Rigger (industry)
A rigger is a person that specializes in the lifting and moving of extremely large or heavy objects, often with the assistance of a crane or derrick.
Etymology
The term comes from the days of sailing ships, where a rigger was a person who worked with rigging, that is, ropes for hoisting the sails. Sailors could put their rope skills to work in lifting and hauling, in an era before mechanical haulage and cranes; ropes, pulleys and muscle power was all that was available to move anything. In time riggers and rigging (material handling) became a trade in itself giving rise to the modern usage, with its roots all but forgotten.
Description
Riggers tend to be highly specialized to moving jobs that cannot be accomplished by ordinary means and use equipment expressly designed for moving and lifting objects weighing hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds or kilograms in places where ordinary material handling equipment cannot go.
Because of the highly specialized nature of the work riggers do, it is one of the few remaining occupations that can only be learned by apprenticeship. Riggers must work together as a cohesive team, and there must be an environment of trust among riggers because of the potentially dangerous nature of rigging.
See also
- World's Toughest Fixes, an American reality-TV series with a focus on industrial rigging.
References
- Rigger Job Description constructmycareer.com.au
