Keeping your cranes and employees safe should be at the very top of your priority list. Read here to learn about why overhead crane inspections are important and how you can keep your overhead cranes safe and functional!
Preventative Maintenance
The key to keeping cranes reliable is preventative maintenance. Your crane should come with an owner’s manual from the manufacturers. This guide will outline what preventative measures should be taken.
Preventative measures should include a guide to inspecting the crane as well as an outline for a preventative maintenance program. Having an annual Occupational Safety and Health inspection is of the highest importance, as it is the best jumping off point for assessing minimum requirements.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has many regulations for regular maintenance. An inspector must be well qualified.
Various degrees of qualifications are necessary in order to be deemed capable of inspection and load testing. Management must decide who is capable of fulfilling these duties, and designate them to oversee overhead crane inspections.
OHSA inspections, however, are only the beginning of your overhead crane tests. Original equipment manufacturers, otherwise known as OEM, have the best standards for each individual piece of equipment.
Inspection and load testing require a large degree of expertise. This may require hiring an employee who specializes in overhead crane inspections.
Load Testing
Making sure that overhead cranes have been adequately load tested is imperative to ensure the safety of your employees.
While conducting a Rated Load Test, it is important to ensure that the loads are no less than 100 percent or more than 125 percent of the rated load capacity unless otherwise specified in the OEM handbook.
Severe load testing should be practiced at least once per quarter. However, OSHA rules suggest that visual checks should be made every day by the person operating the overhead crane.
Finding a professional inspector to suit your needs isn’t as difficult as it sounds. It is recommended that wear and tear evaluations should be completed no less than once a month. The documents produced by these inspections should be available to anyone operating the overhead crane. This way they will be well aware of any potential issues with the crane.
Additional Precautions
Bear in mind which cranes receive the most use. Identify which piece of equipment are used often, as they may have acquired more wear and tear and may require additional attention. Older cranes may also require upgrades.
In closing, making sure that your overhead cranes are running at peak performance is of the utmost importance. It means that your employees are able to do their work more efficiently. They’ll be able to do so more safely and with fewer accidents.
An unsafe work environment contributes to lower productivity, more frequent accidents, more workman’s comp claims, and even the potential for lawsuits.
So make the easy choice. Make sure overhead cranes used by your business are operating at their best, perform preventative maintenance, regular inspections, and always replace any obsolete parts.
Your team will thank you.