Determining Weight: The Key to a Safe and Successful Lift | Civil Rigging

Civil Rigging: Determining Weight: The Key to a Safe and Successful Lift

Determining Weight for Civil Rigging One of the rigger’s most important tasks is determining weight for civil rigging, specifically the weight of the load. This is the first critical step in planning a successful and safe lift. Do you know the three basic ways that riggers determine weight? According to Ralf Notheis, Manager of Bigfoot […]

Hand Signals: Clear Communication on Job Sites | Civil Rigging

Civil Rigging: Hand Signals - Communication on Job Sites

Crane Hand Signals Clear Communication on Job Sites – Civil Rigging Why are crane hand signals for clear communication on job sites so important for Civil Rigging? Knowing the correct crane hand signals and how to properly communicate them can mean the difference between safety and injury on the job. According to Ralf Notheis, Manager […]

Terminology & Speaking the Same Language | Civil Rigging

Two men helping lower shoring with an excavator into a hole.

Civil Rigging Terminology Why is it so important to understand terminology for Civil Rigging? Because every piece of equipment serves a special purpose and contributes to a safer and more efficient work environment. Ralf Notheis, Manager of Bigfoot Crane Academy explains, “When a qualified rigger asks for a shouldered eye bolt and another worker hands […]

An Introduction to Safety and Certification | Civil Rigging

Civil Rigging: An Introduction to Safety and Certification Close up of crane hook

An Introduction to Civil Rigging Why is the Bigfoot Crane Academy offering an Introduction to Civil Rigging Course? Just ask Ralf Notheis, Manager of the Academy. “There is a huge need for this,” says Notheis, who speaks with passion. “There are way too many workers out there who are inadequately trained to do what they’re […]

Our Course is Tested, Tried, and True

Safety Officer wearing a safety vest and writing on a clip board.

Bigfoot Academy Courses are Tried, Tested, and True.   During the past two years, Bigfoot Academy Courses’ have been tried, tested, and found true in major cities in Canada with specialized rigging training for all of their civil workers. In the process of training hundreds of workers, Bigfoot has garnered valuable feedback from participants and […]

The Basics of Civil Rigging

Basics of Civil Rigging

The goal of Bigfoot’s Civil Rigging Course is to educate the untrained worker. The course focuses on the proper use of equipment, on lifting practices, and on the potential hazards of the work environment. Eighty percent of rigging failures are…

Bigfoot’s Training is Practical

Civil Rigging - Our training is practical

Our training is well known for being practical, helpful and engaging. Our instructors have years of on-the-job experience and they combine their knowledge with a passion for teaching, which comes out clearly in the format of the training. “We teach theory and practical,” says Ralf Notheis, Manager of Bigfoot’s Academy, “so that means we spend […]

Civil Rigging Training Benefits Managers and Owners

A row of construction managers stand looking off towards their construction site at mid-day.

Civil workers are not the only ones who benefit from better training in civil rigging. Effective training not only prevents accidents and ensures safety for workers, but it also relieves the legal and corporate pressures of negligence on the part of managers and owners. Whether it’s safety risks, damage risks, legal liabilities, or loss of […]

Keeping Civil Rigging Workers Safe

Two men helping lower shoring with an excavator into a hole.

“The Civil Rigging Course helps workers move loads safely. Really, it’s for anyone who does any kind of mechanized lifting, using equipment like excavators or backhoes to move loads into place. Ideally, we want to make this course available to every civil works crew and every construction company in Canada—it’s that important.” – Ralf Notheis, […]

Bigfoot Gives Back Through Recycling

Bigfoot construction employee delivering a recycling bag out of a closed road to the garbage pick-up truck.

  When we say we support the community we live in, we mean it! Since this North Vancouver street was closed for the mobilization of our San Marco SMT 460 unit, our lead technician James Fujita took the initiative to make sure recycling day wasn’t missed. Living out our values by taking care of our […]