Lifting Equipment

Lifting Equipment

By Christine Macguire

At times it turns out to be the duty of the employers' to make the provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work that are, so far as reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health. Work equipment includes machinery; tools or equipment used by an employee at work e.g. hammers, knives, and machinery, lifting equipment, computers, photocopiers, ladders, forklift trucks and even your kettle!

Hazards from work equipment can occur due to various reasons:

• Entrapment - where parts of the body could be caught in parts of equipment.

• Impact - where the body could be crushed by moving parts or by items being processed.

• Contact - where the body could touch sharp edges, hot surfaces or abrasive surfaces.

• Entanglement - where hair, clothing or jewelry could get caught in parts of a machine.

• Ejection - where parts of equipment or materials being worked on could fly off and hit the body.

Overhead lifting presents a very real danger of severe injury or loss of life if lifting equipment is not used properly. Properly trained and qualified persons who understand lifting equipment selection, inspection and use should only use lifting equipment. The safest and most suitable work equipment should be selected for the work to be done.

Good design and construction can ensure the safety of lifting machines by:

- Providing suitable operating controls which are easy to see and use and which prevent the equipment being turned on accidentally.

- Having a suitable emergency stop control.

- Failing to safe when something goes wrong.

- Minimizing risks during maintenance and cleaning as well as normal operation.

During the selection and purchase stage one should make sure that you obtain technical information and compare this to other lifting equipment; check that the lifting equipment has a CE mark (i.e. complies with European standards for design and manufacture); that you satisfy yourself you have obtained all the relevant safety information and that you ensure that there will be adequate training provided in the use of the work equipment.

Gone are the days when workers had to spend time lifting, carrying, holding, pushing, or pulling loads of material on construction sites. So employers have decided to not only reduce risks but also increase efficiency by stopping manual material handling and implementing advanced material handling equipments.

Lifting equipments used at work should be strong and stable enough for the particular use and marked to indicate safe working loads. If used safely, and in accordance to the work plan, in an organized manner should yield competent performance and effective output.

Lifting equipment includes any equipment used at work for lifting or lowering loads, including attachments used for anchoring, fixing or supporting it. We can enlist the following equipments into various categories of lifting equipments:

a) Cranes, hoists and winches - hand or power operated.

b) Ropes, chains and slings of all materials used for lifting purposes.

c) Eyebolts, shackles, pulley blocks and gin wheels.

d) Lifting beams - portable or runway.

e) Specially designed lifting rigs, e.g. for handling of magnets, specialized equipment included in the experimental rigs etc.

f) Lifts - passenger and goods.

g) Fork lift trucks, power workers, similar devices and attachments used with the equipment.

When an item of lifting equipment is acquired or otherwise obtained, a test certificate must accompany it. Wire and fiber slings are exempt from the above requirement but a certificate must be obtained showing the safe working load and also include a reference to the batch sample test carried out on the material from which the rope of sling was made. A copy of the design information, including calculations, material specifications and limitations of use, shall be kept together with any relevant drawings which include the safe working load and the proof test requirements.

Chain Hoists and Mobile Cranes Grounding

Chain Hoists and Mobile Cranes Electrical Grounding

By Cynthia Olga

In the building construction business, you will need lifting tools for you to be able to lift heavy objects. One of the most useful and the most efficient lifting tool is called the chain hoists. Chain hoists are not only useful in building construction business but in other areas as well.

There are also those heavy sound and lighting equipments that is near impossible to lift by mere manpower alone. Chain hoists can provide you with all the lifting power you need. Because of the pulley systems in them, even one or two men can lift a very heavy object, like the background scenery.

Chain hoists can also be very useful in your house. Repairing your roof may require you to lift those heavy roof tiles. They can provide you with the lifting power you need. There are different kinds of chain hoists available in the market. There are lights and there are the heavy-duty.

Hand ones is simple machines where you will operate the hoist by hand. This means that you will still exert effort in order for you to lift the object. However, in electric chain hoist, all you have to do is push a button and the electric mechanical parts will automatically lift the load with little or no effort at all. Hand chain hoists are recommended for lifting objects that are not so heavy. In electric chain hoist, you can effortlessly lift much heavier objects. This simple and effective tool can provide you with the lifting power you need.

There are so many uses of chain hoist that you can take advantage of. If you are in a warehouse business, you can easily lift and set down objects using them at no effort at all. Never lift objects that are too heavy even if you use chain hoists. Always wear safety equipments like helmets, gloves and safety goggles and masks.

Working in construction sites has always been considered as hazardous. In the gives people the importance of electrical grounding of mobile cranes. Immobile cranes may not be in danger, but mobile cranes are another matter entirely. Mobile cranes, when being transported, have a very high potential of coming into contact with an electrical wire.

The importance of this grounding of mobile cranes is that this feature prevents accidents from happening. Electricity acts this way: when a crane comes into contact with an electrical line, electricity travels through the metal trying to find the quickest path to the ground.

This kind of grounding of mobile cranes prevents this from happening. The electrical grounding system provides the most direct route to the ground. There is another type for mobile cranes, which does not really concern electrical accidents.

Cranes are heavy. They are also used for lifting very heavy materials. Cranes need to be stabilized correctly before they can be used. This process is called grounding.

Some would do this manually, making use of estimates in order to judge whether or not a crane is stable enough to be operated. This kind of mobile crane systems judges the level of stability that the ground beneath the crane offers. This system then adjusts the position of the crane in order to maximize the stability.

Another advantage to mobile crane electrical grounding systems is the fact that they are easy to operate. People just need to push a button in order to render the crane stable.