Overhead crane safety is always tops first. Industrial cranes maintenance and inspections need crane workers to access overhead cranes systems in areas which may be dirty, narrow, and cramped, with the little space to move, where the fall protection is needed.
Overhead crane fall proetection
What are the overhead crane fall protection? What are the steps to provide adequate protection for overhead crane maintenance and inspections staffs working on, above, adjacent to, or beneath a crane? In the following, the fall protection for overhead crane maintenance is discussed for your reference.
Before the maintenance of overhead crane, the fall protection plan is needed to protect the workers from the danger, injuries during maintenance and inspections. The overhead crane maintenance fall protection plan should be detail for a novice to execute the following steps:
Every section of the bridge and runway must be fully accessible to crane inspectors. Make sure the function of the structural supports are working properly with no damage. If the personnel lift access is not available, and the crane’s work area prevents the use of a passive system, the fall protection is fully needed, such as, fall restraint or fall arrest.
Fall arrest can be used along runways and bridges. Single point attachments work well on hoist if a boom lift can safely provide access to the attachment points. Fall protection along a runway is commonly consists of wire rope and rigid track. Fall protection along a bridge is commonly consisted of guardrail, or walkways, wire rope, and rigid track. Fall protection at the hoist is common consist of boom lift, fall restraint, and single point attachment.
Fall protection beneath industrial overhead cranes has multiple configurations. Below overhead cranes, the systems can be placed, such as, foldaway monorails, fixed monorails, rotating swing arms, and wall-travelling jib arms while above the overhead cranes the following systems like ceiling-mounted monorails or travelling bridges can also be placed.
When the overhead crane and the overhead fall protection occupy the same space, it should be aware of the potential danger, such as, the structural impact, fall arrest lanyard dragging, and entanglement.
When a fall protection structure is placed below an overhead crane, the structural impact may happen which may cause damage to materials or structural failure, and endanger workers below.
Structural impact can be avoided by adopting trip wires, safety stop sensors, or light curtains, which would immediately disconnect power from the overhead crane in case of structural impact.
Mounting sensors on the extremities of the fall arrest structure would shut off motion in the direction of crane travel and completely disable power to the system. As a result, the overhead crane operator would have to file a “near miss” report and could even be required to complete a refresher operator-training course.
Besides, design features can also be incorporated into the system that would help prevent an impact from occurring. Paint the structure with a bridge color to improve the visibility or incorporate flashing lights which can help to focus and maintain worker’s awareness about the structure’s relative position to the overhead crane and load.
When the fall protection structure is located above an overhead crane, the lanyard pushing or dragging may occur. Layard pushing or dragging happens when an overhead crane operator drives into a worker’s fall arrest lanyard and drags the workers who’s attached, which is major crane safety concerns for the overhead crane operator is usually focused on the load but not the moving structure of the overhead crane.
Lanyard pushing or dragging can be eliminated by using engineering controls, which are similar to structural impact solution. The engineering controls include trip wires, safety stop sensors, or light curtains on the crane structure to eliminate power from the crane during impact. When engineering controls are not available, the administrative controls can be a substitute to prevent lanyard pushing or dragging.
The typical administrative controls plan generally includes executing and working out a fall protection plan, and making sure the related workers especially the overhead crane operators are well trained. After the crane operator has been trained on the fall protection plan, make sure the operator is able to see and communicate with all related workers. When the crane operator is not in full view, a signaler is needed. What’s more, a lead man should be designated to direct the lift, who is closest to the overhead crane and lifted load during the fall protection work.
If the overhead crane is operated by using a control pendant, the best solutions is to have the crane operator also work as the lead worker for the crane operator is the least likely to drive the crane structure into his or her own fall protection, and also because other workers using fall protection are farther away from the overhead crane and the load than the lead worker and operator, theoretically, they are protected from being pushed or dragged.
Entanglement refers to the entangling of the overhead crane’s cables and the lanyard of the crane maintenance workers. Entanglement refers to a circular wrapping motion in which the movements of the worker are relative to the hanging load block’s movements. The entanglement can be effective eliminated by administrative controls.
On the situation, wearing fall protection is the key to eliminate an entanglement accident. The administrative controls plan has to be clearly defined and written down, and fall protection workers must be trained to know all protocols. The overhead cranes must be operated as slowly as possible, and clear communication between workers and crane operators is imperative.
Crane workers must be fully aware of the crane’s lifting line position in relationship to their own lanyard and coworkers’ lanyards. Clear communication between workers should be guaranteed in case of occurring of danger. If a potential entanglement situation diagnosed, all lifts should be stopped right away.
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