Spending nearly 30 years as a crane operator, I've had the experience of being the tallest grounded object a couple of times.
Once outside Ely, Nevada, the other time in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
It's a pretty eerie feeling when the rig builds up that positive charge...and you SEE the lightning hit the boom tip and race down the boom and the wire rope towards you in a huge flash...and there ain't a dammed thing you can do about it when it happens.
MOST of the time, when a storm builds, everyone shuts down until the electric storm passes, but once in a while, the storm comes up on you fast, or from over the top of a mountain where you don't see it until it's too late...and POW!
The amount of damage the current can do to a crane is amazing. I've had 1" wire rope burn in half, nasty burns and arcs in steel and bronze bearings , and electrical systems totally fry.
Fortunately, in neither case was anyone hurt when this happened. Had an ironworker or pipefitter been holding onto the load, or had someone been standing close to the crane...