Overhead crane fall protection, ensuring overhead crane maintenance safety

Overhead crane safety is always tops first. Industrial cranes maintenance and inspections need crane workers to access pont roulants systems in areas which may be dirty, narrow, and cramped, with the little space to move, where the fall protection is needed.

Overhead crane fall proetection

What are the overhead crane fall protection? What are the steps to provide adequate protection for overhead crane maintenance and inspections staffs working on, above, adjacent to, or beneath a crane? In the following, the fall protection for overhead crane maintenance is discussed for your reference.

Planning for overhead crane maintenance fall protection

Before the maintenance of overhead crane, the fall protection plan is needed to protect the workers from the danger, injuries during maintenance and inspections. The overhead crane maintenance fall protection plan should be detail for a novice to execute the following steps:

• List the proper steps clearly before the beginning of any work
• The overhead crane operators, workers, and supervisory personnel and other related working staffs should be informed of the crane maintenance work schedule. Overhead crane operators who are using the same runway as a crane that is undergoing the maintenance should be attention to the limited travel lengths of the overhead crane. And also, it is important for the crane operators to know that the impacts with overhead cranes that are “down” or being “serviced” can result in injury or loss of life.
• Make sure the crane maintenance schedule be informed to all the related workers
• Visible tape or personnel barriers are needed to prevent workers entering an unsafe area where hit accidents may happen. On the same time, a visual reminder to operators that there is an inoperable crane with workers on the crane structure above the roped-off barrier.
• Hang a 4X6 fluorescent flag from the runway to notify the overhead crane operators of the crane in service.
• The bridge crane and runway inspected or repaired should be locked out and tagged out. If maintenance will occur on the bridge only, and the remainder of the runway needs to be electrified, lockout and tag-out the bridge and section of runway under repair.
• The temporary runway rail stop clamps will be used to prevent the intrusion of a powered crane into the working area of a crane undergoing repair or inspection. The stops crane should be placed at the place where at least 15 feet from any personnel lift of crane undergoing maintenance for the stops will not guarantee the powered crane will be stopped.
• Consider position temporarily disabled “buffer” cranes between live cranes and the crane being serviced.
• Team work is needed. While the primary maintenance worker focuses on the repair or inspection, the second worker should be guardian the primary worker from the potential dangers and help in the event of an injury or emergency.

Fall protection for crane maintenance

Every section of the bridge and runway must be fully accessible to crane inspectors. Make sure the function of the structural supports are working properly with no damage. If the personnel lift access is not available, and the crane’s work area prevents the use of a passive system, the fall protection is fully needed, such as, fall restraint or fall arrest.
Fall arrest can be used along runways and bridges. Single point attachments work well on hoist if a boom lift can safely provide access to the attachment points. Fall protection along a runway is commonly consists of wire rope and rigid track. Fall protection along a bridge is commonly consisted of guardrail, or walkways, wire rope, and rigid track. Fall protection at the hoist is common consist of boom lift, fall restraint, and single point attachment.

Fall protection for workers beneath an overhead crane

Fall protection beneath industrial overhead cranes has multiple configurations. Below overhead cranes, the systems can be placed, such as, foldaway monorails, fixed monorails, rotating swing arms, and wall-travelling jib arms while above the overhead cranes the following systems like ceiling-mounted monorails or travelling bridges can also be placed.

Potential danger and protection measures

When the overhead crane and the overhead fall protection occupy the same space, it should be aware of the potential danger, such as, the structural impact, fall arrest lanyard dragging, and entanglement.

Structural impact

When a fall protection structure is placed below an overhead crane, the structural impact may happen which may cause damage to materials or structural failure, and endanger workers below.
Structural impact can be avoided by adopting trip wires, safety stop sensors, or light curtains, which would immediately disconnect power from the overhead crane in case of structural impact.
Mounting sensors on the extremities of the fall arrest structure would shut off motion in the direction of crane travel and completely disable power to the system. As a result, the overhead crane operator would have to file a “near miss” report and could even be required to complete a refresher operator-training course.
Besides, design features can also be incorporated into the system that would help prevent an impact from occurring. Paint the structure with a bridge color to improve the visibility or incorporate flashing lights which can help to focus and maintain worker’s awareness about the structure’s relative position to the overhead crane and load.

Lanyard pushing/ dragging

When the fall protection structure is located above an overhead crane, the lanyard pushing or dragging may occur. Layard pushing or dragging happens when an overhead crane operator drives into a worker’s fall arrest lanyard and drags the workers who’s attached, which is major crane safety concerns for the overhead crane operator is usually focused on the load but not the moving structure of the overhead crane.

Lanyard pushing or dragging can be eliminated by using engineering controls, which are similar to structural impact solution. The engineering controls include trip wires, safety stop sensors, or light curtains on the crane structure to eliminate power from the crane during impact. When engineering controls are not available, the administrative controls can be a substitute to prevent lanyard pushing or dragging.

The typical administrative controls plan generally includes executing and working out a fall protection plan, and making sure the related workers especially the overhead crane operators are well trained. After the crane operator has been trained on the fall protection plan, make sure the operator is able to see and communicate with all related workers. When the crane operator is not in full view, a signaler is needed. What’s more, a lead man should be designated to direct the lift, who is closest to the overhead crane and lifted load during the fall protection work.

If the overhead crane is operated by using a control pendant, the best solutions is to have the crane operator also work as the lead worker for the crane operator is the least likely to drive the crane structure into his or her own fall protection, and also because other workers using fall protection are farther away from the overhead crane and the load than the lead worker and operator, theoretically, they are protected from being pushed or dragged.

Entanglement

Entanglement refers to the entangling of the overhead crane’s cables and the lanyard of the crane maintenance workers. Entanglement refers to a circular wrapping motion in which the movements of the worker are relative to the hanging load block’s movements. The entanglement can be effective eliminated by administrative controls.
On the situation, wearing fall protection is the key to eliminate an entanglement accident. The administrative controls plan has to be clearly defined and written down, and fall protection workers must be trained to know all protocols. The overhead cranes must be operated as slowly as possible, and clear communication between workers and crane operators is imperative.
Crane workers must be fully aware of the crane’s lifting line position in relationship to their own lanyard and coworkers’ lanyards. Clear communication between workers should be guaranteed in case of occurring of danger. If a potential entanglement situation diagnosed, all lifts should be stopped right away.

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