Safety for the Good Operation of the Overhead Crane
In your company or workshop, for your efficiency, convenience, and safety. The cranes or overhead cranes are extremely important to perform the lifting task. They are very useful and popular in most industries; such as construction, metallurgy, mining, oil, chemical industry, production process, transport, rail, storage, logistics, etc.
Workplaces can be in factories, construction sites, warehouses, workshops, garages, iron smelting, port, etc.
Therefore, we want to offer you relevant information for your Crane and Hoist.
Safety rules:
Contents
Safe Working Load
For example, if your loads are always 1 ton, you should have a hoist that allows you to load up to 2 tons and not just have a 1-ton hoist, the risk is expensive and is considered an occupational risk.
Restrictions. Equipment and Cranes must not work under the following conditions:
Functioning:
When the overhead crane is in operation, there should be no obstacle in the production line, and the height of the hook, spreader, and load must be at least 2 m above the ground. If you overcome the obstacles, the extra height must be more than 0.5 m.
Lifting maneuvers:
Overhead cranes can be an integral part of a facility’s productivity. If a shop crane is out of service for even just an hour it can have a domino effect throughout the whole facility. That’s where inspections on the overhead cranes can be a critical service to keep the crane (and shop) running smoothly.
Most facilities will call in a company that services overhead cranes or an overhead crane service company.
Overhead crane service companies are great at servicing the electrical and mechanical components but they may not have the expertise or experience in structural inspections. That’s where a crane inspection company should be involved.
They have the experience and the tools to do a proper structural inspection. Also, if there are defects discovered during the inspection, crane inspection companies have the experience and knowledge of how to do a proper repair.
What happens when there are structural defects in an overhead crane?
It’s not uncommon to find structural defects on an overhead crane. If a defect is not found in a reasonable timeframe it could propagate into a structural failure. If a crane is taken out of service due to a structural defect it could be inoperable for a couple of days for repairs.
It’s best to catch these defects before they become a major issue. A small repair can be performed in an hour and a large repair could have the crane shut down for a couple of days.
When a structural crane inspector checks an overhead crane they are looking for cracks in welds, deformed structural members, and other defects that could affect the structural integrity of the crane.
They will look at the columns that support the crane way to make sure they don’t have any defects. The most common defect on the columns are dents that occur when a forklift or other machinery accidentally hit the column.
Next is the crane way itself. Once again the inspector will check for any defects in the structural members and welds. It is important for the inspector to have access to the full length of the crane way for a thorough inspection.
The Bridge will be checked for defects including looking for any negative camber in the bridge beam. On the trolley, they will be looking for any structural defects and check the wire rope for any deficiencies.
A person conducting a business or undertaking has the primary duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, workers and other people are not exposed to health and safety risks arising from the business or undertaking.
This duty requires the person to manage risks by eliminating health and safety risks so far as is reasonably practicable, and if it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risks, by minimizing those risks so far as is reasonably practicable. It also includes ensuring so far as is reasonably practicable the:
The Work Health and Safety (WHS) Regulations include specific duties for a person conducting a business or undertaking with management or control of the plant, powered mobile plant, and plant that lifts or suspends loads.
If you own a crane you are the person with management or control of that plant.
If you hire or lease a crane, you have management or control of that plant for the period you have hired it. Both you and the person you have hired or leased it from will have duties to eliminate or minimize the risks associated with the plant, so far as is reasonably practicable.
Find out what could cause harm. The following can help you identify potential hazards:
Assess the risk: In many cases, the risks and related control measures will be well known. In other cases, you may need to carry out a risk assessment to identify the likelihood of somebody being harmed by the hazard and how serious the harm could be. People who work with or near cranes are most at risk. Some of the risks when using a crane include:
A risk assessment can help you determine what action you should take to control the risk and how urgently the action needs to be taken.
Take action to control the risk. The WHS laws require a business or undertaking do everything reasonably practicable to eliminate or minimize risks.
The first thing to consider is whether crane-related hazards can be completely removed from the workplace. For example, designing items of size, shape, and weight so they can be delivered, handled or assembled at the location where they will be used without the need for a crane.
If it is not reasonably practicable to completely eliminate the risk then consider the following options in the order they appear below to minimize risks, so far as is reasonably practicable:
If after implementing the above control measures a risk still remains, consider the following controls in the order below to minimize the remaining risk, so far as is reasonably practicable:
Check your control measures. Control measures need to be regularly reviewed to make sure they remain effective, taking into consideration changes, the nature, and duration of work and that the system is working as planned.
Around 80% of all crane accidents are caused by overloading the safe working capacity of the equipment.
When a crane is overloaded, it is put under excessive stress that can cause damage to the equipment. This damage can result in the collapse of the crane.
Towering cranes used on construction sites to lift and transport hefty loads can be extremely dangerous and often lethal when they fall over, or when parts or the entire crane collapses due to some structural failure. They’re usually local news unless you lose an entire crane.
Because of oversize loads or mishaps during assembly. In general, mobile cranes tend to fall over because of overly heavy loads, while tower cranes usually collapse in the course of being assembled, taken apart, or extended.
If an overhead crane is a critical component to a shop’s productivity and/or commonly lifts loads higher than 50% of its capacity (eg. lifting more than 1 ton on a 2-ton crane), then would recommend an annual structural inspection.
Overhead crane servicing companies provide a needed maintenance and service package for your crane. This regular service should be coupled with a structural inspection from a crane inspection company to reduce downtime on your overhead crane.
The frequency at which these inspections should take place is based upon the usage of your crane: A crane that operates under “normal service” should be inspected monthly; a crane in “heavy service” should be inspected weekly to monthly, and a crane in “severe service” should be inspected daily to weekly.