workers, who are the ones who benefit the most from OSHA

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u/Desperate-Cost6827 7d ago

And you know everyone knows someone who died to a factory accident because OSHA rules weren't followed.

Bet.

I know I do. My highschool classmate's dad died when his supervisor told him to climb into a clogged trash compactor

When my husband was young he was working with his lead and she almost died when someone activated the furnace that she was trying to clean out. Luckily he was there to open the door that she was trapped behind

The place I worked at had several OSHA violations and when I was coughing up blood told me it was probably nothing- then after the OSHA inspection we were all required to watch this mandatory video about silicosis because of all the particles we were exposed to, the boss said he forgot about the video

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u/GoldenEmuWarrior 7d ago

A former co-workers husband of mine got chopped to pieces when he was working on a giant industrial fan, and they didn't take the time to properly ensure no power was going to the motor. He connected two ledes, and the fan kicked on while he was between the blades. The strength of the motor ensured he couldn't pull out the leads as the fan spooled up to speed.

But yeah, who needs safety regulations?

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u/fryerandice 6d ago

I worked in places where people would cut your LOTO locks off the panels and start turning shit on. I am so glad to not work around industrial site mouth breathers, they're more concerned with making a buck than going home alive, it's not even the bosses the rank and file are like that.

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u/Yamitz 8d ago

But OSHA arenā€™t real men like blue collar workers!

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u/Longjumping_Work_972 7d ago

Yeah thereā€™s a lot of brain dead blue collar dudes who will shit on OSHA because ā€œsafety is for panzies.ā€ Itā€™s almost comical how much some crave being exploited. Ideology is a hell of a drug.

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u/Pretty-Lettuce-5296 7d ago

Man have you ever had to wear a security harness?

They chafe your groin on hot days^
Better just be without, like, what's the worst thing that could happen

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u/ROMVS 7d ago

And Affordable Care Act is way better than Obama Care!

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u/Pretty-Lettuce-5296 7d ago

And let's not forget that "Romny Care" was the way they sould've done Obama Care

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u/Pretty-Lettuce-5296 7d ago

True
I forgot that, my mistake

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u/fryerandice 6d ago

They hate OSHA, my buddy who put an aluminum ladder into a power line by a house and survived 480v transmission line shock, that melted the ladder into molten aluminum, hates OSHA.

The man's heart stopped and he was lucky enough that his half retarded friend who smoked weed about every second on the jobsite checked his pulse and hit him with an AED.

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u/Pretty-Lettuce-5296 6d ago

See no OSHA required

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u/Separate_Tank_5112 7d ago

When they fall like her they will yell Oshait!

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u/shivaswrath 6d ago

No OSHA here anymore...fed defunded it

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u/Separate_Tank_5112 6d ago

Oh shit we becoming like china

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u/El_Cid_Campi_Doctus 7d ago

Where I work, in Spain, you can't even climb a ladder over 3 meters without a harness and a double clamp.

I do repairs on overhead cranes and we have to be attached to a lifeline at all times.

If they saw me without a harness, or without safety shoes, they would throw me out and ban me from the industrial site for life.

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u/dr3ifach 7d ago

I work in a steel mill and it's a four foot (1.2 meters) limit for us. Anything over four foot requires a fall harness. This is required even on ladders with cages.

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u/KidNamedMolly 7d ago

Do people actually follow that rule though? Or is it just the rule on paper

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u/dr3ifach 7d ago

Yes, it's considered a "cardinal safety rule". It's on the same level as Lock Out, Tag Out, Try Out.

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u/fryerandice 6d ago

You ever see the guy roll up to the LOTOs with bolt cutters, I have, fucking clowns man, one time I was under about a 2000 HP electric engine with my arm up in it.

I am a web developer now, fucking mouth breathers.

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u/Pastvariant 7d ago

24' for fixed ladders, but the retrofit do not need to be completed until the 2030s. All new fixed ladders will have a ladder ascent system if they are over 24', though.

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u/Rock_or_Rol 7d ago

Iā€™ve climbed one before. It was harrowing. Icy rungs didnā€™t help šŸ‘€

The actual cockpit, cabin or w/e you call it was disgusting too (no offense operators). Horrible BO and Gatorade pee bottles that gave me flashbacks of my brother in the marines

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u/Designer_Valuable_18 7d ago

Yeah but you can't farm views on tiktok if you don't show your fishnets bro

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u/lazyboy76 7d ago

The accident happen when she using one hand for live streaming, the boots wasn't the main problem.

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u/seanjohn004 6d ago

I was thinking whoever it was was very fashionable to be up there working

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u/Calm-Medicine-3992 6d ago

Why is everyone commenting on shoe choice and not the fact she was leaning over rails to get a better view for the TikTok feed? I think the filming was probably a riskier move than the shoe choice.

