February 2010
 
Hope you are all coping with the snow and ice this winter. In our immediate area (South Dakota) we have experienced some record setting snow falls. We have had major storms that have knocked out power for some parts of the state for over a week. The ice has been a major factor for power failures. A big pat on the back from all of us a Dakota Riggers for the hundreds of utility workers who risk their lives and work long hours to restore power to many rural communities.  
 
We are doing our best to provide our customers with "much in demand" tire chains for their equipment. We are fortunate in that we use several vendors to procure our tire chains and have been able to "somewhat" keep up with demand, even though it gets tougher to find product as the winter drags on. With ice build up on roads, tire chains wear out much quicker than with snow.  We ask our customers to plan ahead and procure chains ahead of time to insure that they have the chains for their equipment when needed.   
 
We have also been so bombarded with our "energy absorbing" 2-1 towrope sales, that one of our good customers has nicknamed it "The Snake" (see article HERE/)
 
Please check out the upcoming rigging seminar we are hosting in February by clicking on the related page icon on the home page. The seminar covers much more than synthetic slings. The program details general rigging practices for all rigging apparatus, load calculations, and safe rigging practices. Mike Gelskey, our presenter, is very thorough in his training class and makes learning fun throughout the day. We really want to encourage employees that are new to a job that involves rigging of any kind to attend this important seminar. We are also adding a "Train the Trainer" seminar this year for people who are heading up crews, maintenance departments, utility supervisors, and crane operators. Hope to see you at the seminar.
 
As always, we encourage and expect all users of our products to inspect all rigging apparatus, fall arrest/safety products, and tools of all kinds before EACH and EVERY use.

Joe Erickson, Emily Gelskey, and the Dakota Riggers Staff