Reducing Crane Accidents Through Education
Training from Konecranes helps address the almost 60 percent of overhead crane accidents due to poor or improper rigging practices.
Posted: February 21, 2015
Konecranes USA (Springfield, OH) is one of the nation’s overhead crane industry leaders, with a complete range of lifting equipment and the country’s largest team of industrial crane service professionals. The Konecranes Training Institute (New Berlin WI) is a key element in the portfolio of equipment and expertise with which the company supports its customers.
“Many crane accidents are caused by poor or improper rigging practices,” says Jim Lang, the general manager of the institute. “One of the key items we learned from our Crane Accident study, covering ten years’ worth of overhead crane accidents, was that 59 percent of the time a load was dropped it was due to a rigging issue. This very common deficiency is what we address in our Rigging Fundamentals course.”
Details revealed by the study are available in a short video produced by Konecranes Training Institute. It can be estimated that up to 70 percent of the overhead crane accidents may have been prevented by proper training.
http://youtu.be/JcVTQQ-9yl4
According to Lang, the Rigging Fundamentals course teaches workers how to safely rig loads for different lifting conditions. For example, a 5,000 lb load rigged for a low headroom lift close to the ceiling could potentially require chains rated at 25,000 lb or greater rather than 5,000 lb depending on the angle between the hook and the load. Acute angles may multiply lifting stresses by more than five times the actual weight of the load.
Nucor Steel Gallatin (Ghent, KY) has hosted the Rigging Fundamentals and Signalling courses more than 20 times, covering more than 300 employees during 2014. According to the plant’s electrical engineer, Joe Rachford, the course has been invaluable since OSHA regulations changed to differentiate between operational and construction lifts. “We could be picking up a motor and, if it is an in-kind motor, that is a maintenance lift and qualifies as operational. However, if it is an upgraded energy-efficient motor, it becomes a construction lift as it is new equipment,” he says. “To cover ourselves, we now train everyone to the more stringent standards for construction lifts.”
Rachford notes that while this training overlaps much of what Nucor had already established with their normal maintenance procedures, this course is more technical and contains much more detail. “We received very positive critiques coming back from the individual associates who completed the classes. I looked at every one and for the most part, all were very complimentary,” adds Rachford.
The Nucor Steel Gallatin campus is now working with Lang to put four individuals through the “train the trainer” course to ensure that there is a trainer available on-site when needed. Instructors must complete training every two years to remain certified, and the training materials are licensed from Konecranes. “Since all of our new hires must complete the course before they can perform construction lift work, this program gives us the ability to go to our training room and immediately provide the same one-on-one instruction that they conduct on site,” stated Rachford. “It is a great time-saver for us.”
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