Winch Safety Question

[Terrymo]

This is a screen shot from a video taken during an active winch situation. The Jeep in the foreground is actively pulling with what appears to be a synthetic winch line. Would you stand along the winch line like this? Is there a good reason to do so as opposed to standing somewhere else? The person closest to the Jeep being recovered is directing the recovery. The person behind him appears to be simply taking a video with his phone. Seeing it makes me uncomfortable and seems contrary to what I’ve been taught, but I’m not very experienced. If you are experienced in recoveries, your thoughts?

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[SadRobot]

This is a screen shot from a video taken during an active winch situation. The Jeep in the foreground is actively pulling with what appears to be a synthetic winch line. Would you stand along the winch line like this? Is there a good reason to do so as opposed to standing somewhere else? The person closest to the Jeep being recovered is directing the recovery. The person behind him appears to be simply taking a video with his phone. Seeing it makes me uncomfortable and seems contrary to what I’ve been taught, but I’m not very experienced. If you are experienced in recoveries, your thoughts?

Every recovery video I watch online the person is standing right next to the line. I've always read and in the winch booklet you get when you buy it says stay the F out of that zone. I've also never seen one of those online recovery video people put a heavy blanket or something over the line in case it snaps. I assume it's fine until it isn't and you get a winch line in the face.

 

[Mumbly]

I wouldn’t stand there. Make some distance cause Murphy is ever present. Now, sitting directly under the Jeep …

 

[Terrymo]

Every recovery video I watch online the person is standing right next to the line. I've always read and in the winch booklet you get when you buy it says stay the F out of that zone. I've also never seen one of those online recovery video people put a heavy blanket or something over the line in case it snaps. I assume it's fine until it isn't and you get a winch line in the face.

I’ve only had a two day offroad training course and maybe two hours was recovery. We were taught to stay away from the “danger zone” and put a heavy blanket or similar even on a synthetic winch line which I have yet to see used outside of that training in a couple of dozen first hand winching situations with synthetic line.

 

[Terrymo]

I should clarify. The person closest to the Jeep being recovered is verbally directing someone actually doing the winching from beside the grey Jeep in the foreground. My thought was, why is everyone not back and off to the side of the Jeep doing the winching, rather than between the two Jeeps. Being in the middle of the winch line seems like it increases your odds of getting hit no matter which end of the line breaks?

 

[redsyphon]

Synthetic rope can still cause injury. The amount of force involved is incredible and when things go bad, they can go bad and be done before anyone can even begin to react.

Set yourself up for success so you can enjoy that beer at the end of the day and share the fun story, instead of being the main character in a sad one.

Treat synthetic rope like it's steel rope. Take the 30 seconds to throw something on it and don't stand right next to it.

Worse case scenario is your setup takes an extra minute or so, and you develop good habits for any situation no matter the material.

 

[Grayhound]

I personally would not stand there. I do not weight my synthetic line. For some reason it doesn’t seem as important as with the steel cable.
I may be wrong there. So I’m watching as to learn as well

 

[Odyssey USA]

Synthetic line has less stored energy, but for me I’m gonna stand outside the potential danger zone and use a line damper.

 

[Ratbert]

Is that a rhetorical question? Standing in the death zone isn't a great idea unless you're trying to get nominated for a Darwin award.

 

[Terrymo]

Is that a rhetorical question? Standing in the death zone isn't a great idea unless you're trying to get nominated for a Darwin award.

LOL I was trying not to influence the answers. And trying to be open minded in case I was off base with my initial reaction.

 

[ObiMatt87]

There is so much going on in this picture... First, as you allude to, those folks are in a bad ju-ju place if that cable snaps, synthetic or not, blankie on it or not. I realize it's heavily wooded on either side, but I would definitely be up along the treeline away from the possible snap zone. This is akin to that video out there where some guys were winching a tipped Jeep out of a ditch by running cable through a rebar-type stake with an eyelet at the top, pulling from an angle not opposite the tipped vehicle. A dude was standing right next to that bar as it strained against the sideways pressure. I just waited to see if someone was going to die...

