Maintaining Industrial Equipment

Construction sites are overwhelmed with safety concerns on a daily basis. With so many injury risks, it's important to ensure safety at all times, particularly when using a crane on the site. If you're new to the use of cranes on a job site, it's important to understand the basic safety concerns and best practices. Following these steps will ensure that you keep everyone on the job site safe, even if it is your first time working with an overhead crane.

Have a Plan at All Times

Before using a crane for any project, it's helpful to have a plan in place for the entire process. That means identifying the path that you'll take to get the item where it's going and putting a plan in place for keeping that path clear. It's essential that the path stay clear for safety.

Walk the route that you'll be taking and watch for any hazards or safety concerns. Address any potential risks that you see, including obstructions both on the ground and in the air. Check the ground throughout the path for stability, making sure that there are no dangerous slopes or holes. Consider doing this with the crane operator so that you have the perspective of someone who is experienced with cranes and how they work.

While you're planning things out, you should consider the resources that you're going to require. This includes the number of people you may need along the route to serve as spotters.

Require Pre-Lift Inspections

Cranes suffer a lot of wear and tear from the demanding environment that they are in. That makes it especially important to conduct thorough safety inspections before every lift. Make sure that your operator and everyone else on the site understand that inspections are mandatory before any crane can be put into service for the day.

Safety inspections must be done by a licensed operator who knows precisely what to look for. He or she should document that inspection with a comprehensive report so that you have evidence of its completion in case something happens.

Have the operator evaluate the condition of all of the cables as well as the shackles and the boom and ensure that the lights, hand controls, horn, and brakes are fully functional. If anything is worn, damaged, or failing to respond correctly, repair it before putting the crane into service.

Create Procedural Documents

A statement of operations and solid procedural documents help everyone on the site clearly understand the work process and required procedures. This ensures that inspections, safety procedures and proper lift steps are followed at all times, because everyone working on the site will have detailed, written information about the site expectations and standard procedures. This eliminates any risk of cutting corners or making guesses about how to do things.

Make sure those written procedural documents are available to everyone and clearly define the planning process for each job, the way to choose equipment for each role, the safety checks required and all of the routine maintenance requirements. All procedural manuals should also include clear instructions for flagging, signaling, and signing. That way, everyone understands and can communicate clearly.

Respect the Value of Oversight

Any time you start a lifting operation with a crane, you'll want to have the process monitored by a certified crane operation supervisor because they are trained to identify safety issues and procedural problems that might potentially be damaging. You can either retain the services of a supervisor who is already licensed, or you can have one of your operators obtain certification to make the process easier.

As you can see, there are many things to keep in mind when you're working with a crane on the job site. Don't let your first crane job lead to a nightmare. Contact a local crane provider through a website like http://amquipinc.com/ and ask about other ways to ensure job site safety.