Upper arm out to the side, forearm and finger pointing straight up, hand turning in a small flat circle.
Arm extended down, finger pointing down, hand turning in a small flat circle.
Arm out level, palm up and fingers closed, thumb pointing away from the mast, hand jerked that way.
Arm out level, palm up and fingers closed, thumb pointing back toward the mast, hand jerked that way.
Arm out level, finger pointing the way the jib is to swing.
Arm out level, palm down, swung back and forth.
Both arms out level, palms down, swung back and forth. Anyone on site may give this one.
Hands held together at waist level. Hold everything as it is.
Arm out level, fingers closed, thumb pointing up.
Arm out level, fingers closed, thumb pointing down.
Arm out, hand open with the fingers up, pushed out and back the way it is to travel.
Give the movement signal with one hand and hold the other hand still in front of it.
Tap the top of your head with one hand, then give the normal signal.
Bend one arm up with the forearm vertical, tap that elbow with your other hand, then give the normal signal.
About this tool
The standard signals, drawn big enough to read at arm’s length. No maths, no typing, and it opens with no signal on the phone at all.
The rules around the signals
- Agree who is signalling before anything moves, and make sure the operator knows who it is. Handing over mid-lift is how loads get dropped.
- Stay where the operator can see you. If you cannot be seen, you cannot signal — that is what radios are for, and a radio failure means stop, not guess.
- Anyone may call an emergency stop. Not just the signaller. That is the whole point of it.
- If a signal is not understood, it means stop. An operator who is not sure does not move the load, and that is the correct answer every time.
- On radio, say it the same way every time. Load up, load down, trolley out, trolley in, swing left, swing right, stop. Short words, no chatter on the channel.
These are the standard hand signals used on Canadian sites and they are common to the crane standards — they are not ours and not anybody’s to own. The drawings are ours, drawn from the standard descriptions rather than copied from anybody’s chart. Where your site, your standard or your operator asks for something different, theirs wins.