I'm also wondering about the angle they are winching the Jeep from. I know we can't see everything in detail, but seems to me that the winching is going to drag the vehicle on its side, or at the very least put significant pressure the downward side as it pulls almost directly from behind, as opposed to from the right side. If the winch line couldn't routed around a tree or something to pull it from the right, seems like you'd at least have a better shot by moving the winch vehicle closer in and more to the right. It looks like it's around the right part of the rear axle (I think). That's probably about right, but the winch vehicle needs to be more to the right of the tipped vehicle to allow physics to help. The tight trees and uneven ground definitely make this challenging, but

Do you know the outcome to this adventure story?

 

[Terrymo]

There is so much going on in this picture... First, as you allude to, those folks are in a bad ju-ju place if that cable snaps, synthetic or not, blankie on it or not. I realize it's heavily wooded on either side, but I would definitely be up along the treeline away from the possible snap zone. This is akin to that video out there where some guys were winching a tipped Jeep out of a ditch by running cable through a rebar-type stake with an eyelet at the top, pulling from an angle not opposite the tipped vehicle. A dude was standing right next to that bar as it strained against the sideways pressure. I just waited to see if someone was going to die...

I'm also wondering about the angle they are winching the Jeep from. I know we can't see everything in detail, but seems to me that the winching is going to drag the vehicle on its side, or at the very least put significant pressure the downward side as it pulls almost directly from behind, as opposed to from the right side. If the winch line couldn't routed around a tree or something to pull it from the right, seems like you'd at least have a better shot by moving the winch vehicle closer in and more to the right. It looks like it's around the right part of the rear axle (I think). That's probably about right, but the winch vehicle needs to be more to the right of the tipped vehicle to allow physics to help. The tight trees and uneven ground definitely make this challenging, but

Do you know the outcome to this adventure story?

It turned out fine. Comments are a mix of good job and bro don’t stand there. His response Is to tell everyone to calm down. He says his dyneema winch rope “stores no energy” and will “drop like a dead snake“.

This seems to defy what I remember in physics class, maybe less weight and less energy but, no energy, I’m struggling with that. Maybe i slept through that part of class.

 

[ShellNate7974]

If my memory serves me correctly, I’ve completed either 4 or 5 rigging certification classes & everything including common sense says this is not a safe location to be in.
I have known of the impossible happening, especially when you are working with untrained humans & equipment that hasn’t been inspected & or tested. Also, in this type of situation it is impossible to know the stress load involved in this pull.

This is a screen shot from a video taken during an active winch situation. The Jeep in the foreground is actively pulling with what appears to be a synthetic winch line. Would you stand along the winch line like this? Is there a good reason to do so as opposed to standing somewhere else? The person closest to the Jeep being recovered is directing the recovery. The person behind him appears to be simply taking a video with his phone. Seeing it makes me uncomfortable and seems contrary to what I’ve been taught, but I’m not very experienced. If you are experienced in recoveries, your thoughts?

 

[Radioman]

Matt, @ObiMatt87, is got it right I think. The vehicle with the winch should be as far to the right for a better angle. Perhaps there is nothing available to hook to and or to many bushes to prevent placing a snatch block on the right. The brake lights are on the vehicle on its side, was there someone inside the Jeep? The two gentleman have no business being where they are located.

 

[Terrymo]

Matt, @ObiMatt87, is got it right I think. The vehicle with the winch should be as far to the right for a better angle. Perhaps there is nothing available to hook to and or to many bushes to prevent placing a snatch block on the right. The brake lights are on the vehicle on its side, was there someone inside the Jeep? The two gentleman have no business being where they are located.

They had the driver stay in the Jeep initially. I can’t say who was in the Jeep at that point.

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