The Importance of OSHA Rigging and Signaling Training

Because cranes and their load are responsible for many accidents that can result in on-site injuries and even fatalities, every organization involved in mobile crane operations must acknowledge these severe hazards and take a viable approach to prevent any crane-related accidents from happening. If you manage one such organization, it is your responsibility to provide your employees with OSHA rigging and signal training to ensure safe crane operations and load handling.

The first thing to keep in mind is that the crane manufacturer’s rated capacity should, under no circumstances, be exceeded. The personnel operating the mobile crane should understand this and refuse to lift any load if the weight exceeds the rated capacity or until safety is assured. There are tools such as load indicating devices that are meant to assist the crane operator in not going beyond a crane’s rated capacity, so you must make it point to calibrate them on a regular basis – preferably once every year. That being said, these devices can never be more reliable than the operator’s common sense or judgment, can they? After all, it is only the operator who can make sure whether or not the loads are rigged rightly and that the hook is placed over the center of gravity of the load prior to lifting it.

Without a formal rigging and signaling training, though, your crane operator will not have the understanding he/she might be in need of in order to make such a decision. The training can help the operator to easily analyze the whole operation and ensure that the crane is positioned perfectly and the load has been rigged correctly as well. Decisions such as the necessity to bring down crane ratings, load position, boom location, ground support, and speed of movement shall be in accordance with this analysis.

The takeaway from this is that inappropriate crane operations can have a negative impact on your organization and threaten the lives of the workers involved. They are likely to impact on the production level of your business or the ability of your business to generate revenue, which can lead to financial hardships down the line. To address these issues, you must provide your employees with certified rigging safety training. This training can help prevent irresponsible accidents that cause life-threatening injuries from ever happening, and in turn, increase your business productivity.

We offer the most effective and affordable certified OSHA rigging safety courses or training programs along with the written and practical testing.