Monday 25 March 2013

Crane safety systems in the heavy industries need to be very efficient

The entire use the various services of the cranes in order to lift and to carry the gigantic objects and the massive loads across one place to another is well practised throughout the globe. While doing so, the cranes safety systems need to be very carefully handled properly and with some extreme caution. Since they deal with the huge loads, the issue of the crane safety is a vitally crucial. The history has shown this many times that neglecting it has very much proved very costly to both the property and life.

As cranes have been in use for the lifting of the various massive loads from decades, they are known to ease the burden of carrying the loads from one place to another from the shoulders of the human labourers as was the case in the distant past. They have proved to be a great boon to the overall transportation, the construction and the manufacturing industries where the material handling is done on a regular basis.

These cranes come in varying the shapes and sizes and their functions are absolutely different from one another depending upon the kind of the industry they are being used for. The cranes that perform the various types of the works are particularly categorized under the different titles namely the fixed cranes, mobile cranes and the overhead cranes. There are various types of cranes under these categories such as the overhead cranes, tower cranes, jib cranes, crawler cranes, etc which are particularly used. Although they all very well perform the primary function of lifting the various heavy loads, they all have the varying capacities and many applications in the various industries.

Although these cranes are very safe and extreme care is taken by their manufacturers to make them as sturdy and secure, for the industry they are being used in, as possible, crane accidents are not uncommon. The main reason that has been sighted by most of the recent researches regarding these probable accidents is the issue of insufficient training of the operators and the lack of effective crane safety systems in the past.

The first issue can be very well dealt with by making it absloutely mandatory for any worker who operates a crane to undergo some rigorous training. He should be very well trained and also tested on the crane safety systems and only after being awarded a particular certificate of competency that he should be allowed to go anywhere near a crane. This in itself will highly eliminate a very crucial cause of the unfortunate crane accidents and pave the way for a healthy and safe industrial environment.

The other problem, namely, the need of some effective crane safety systems, has been considerably resolved by the introduction of some sophisticated safety devices. Load cells or load sensors are used to accurately sense the load on the crane and gives precise data regarding it. There are many types of load cells including compression load cells, beam load cells, tension load cells, etc.

The hazards of unfortunate crane accidents can be avoided by various precautions

The heavy load operating cranes and the other lifting equipment has particularly become a very common practice in various industrial contexts as electronic cranes are very widely used in the various construction and the factory sites throughout the nooks and corners of the world. The increased volume of the traffic, of the surface of the working areas and of the amount of the heavy loads in order to profit from the economies of scale means that these handling machines deal with the several hundred of the weights every day. With an increasing use of the heavy weight cranes, come a higher number of the probable crane accidents that in the best scenario result in the production delays and in the worst ones lead to the loss of the precious human lives.

The various effective researches, the extensive surveys and the recent studies show that the main cause for the crane accidents during the crane operation is lack of stability of the particular machine. This can be caused for a numerous reasons such as the surface where the crane is particularly positioned not being very uniform, the load to be lifted is exceeding the weight or the size of the crane is actually able to handle, or the cranes hoist not being positioned at the gravity centre of the load. For measuring the crane’s load, the maximum load capacity, a crane limit switch is being particularly inserted in all the modern electronic cranes that are being manufactured in the recent times.

Incidents that particularly result in the loss of the precious human lives while the overall operations of the heavy handling machinery are in the majority of the cases due to cases of the electrocution. The proper installation and the dismantling of the heavy weight cranes parts are also a very frequent cause for these tragic events, as are crane components falling because of the faulty set up procedures while manufacturing.

In the particular case of the quays and the commercial ports, the crane accidents related to the crane operation in the container terminals represent as much as 30% of the entire asset costs. The most common cause of the asset damage in such the contexts is the impact between the booms and the ships from which the loads are being particularly taken. Other frequent issues are very well related to the hoists, the ropes, the chains and the spreaders which not being at their best condition and to some defective communication systems between the employees.

The lifting procedures do in fact involve the several professional profiles among which the supervisor, the driver or the operator of the crane and the people responsible for the crane and the load position warning signals. It is particularly very indispensable that these people receive the proper training and the overall certifications before ever entering the load handling site, as well as an efficient communication method that allows them to exchange the required information and the warnings while avoiding the coordination issues between the equipment, the people and the surrounding area. The rotary limit switches are also one of the major components of the electronic cranes to avoid all the major unfortunate crane accidents.

