How to become Rigger in 2024

Rigger Set up or repair rigging for construction projects, manufacturing plants, logging yards, ships and shipyards, or for the entertainment industry.

Rigger is Also Know as

In different settings, Rigger is titled as

  • Gantry Rigger
  • Hand Rigger
  • Heavy Lift Rigger
  • Machinery Erector
  • Machinery Mover
  • Marine Rigger
  • Motor Rigger
  • Rigger
  • Rigging Fabricator
  • Ship Rigger

Education and Training of Rigger

Rigger is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Rigger

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Education Required for Rigger

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Rigger

Training Required for Rigger

Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Rigger in different industries are

What Do Rigger do?

  • Signal or verbally direct workers engaged in hoisting and moving loads to ensure safety of workers and materials.
  • Test rigging to ensure safety and reliability.
  • Attach loads to rigging to provide support or prepare them for moving, using hand and power tools.
  • Select gear, such as cables, pulleys, and winches, according to load weights and sizes, facilities, and work schedules.
  • Control movement of heavy equipment through narrow openings or confined spaces, using chainfalls, gin poles, gallows frames, and other equipment.
  • Tilt, dip, and turn suspended loads to maneuver over, under, or around obstacles, using multi-point suspension techniques.
  • Align, level, and anchor machinery.
  • Fabricate, set up, and repair rigging, supporting structures, hoists, and pulling gear, using hand and power tools.
  • Manipulate rigging lines, hoists, and pulling gear to move or support materials, such as heavy equipment, ships, or theatrical sets.
  • Attach pulleys and blocks to fixed overhead structures, such as beams, ceilings, and gin pole booms, using bolts and clamps.
  • Dismantle and store rigging equipment after use.
  • Install ground rigging for yarding lines, attaching chokers to logs and to the lines.
  • Clean and dress machine surfaces and component parts.
  • Load machines onto trucks to prepare for transportation.

Qualities of Good Rigger

  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Rigger

  • Adjustable hand wrenches
  • Allen wrench sets
  • Beam type torque wrenches
  • Chain hoists
  • Channellock pliers
  • Dial caliper gauges
  • Electric winches
  • Electronic levels
  • Flat cold chisels
  • Floor drill presses
  • Gear pullers
  • Gin poles
  • Grease dispensers
  • Hacksaws
  • Hole cutters
  • Hot knives
  • Lifting jacks
  • Load moving skates
  • Marlinspikes
  • Metal punches
  • Moving dollies
  • Multipurpose hammers
  • Oxyacetylene torches
  • Pallet pullers
  • Phillips screwdrivers
  • Power wrenches
  • Precision needle files
  • Precision reamers
  • Pressure monitors
  • Pry bars
  • Ratchet sets
  • Rigging vises
  • Spanner wrenches
  • Steel banding tools
  • Steel sledge hammers
  • Threading die hand tool
  • Threading taps
  • Utility knives
  • Welding torches

Technology Skills required for Rigger

  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • Autodesk Maya
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft Word