Paper Safety for Crane Operations
Howard Kaplan is the safety manager for Southwest Industrial Rigging in
Even if your company has never had a crane accident, don't think that it can't happen. Regularly reviewing the people, programs and on-the-job performance of your crane operations is essential for prevention. And a big part of that process involves the P-word • paperwork! Take a simple lift plan for example. A fill-in-the-blanks approach is a good way to cover the basics, but remember you must rely on the crane operator for some of the answers. Is he or she prepared to do so accurately? And if anything in the plan changes, is the operator prepared to stop and evaluate those changes before proceeding with the lift? What's more, does the person back at the office responsible for collecting all the paperwork involved in crane operations really understand the reason for it, or are they just filling in the blanks?
People
When it comes to hiring crane operators, consider who conducts the interviews and make sure they know the essential employment criteria. Just because people can talk about cranes doesn't make them safe operators. An operator's ability to articulate his or her knowledge should be evaluated through a written test relevant to the type of crane to be operated. This can be accomplished in as little as four hours. If your human resources department doesn't have the background for this, you might use an outside source, such as a training company. Several training companies offer performance evaluations on operators to assist companies with hiring and promotions.
Although it is not an OSHA requirement, I believe that national crane operator certification in imminent and long overdue. Some states have begun mandating crane operator certifications. One organization that certifies crane operators is the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators, commonly referred to as CCO. For more information, go to www.nccco.org. A crane operator that is CCO certified has passed both written and practical tests on the type of crane he/she is operating. This alone adds in the safety of the crane lift. In any case, crane operators must be designated, meaning qualified, by their employers. The current construction standard defines qualified by referencing a 1968
Programs
Training, inspections, and lift plans are just some of the programs you should have in place. Whether you offer ongoing training for new hires or occasional refresher courses using in-house resources or those of professionals, training is essential to safety. Keeping your equipment in tip top shape is just as important. OSHA requires mobile cranes to have frequent and periodic inspections. The crane must have an annual inspection with documentation, monthly wire rope inspections with documentation, and daily inspections. Daily inspections do not require documentation, but without a checklist critical items can be overlooked. Annual inspections should be kept with the crane to make them readily available. Even with this requirement, you need to inspect the crane and rigging to assure that it meets your standards before the crane arrives at the job site.
Lift plans, like the simple one shown here, help to outline the job at hand. Critical lift plans do the same thing but look at additional factors such as lifting personnel, lifting high-dollar loads, lifting objects out of water or near power lines, and making two crane lifts. Does a critical lift plan ask more questions than a standard lift plan? No. The only question that should be different from a standard lift plan is: “Can this lift be accomplished any other way?” Everything else remains the same.
Before the crane is set up on the job, consider requiring soil analysis or ground bearing pressure calculations. Cranes produce high ground bearing pressure that if not dispersed properly can make the ground under the outrigger pad fail and allow the crane to tip. To help prevent this, set the crane up on timber mats or some type of cribbing. There are also polymer or nylon outrigger pads or cribbing blocks that can be used. These are light weight, they won't rot, and they can be made to just about any size and shape you want.
On-the-job performance
Once on site, a pre-lift meeting can be informal, but very informative. The meeting explains to all involved in the procedure where the load is going, how it is going to get there, and each person's responsibilities. This is when all the questions can be answered. Now is also when you want to reiterate that anyone can stop the lift for any reason.
What's more, you should have a crane lift procedure in place, which is shared with personnel during the pre-lift meeting. A crane lift procedure is a working document prepared by crane personnel. It must include:
- Who has the authority to stop a lift? Answer: Anyone;
- Identification of the lift path;
- Definition of a critical lift;
- The chain of command for lift operations;
- Stipulations for overriding the crane's load moment system; and
- Inspection criteria.
It's at this point that just “filling in the blanks” is unacceptable. You must know the weight of the load and the crane's capacity. If the crane is never put into an overload position, you have a pretty good chance of being successful every time. If everyone has done their jobs, you should have the paperwork to show it • and a better idea of how safe your crane program is.
