As we discussed in Part 1, standing and working under a suspended load is NOT ALLOWED under U.S. OSHA regulations, unless a certain set of conditions takes place (most of them related to hooking or unhooking the load). So now let’s look at the situation of while the crane is being assembled/erected/climbing or disassembled/dismantled. Going back to the sensible thing, of course one should stay out of the fall zone, but what does the standard say as it relates to how the crane is erected? (more…)
We recently received a question from a client who was looking for more information about “standing or working under suspended loads, especially while erecting and working with tower cranes.” Chances are we received this request due to a concern they had on their site. After all, it is common for construction sites to be busy places, with many trades and workers focused on their tasks at hand. However, all too often these individuals are not aware of the dangers of working near cranes and/or suspended loads, which could lead to serious injury or death. Note: for those who like example stories, we will include some links to a few applicable accident reports, but we are not going to go into any details in this post directly.
Now back to the topic at hand. While the inquiry seemed like a simple subject to write about, the more we thought about the request, it became clear that there were three different areas to expand upon: (more…)
As a training provider Crane Tech typically does not talk about fines. We focus on educating individuals on the right way to perform a task—teaching the skills and expertise they need to work SAFELY according to applicable standards. If they are working reliably day in and day out, there isn’t a need to discuss fines, because there shouldn’t be violations.
However, we know fines are a reality at an employer/management level and in our Who Signals the Crane? post, last December we mentioned that “it won’t be long before OSHA will be increasing maximum fines for violations up to 80%.” At that point, there wasn’t much information available to share about the increase, but now it’s time to update that.
Crane Tech’s Summary
The Inflation Adjustment Act passed in November 2015 allowed for ALL Department of Labor agencies (Employee Benefits Security Administration [ESBA], Mine Safety and Health Administration [MSHA], Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA], Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs [OWCP], and Wage and Hour Division [WHD]) to adjust their civil penalties to account for inflation.
While that may seem reasonable in theory, the big shock is that maximum penalties for OSHA violations will increase by 78% this year! The extremely high increase is a result of maximum penalties having remained the same since (more…)
When developing stories for the Weekly Tagline and Hooked On Crane Tech blog, we rely on our field-experienced trainers to help bring relevant content to our readers. We are constantly asking them, “What issues are you seeing at client locations?…What topic are you passionate about?…What do you think the industry needs more education about?” (more…)
We sure have seen our share of storms lately and know many areas of the country have as well. In Florida, there are crazy afternoon thunderstorms that pop up out of nowhere and at times can be quite scary due to the amount of lightning that comes with them. Recently one of our customers asked “Where can I find the guidelines for lightning safety with cranes?” Unfortunately, lightning is not addressed in a straightforward way that Crane Tech wishes it was. There is no (more…)
