Cranes are a major achievement of engineering and an essential piece of machinery for many different industries including construction and manufacturing. Operating a crane takes an in-depth and complicated training process to ensure the crane operator and those working in the surrounding areas and safe from the risk of serious injury. Crane safety is crucial to the overall safety of a work environment and operating correctly can be the difference between life and death, which why it should be taken so seriously. Having a comprehensive crane safety program in place is absolutely vital for all employers where cranes are being used in their day to day operations. However, if you are completely unsure of how to improve your health and safety policies surrounding crane safety for your worksite, then we recommend that you contact a team of health and safety consultants who will be able to share their expertise with you. In the meantime, here are some of the fundamentals when it comes to crane safety. But, first, what are the different types of cranes?
The Different Types of Cranes
There are quite a few different cranes that are used across a range of different industries today. And, each of them come with their own set of hazards that need to be understood and accounted for in a health and safety policy. Some of the most common types of cranes in the United Kingdom are –
Tower Cranes
Tower cranes can reach extremely big heights and are most commonly used in the construction of skyscrapers or other high building structures. These cranes are secured at the ground.
Aerial Cranes
An aerial crane is a type of crane that is attached to a helicopter. The nature of this type of crane makes safety extremely important when in operation.
Floating Cranes
Floating cranes are fixed onto a ship or floating platform. In some cases, this type of crane can be very unstable in bad weather.
Rough Terrain Cranes
Rough terrain cranes are equipped with treads rather than normal tyres to make them more suitable for uneven surfaces.
Gantry Cranes
A gantry crane is fixed into one static spot and gets it’s extra support the structure that it is attached to. These type of cranes are most in places such as factories and shipyards.
Crane Safety Tips
In a job that includes cranes and dangerous tasks such as lifting extremely heavy loads, a safe execution of tasks is the utmost priority. For this exact reason, we are about to the shares the fundamental tips to follow so yourself, and colleagues are as safe as possible.
- Never leave a load of any size suspended. A very effective way to ensure the safe execution of a lifting task is to create a checklist of everything that needs to be considered by the task takes place.
- Finish all tasks properly and professionally. Never (ever) rush any task when it comes to operating cranes and lifting heavy objects. Rushing means that fundamental element of health and safety could be missed, and this could be a matter of life or death.
- Never stand under a load of any size. One of the most basic (but highly important) crane safety tops is to never stand under a load of any size.
- Know the load size that is being lifted. Every load that is lifted by a crane must be carefully assessed in terms of weight and size to ensure the right tools and machinery have been chosen for the task in hand.
- Create a safety checklist before all tasks. Ensure you have maximum visibility. Make sure that you have full visibility at all times and ensure that you are not working with any dead spots under any circumstances. This is so you have full control over the situation at all times.
Why You Should Offer Employees Crane Safety Training
Offering your employees who work on cranes or in areas around cranes is the most effective way to minimise the risks that are associated with this type of workplace machinery. The training should be mandatory before any employee use a crane or work in the vicinity of a crane to ensure everyone is safe. Part of the training that employees should be provided with is how to communicate effectively with each by using hand signals. In an ideal world, the training that is provided should be bespoke and designed to match the different type of cranes in the workplace.
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