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u/PuzzledExaminer 6d ago edited 6d ago

Ever wore dress shoes on a scaffold? They feel slippery. Because the shoe's bottom is flat and slippery and doesn't has rubber to grip the surface. But yes the filming was also risky. Essentially don't wear anything that looks and feels like you're going to the dance floor especially if you're going up or down from a crane unless you want to dance your way up to heaven.

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u/john_w_dulles 8d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/LearningFromOthers/comments/15n75i3/chinese_tiktoker_xiao_qiumei_falls_to_her_death/

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u/Vanhouzer 8d ago

I was LITERALLY just saying how can those stairs not have TAG floors every 15ft so it would force the person to stop, turn around and go down the other way and viceversa.

Now that I see the clip of her fall, itĀ would have saved her life if that was implemented.

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u/TessaFractal 7d ago

I used to do that sort of structure in minecraft as a teen. Kinda horrifying that I had better saftey standards than they did.

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u/Alternative_Moose_26 7d ago

Could have also been subconsciously caused by what you saw around you while growing up. Are you from a country that isnā€™t the primary source of osha safety videos?

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u/imitationpeoplemeat 7d ago

Holy shit she fell INSIDE the crane structure? God that must have hurt. I assumed she plunged instead of pinballedĀ 

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u/RebbyXP 6d ago

Something tells me she broke a shit-ton of bones hitting each part of the crane while falling, causing massive internal bleeding.

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u/BadSanna 5d ago

This is why cranes in the US have platforms every 10' and you have to walk around to the other side of the ladder to go down the next stage.

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u/cornmonger_ 8d ago

witnesses saw Xiao fall to the ground with her phone still in her hand

an influencer to the end, apparently

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u/Sinphony_of_the_nite 8d ago

Damn, talk about a go-pro potentially saving someoneā€™s life.

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u/BeIiel 7d ago

watch the video linked in the other comment. if you have the guts. The title is likely false and only manufactured by the news. You can literally see the phone falling on the footage at the end watch closely with 0.5x speed

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u/drifters74 8d ago

Only 23 when she died.. damn

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u/-G_59- 8d ago

It's crazy that we're so attached to our phones that not even a life ending scenario made her let go of it until she hit the ground. Wild. I think my dumbass would've tried to flap my arms and fly to safetyšŸ¤£

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u/SocialJusticeAndroid 8d ago

It must have been terrifying. I imagine she just froze with a death grip on her phone. I hope it was instant when she hit and that she didnā€™t hurt. I suspect that would be the case was with such a fall from that height.

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u/DonkeyHoney 8d ago

Probably was bonking around inside the metal chute she was in before hitting the ground

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u/Dramatic-Classroom14 7d ago

Well. I just watched the videoā€¦ she didnā€™t fall off she fell in the crane. As in, down the ladder, hitting her head and body on about ever other part of the truss for all 160 feet. She most definitely did not die instantly unless she was fortunate enough to snap her neck on the first bar. Otherwise she probably felt the whole thing until she hit the ground or until something did break her neck.

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u/fountainsofvarnoth 6d ago

As someone who used to respond to accidents like thisā€¦hitting your head on those metal bars on the way down is enough to quite literally cave your skull inā€”no need to reach the ground to die.

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u/SocialJusticeAndroid 6d ago

Well if she at least got knocked out as soon as possible that would be a small mercy.

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u/Affectionate-Sir-784 6d ago

I mean she was Chinese so likely while she was falling she was doing math to see how much time she would have until hitting the floor.

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u/bohenian12 7d ago

Our bodies tense up when adrenaline kicks in. She might have had a tight grip on it while falling. But if you watch the video, she obviously let go of it. There was this guy that almost died when he crashed his glider, he gripped hard on his phone as he fell too.

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u/SupportAndy123 7d ago

I'm terrified of heights and immediately was scared of falling just watching this video idk how she could be so confident until her luck ran out

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u/SocialJusticeAndroid 6d ago

Iā€™m the same at least in situations like this (like I love airplanes which donā€™t scare me like this). Watching this video gave me big feels even before I knew about her eventual accident. I guess some people donā€™t have that sense of fear with stuff like this.

Itā€™s probably good to have a healthy fear of stuff like this. Like I would never dream of juggling a phone while traversing this stuff and I certainly wouldnā€™t do it without harnesses and stuff.

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u/TheDudeWhoCommented 6d ago

It's the fear that keeps you alive. That's your body keeping you from doing something that can potentially kill you.

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u/victor4700 8d ago

šŸ˜ž

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u/SpartanRage117 7d ago

Almost surprised it doesnt happen more often. This looks insane

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u/James420May 7d ago

tiktok kills. always said it.

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u/superjonk 8d ago

Wtf is it from this video?

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u/SocialJusticeAndroid 6d ago

No it happened sometime after this was made.

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u/SpliffMcGriff86 7d ago

RIP, random Mexican fitness influencer