Crane Warning System – Things You Should Know

Crane Warning System – Things You Should Know

Cranes being the inherently dangerous machines that they are absolutely must have a proper and functioning warning system in place in order to help make the worksite safer.

In January, 2011, a thirty three year old project foreman was killed in Knoxville, Tennessee on the worksite. According to the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration (TOSHA) report that was filed later, there were seven "serious" safety violations by Britton Bridge LLC, including a lack of fall protection for employees, a heavy equipment operator failing to use a seat belt, piping improperly stacked so as to pose a danger to workers, and, most glaringly, a piece of machinery with a disabled reverse warning alarm.

Understanding why Crane Warning Systems are important

Cranes are massive machines, and that in itself should justify the fact that they should have an effective alarm system in place to help warn the workers when something heavy is being moved to reduce the risk of accidents taking place.

According to the Overhead & Gantry Cranes Regulations standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) section 1910.179: "Except for floor-operated cranes, a gong or other effective warning signal shall be provided for each crane equipped with a power traveling mechanism."

Therefore it is obvious in the above mentioned incident that violating an absolutely necessary standard resulted in what could have been an entirely avoidable fatality.

Avoiding problems related to Crane Warning Systems

Crane Warning Systems by themselves can help avoid a lot of accidents, but there are also other measures that can be taken to help avoid worksite accidents:

1. Proper crane operation training should be provided by for operators and service personnel, as this is most often considered to be the most effective way to reduce accidents. It has been seen that most accidents related to the operation of cranes usually result from operator error. Therefore by providing the proper training to the service staff and crane operators the level of safety in the facility will be raised.
2. Regular maintenance of the cranes should be done by the respective authorities. Following the standards given by OSHA, or the appropriate regulatory body should improve the worksite safety. Also, in addition to the cranes themselves, maintenance should be conducted on the crane’s warning systems, whether they are alarms, buzzers, etc.
3. Making sure that the warning systems are working will also help. As in the incident from 2011, if the reverse warning alarm had not been disabled, it could have helped to avoid the accident from happening.

Conclusion

Crane Warning Systems need not just be sound oriented. A rotating or strobe light should also be used to alert nearby personnel of crane movement, particularly in noisy environments where audible warnings from an alarm or a gong may not be heard. Also, strong winds also influence the cranes as well, and keeping a Wind Speed Meter can also help in raising the safety.

LSI Wireless offers many options for Crane Warning Systems, ranging from Wind Speed Indicators to Anti Two Block devices.

Mike bode, the founder of lsiwireless.com, a global dealer of lsi-robway™ products.