I was on a pipeline crew once and had gone to help pull trench boxes off of a manhole so they could be moved to the next one. The manholes were over 20' deep, and they had ramps down most of the way, to get the mixer trucks close enough to pour the bases.
The operator had went down the ramp to get close enough, and I climbed up the 12' high box and set the 4 way hooks on each corner, then got back. The operator lifted, but ran out of boom and stick before the box cleared the top of the manhole. He then curled the bucket out to get more hight. When he did, two legs of the 4-way slid over the side of the bucket. At this time, he was at full reach, and the hoe was on a down angled ramp, with the rear of the track about 3' up in the air. I realized I was not fasr enough out of the way if things went wrong. Just as I had that thought and started climbing the side of the ditch, two legs of the 4-way slid over the side of the bucket, and when they snapped tight, both of them broke and the box started to fall toward me. I was climbing as fast as I could, but the only thing that saved me was the operator swinging the other way when he seen the cables break. The falling box knocked the cone off of the manhole, and the hoe nearly tipped. The box fell on the other side from where I was thanks to fast action by the operator, or I would have been smashed.
That was a fast lesson on staying well back from any suspended load, as well as checking the reach BEFORE making a pick.