Saturday, August 12, 2017

Things To Know Regarding OSHA Crane Inspections

By Scott Baker


Cranes are machines usually equipped with chains, wire or hoist ropes and sheaves which can be used in lifting and lowering heavy materials and horizontally move them. They use simple machines in creating mechanical advantage allowing them to carry load which humans normally cannot do. Industries such as manufacturing, construction and transportation use them for various purposes.

They could become worn down and damaged when regularly used because of their various uses and an accident might result from this. This is why OSHA crane inspections should be done frequently to assure your workers their safety and your machine has optimal condition. Doing this would provide your employees also of an environment that is more productive.

This is required by the government through the OSHA agency that incorporates several industries standards like ASME, NEC and ANSI. A qualified inspector with proper training should do this in reducing accident and failure of equipment. Having them inspected helps in making the legal fees affordable, whenever you need it due to accidents, because inspections were performed by qualified professional.

Your equipment will become more reliable and would break down less which will result to an increase in productivity. A study has noted that safety related defects were reduced to sixty to ninety five percent in the first year after your machine were started to be inspected regularly. They could even use an inspection program with predictive maintenance to increase reliability more.

Hooks, wire, hoist ropes or chains need daily examination done by an operator while monthly one is done which is more thorough with documentation. If you only use your crane in normal service, they need annual inspection only while heavy use would need twice a year. Four examinations every year is needed for severe service which means they were used on abnormal environments.

The abnormal environment that might be included are adverse weather exposure, hazardous environment, corrosive fumes, atmosphere laden with dust or moisture and high or low surrounding temperature. They will designate a qualified professional in determining if the conditions were hazardous during inspection. They would decide also whether disassembly is required for further examination.

Crane inspectors should have at least two thousand hours of experience related directly to functional testing, modifying, repairing, servicing and maintenance of cranes. They would not be allowed to do this duty under any circumstances if they have not received proper training. They must have the knowledge of codes and regulations applicable to the equipment that will be inspected.

Their training would include areas about codes in safety and design, state, federal and local standards and codes then safe practices for operating cranes. They should understand the terminologies to better communicate and then write reports and procedural documentation. Use of various words must be also learned to better understand their meaning.

Load testing is the responsibility of owners of the equipment and shall be done after the system is completed or installation is finished. Test them again even though the industry standard indicates they have been tested before being shipped. Others would also be affected by these inspections and not just your workers.




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