Safety

Every once in a while I pause and wonder, “Is what I’m doing, really worth it?” “Will there be people who really benefit from this training?” “Are we all helping…

Many things affect the distribution of weight being lifted at various pick points on a load: Where the slings or lifting attachments are secured in relationship to the load’s CG.…

Often we discover that standard rigging will not provide sufficient load control and a custom system or device is required. Sometimes the designated lifting points on a load have been…

Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) has published its Crane Accident Investigation Guide after two years of planning and preparation by the association’s Crane & Rigging Group Safety Education & Training Committee. SC&RA members typically lift and position oversize objects, often at height and to tight tolerances so the possibility for severe injury or major property damage can never be overlooked

The following example of make-do access equipment was spotted by a reader in Salies de Bearn, South West France. It certainly qualifies among the top candidates for the craziest platforms ever built. Rather than organise a relatively small aerial lift or a proper mobile tower our man has used a stack of pallets plus a small work scaffold that he probably owns and placed it all on the forks of a lift truck.

The tower crane is an important link in the construction process. Even though the crane operator is seated in a cabin high up in the sky, he is still not able to view his entire working area. The visibility problem gets even worse as construction progresses and starts to increasingly obstruct the operator’s view.

On November 8, 2010, OSHA’s update to the Cranes & Derricks standard (1926.400) went into effect. Although some of the provisions have delayed effective dates ranging from one year to four, there are a few important updates that were effective on November 8th.

A strong risk assessment and planning, combined with a sharp operator saved a big crawler from tipping over. The crane, a 1,200 tonne Liebherr LTR11200 telescopic belonging to Karl Hartinger Kranbetrieb of Rimbeck-Warburg in Germany, was working on new wind farm being erected on moorland with a peat bog substrate.

Two-crane lifts can present plenty of challenges. One of the first questions to ask is, “Can one crane make the lift?” If we discover that two cranes must be used,…

The U.S. Department of Labor has agreed a settlement with Baton Rouge, Louisiana based MMR Contractors and global construction engineer Fluor, regarding the illegal termination of an employee who raised crane safety concerns.