Industrial Health and Safety blogs.
What is lift plan for safe lifting of loads? Do you know LOLER? What
are the top incidents related to Lifting of loads?
Planning is initial step for
management and good planning is foundation of any successful event. Similarly
good lift plan reduce the probability of incident during lifting of loads. Lift
plan includes but not limited to:
1-
Load and
equipment
2-
Environment
and
3-
Operator
1- Load and Equipment:
Load to be lifted should be assessed under the lift plan including its weight, center
of gravity, shape of the load , sharp edges if any, mathematical shape and its
length, breadth & height. All these factors of load should be considered before
any lifting.
Equipment
selection for lifting the load shall be based upon the type of load to be
lifted, height upon which load to be placed and terrain type. Choose the right accessory for
lifting, eg depending upon the nature and weight of the load and the
environment in which it is to be used.
Accessories
for Lifting means work equipment for attaching loads to machinery for lifting.
Always focus shall be given on correct capacity of lifting equipment, lifting
accessories and both of them shall be free from any defect. Fit the sling to
the load (using an appropriate method of slinging), make the lift (a trial lift
may be necessary to confirm the centre of gravity of the, load; tag lines may
be necessary to stop the load swinging).
2- Environment:
Environment includes the soil
capacity upon which the lifting equipment is placed. Soil capacity
shall be excellent for lifting. In case soil capacity is not good, it shall be
improved by engineering methods like provision of uniform distribution load wooden
slippers, use of NaCl (common salt) on muddy soil to increase its strength and
any other engineering method.
Wind speed is other consideration for lift plan under
environment section. Lift plan consider high wind conditions and lifting shall
be stopped in high wind condition. The most common way of providing an
instantaneous indication of the wind speed is to fix an anemometer to the
lifting equipment. If used, it should be fixed in the most exposed position,
usually on the top of the lifting equipment. Where this is not possible then
other alternatives could be used, for example a hand-held anemometer. However,
these alternative methods may not give an accurate indication of the wind speed
in the most exposed position. When wind speed (sustained or gusts) exceeds 20 mph at the
personnel platform, a qualified person must determine if, in light of the wind conditions,
it is not safe to lift personnel. If it is not, the lifting operation must not
begin (or, if already in progress, must be terminated).
Heat Stress: is also sometimes considered in hot regions
during lift planning.
Vertical and Horizontal Obstruction: Check
the anticipated path of the load to make sure that it is not obstructed and prepare
a suitable place to set down the load. Vertical and horizontal obstruction for
load and boom of the crane shall be consider during lift plan. boom or crane contact with energized power
lines (nearly 45% of the cases) is the leading cause of crane incident and it
shall be emphasized while planning the lift. If the operator of lifting
equipment cannot observe the full path of the load, either directly or by means
of auxiliary devices, the employer should ensure that a responsible person has
appropriate means of communication to guide the operator. Measures should be
taken to prevent the load striking anything or any person.
3-Operator – shall be competent for the type of lifting. You should ensure
that operators of lifting equipment know or can judge the weight of the load
they are required to lift. This does not mean that the operator needs to
calculate the exact weight of each and every load. For routine lifting operations
the weight will usually be known. In other instances it will be possible for the
weight of the load to be estimated. There will, however, be some situations where
you will need to make calculations to find out the weight of the load if you are
to avoid overloading the equipment.
OSHA Crane Accident
Data
·
boom or crane contact
with energized power lines (nearly 45% of the cases)
·
under the hook lifting
device.
·
overturned cranes.
·
dropped loads.
·
boom collapse.
·
crushing by the
counter weight.
·
outrigger use, falls
and rigging failures.
Lifting Tool Tackles Testing Requirements:
Test half yearly for those tools
and tackles which are used for human being and near to metallurgical process. Test
annually for those tools and tackles which are used for material.
Lifting Vs Supporting:
Lifting means replacement of load
from one point to other and supporting means placement of load at suitable
strength structure.
Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations
1998 (LOLER)
LOLER
applies to the use of lifting equipment provided as work equipment. These
Regulations implement the lifting provisions of the Amending Directive to the Use
of Work Equipment Directive (AUWED,95/63/EC) and build on the requirements of
the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) for which HSE
has made available separate guidance.
SMART Rigger Software is providing an outstanding sling load calculator, which helps to determine spreader beam load and sling lifting capacity.
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