Crane scales have various uses in the various work sites

With changing time and the overall constant changes in the modern technology, all major types of the weighing equipment have come particularly a long way from the original, see saw type of weighing. Ten years ago, a crane scale would have been similar to a large dial type scale which is full of some heavy duty springs and the levers. The modern weighing equipment particularly contains all of the latest, cutting edge materials and the various dynamic microchip processors.

At the heart of any electronic crane scale is a crane load cell . This is basically a block of the heavy alloy or tough steel which draws the required power from the circuit board and, in return, gives a mill volt signal which is very particularly processed and also gives an accurate reading to the display. The Crane scales are very strategically engineered for all the types of the industrial applications and can be very readily found in all major types of the factories and the industrial applications today.

The outer shell is particularly constructed from the industrial grade steel or the heavy duty aluminum, which provides some excellent durability and the ultimate protection to the electronic crane scale. The outer shell construction very particularly depends on the overall capacity of the weighing scale and also its various applications. The small capacity scales for the general industrial use are primarily prepared from the aluminum, the high capacity scales tend to be made from a more heavy duty, steel construction.

The electronic Crane scales are also very particularly found in many industrial foundries and are readily supplied with a heat guard to deflect the heat and to protect the scale in a prime manner. As with most of the weighing scales, the two major types of the display are used. The LCD (liquid crystal display) which is very easy to read in the direct sun light and ideal for outdoor use or LED (light emitting diode) are used for the indoors. The LCD displays come with a built in back light for the convenience of use of the operators in the industries. The power is absolutely supplied via an internal rechargeable battery, with today's technology which can give from 10 to 60 hours of minimum battery life when continuously working. The LCD display crane scales also draw the far less power from the batter and give a greater working life before the need for its next charge. Most of the crane scales have an auto shut function to particularly help conserve on the power.

The most modern and high-tech electronic crane scales offer much the major excellent features to allow the user to achieve the good dynamic weighing performance, not subjected to the influence of swaying, a built in filter enables the user to adjust the stability depending on the particular application. You are also able to switch the display from the kg's to Lbs and also hold the display on a particular weight which is a convenient feature. There are different capacities and also some major resolutions to choose from. The position sensing is another great feature of the electronic cranes necessary for the proper operations safely.

The Overhead Cranes safety maintenance is a huge responsibility

Their toil would have been very much eased if only they had the fair advantage of the modern technology as their advantage. Although, how they are accomplished the some unbelievable task and certainly remains a mystery for sure; the modern construction industry has a particularly straightforward solution to it in the fabulous shape of an overhead crane which is a specialized crane particularly designed to lift the heavy material very much efficiently and also the safety in the forefront. The crane limit switch is certainly an integral part of the overall overhead crane safety and the security program of any industry to maintain the level of the much required efficiency of its manufacturing as well as the maintenance of the operations. The Overhead cranes have a particularly simplified design and are certainly a unique structure with a much strong railed bridge and a hoist, the part which actually lifts all the heavy loads and also very efficiently runs across the bridge in a much efficient manner.

The Overhead cranes are primarily used to efficiently and also conveniently handle all the heavy material in the huge manufacturing and the transport industries all over the globe. They have the numerous applications in a wide range of the various industries including the booming steel industry, the automobile industry, and the huge paper mills as well. Using them usually turns out to be more economical as they make the use of the mobile cranes almost non-essential.

There are different categories of the overhead cranes which are being extensively used in the heavy and manufacturing industries for decades now and have improved with the development of the technology. Thus, the overhead crane safety is certainly of some prime importance which goes without any doubt. Some commonly used examples are the bridge cranes, the gantry cranes, the container cranes, jib cranes, etc. Commonly these cranes are very particularly operated with the radio controls for the ultimate value and the overall safety. However those cranes that use the very heavy loads or operate at a very high speed and are normally cabin controlled for the operations.

It is certainly very important that utmost care to be taken at the time of operating these weight-lifters. An incorrect or careless handling can very probably lead to some serious circumstances and can cause some irreparable damage not only to the property but also to the invaluable human life in a big way. And therefore it is very crucial to follow the much needed safety guidelines for the proper functioning of the overhead cranes adhering to the overhead crane safety norms. It is also very essential for all the crane operators as well as the skilled inspectors to undergo perfectly extensive and very rigorous training before actually joining this particular profession.

Basically, an overhead crane is very strategically designed and strongly manufactured to handle a certain amount of the heavy weight very securely. Therefore, it should never be forced to perform beyond its overall safety limits to maintain the proper balance or the collision avoidance. The cranes bridge component should very clearly and particularly indicate the load limits of the crane in a major way. The load limiter is a crucial component of the crane operations. There should be an arrangement to make some signal or sound like the sirens, etc. before every attempt of lifting the heavy loads.