Four Indispensable Precautions for Safer Crane Rigging
Cranes are crucial when handling heavy loads in industrial, commercial and construction operations. These pieces of equipment ensure efficiency while lifting and moving bulky materials. Unfortunately, crane rigging can be a dangerous undertaking without the right skills and experience. Therefore, if you are planning on using a crane for your project, you should choose a qualified rigging contractor for professional operation. In addition to using a crane expert, consider these tips to promote safety and efficiency in your workplace.
Review the Manual
You should review the crane manual before rigging to avoid mishaps due to oversights. Keep in mind that cranes from different manufacturers might look similar. However, their internal mechanisms, components and features are often unique. Therefore, check the manual with care and take note of the information on critical rigging issues such as loading limits, incorporated controls and safety features. Make sure that the operators are also familiar with the specific crane models to ensure smooth and safe operation.
Inspect before Operation
Cranes are powerful but dangerous pieces of equipment in the workplace. In simple terms, their weight and general design can cause some accidents without the right precautions. For instance, oversights during machinery setup will increase the risk of failure during rigging. Therefore, you should inspect your heavy equipment before commissioning operations. This process will help you identify problems in the systems before starting. Critical checks include engine condition and safety system state to identify shortcomings. Moreover, you must conduct obvious pre-start checks on tyres, seatbelts, battery and oil levels.
Check the Environment
When operating a crane on your industrial or commercial property, make sure that the environment is safe for rigging. These pieces of equipment have a long reach, so the risk of accidents due to contact and collision is high. If you have a mobile crane, clear the routes through which the machinery will move. Eliminate obstacles and put up warning signs indicating the danger during lifting operations. If your crane is not mobile, you will still need to address other obstacles on the worksite. For instance, permanent features like power lines or existing buildings must be avoided.
Discuss Rigging Signals
Signals are crucial during crane rigging because they allow operators and other workers on the site to communicate. If the people on site are unfamiliar with signals, the risk of accidents will increase, and the lifting operations will be inefficient. Therefore, provide training on hand signals for everyone on the worksite because the ambient noise in industrial and construction sites can be too high for verbal communication.
Contact a local rigging company to get more advice.