I just thought I’d share this warning to anyone involved in using chains and tensioners.
Most people use the ratchet type which are generally harmless but there are still some people (me included) who use the “dog type” as per picture.
Now I’m fully aware that these can be bloody dangerous if not closed properly or if you are struggling to shut one in the first place.
Yesterday the guy driving my wagon took one to the side of the face, he was found sparked out on the floor after an indeterminate amount of time on site and was carted off to hospital in an ambulance. He’s OK but has got a couple of broken teeth and a nasty bruised head, I guess if it caught him different it could have killed him.
Now I’ll still use these but I will treat them with respect as I always have and never get too close, but please be aware of the danger.
Was on top of a flat bed with the hollow bar nicely over the lockover handle and it was about half way point when you really need to push hard and… you guessed it… one of the links snapped (or was it slipped) … wheeeeeeeeee … BUMP… that was me hitting the floor with left arm taking the full force of the fall.
Dewsbury hospital had nice nurses though…
they are now banned off all corus sites, used to be quite unnerving not knowing which way to run when the scaffy bar came off the end and went 10feet in the air!!
I’m told these were allegedly banned at Corus but there are a pain to use. If they don’t get you when you’re trying to put them on, if they’re still tight when you’ve completed your trip (highly unlikely as chains need re-tensioning frequently) they’ll get you when you open them back up. An invention of the devil, but still popular round South Yorks.
Many moons ago i done 3 years on a loader and i found out the hard way that these spring dwangs can be a bit dangerous, the bloody thing nearly cost me a finger.
But a word of warning about the ratchet dwang.
Twice i have seen a tensioned chain snap, the 1st time it did’nt cause a problem but the second time an access platform landed on the road narrowly missing passing cars, on both these occasions ratchet dwangs were in use
I think the problems were caused because it is too easy to over tighten the chain with the ratchet dwang.
An over tightened chain will stretch therefore severely reducing its strength.
So to all you guy’s using either of these dwangs
Take it easy and watch your fingers.
I think he actually got hit by the 3’ length of scaffold (big key) that I use to get tension on them. I also use it to unsnap them with at arms length.
There’s a bloke localish who lost an eye to one, the worst I’ve had was a badly bruised finger. I still can’t be doing with the ratchet type as you seem to wind them in forever and never get them quite tight enough first go.
The ratchets might take an extra couple of mins but it’s worth it imo. I tried the dogs and didn’t like them at all - mainly due to the reasons already posted here. I think you need some serious upper body and abdominal strength to use them relatively safely otherwise they’ll make mince meat out of you, not to mention the scaffy bar embedding itself in your nut when it returns from its trip 10ft up in the air.
I used to have problems getting the chain tight enough on the ratchet ones and ended up running out of screw when the chain was still a bit slack which is just sooooooo infuriating, but if you give the chain a good tug and then hook the ratchet on a vertical stretch of the chain (like down the side of the tracks, but not where the tracks will compress) then you’ll usually be okay.
I used to use that type of chain when I was a miner about 200 years ago and have seen them snap under tension at the links…they are very dangerous and need treating with respect…Im suprised that they have not been out lawed to be honest,…very dangerous in the wrong hands
I think the dogs are the dogs ■■■■■■■■.
I always use a dog and chain if they are available instead of the ratchet type.
I hope the EU don’t ban them. They ban all the good stuff.
horrible archaic poxy things - outlaw them soon as possible, it’s only the old ■■■■■ who want to keep them, along with their bib and brace overalls, flat caps and steam driven wagons
jj72:
horrible archaic poxy things - outlaw them soon as possible, it’s only the old ■■■■■ who want to keep them, along with their bib and brace overalls, flat caps and steam driven wagons
Steam driven.
I’ve heard of them new fangled contraptions.
