subject: Crane Safety Systems: An Essential Component Of Overhead Crane Safety [print this page] Cranes are used to lift heavy loads everywhere and they come in different sizes and shapes. Thee efficient machines are cost-effective and are fairly safe. But many times accidents happen due to which there is damage to property, costly machinery and even human life. It is observed that one of the major causes behind these mishaps is the lack of any warning system or signaling mechanism for the operator to know beforehand about any kind of possible danger. In order to avoid these mishaps from happening various crane safety systems have been developed including such sophisticated devices or indicators like crane limit switch or electronic crane scales. Also known as safe load indicators, these refined systems monitor various crane variables.
Proper training to the overhead crane operators reduces the risks of accidents to a large extent although it does not eliminate it completely. If a crane operator is trained and certified he may be able to handle difficult situations or emergencies in a better way. And this does have had a major change in the number of accidents happening in the industries related to cranes lifting heavy material. Although this is an important and necessary factor while considering the safety measures against the mishaps, they are not enough.
There are many safety guidelines that the crane operators can follow to ensure the safety of the equipment as well as their own lives. They should be always careful about thoroughly checking the equipments or cranes they are about to use for lifting weights. Any cracks or corrosions should not be ignored and must be dealt with promptly before attempting to get any heavy work done by the crane.
The operators need help in terms of knowing if something goes wrong about the functioning of a overhead crane. They need to have some indicator or signaling mechanism in place that will alert them of any possible malfunction of the equipment they are operating. Safety systems have been designed to do just that.
Many types of safety systems have been designed to ensure safety of crane operators, crane load cell being one of the prominent equipment. A load cell or load sensor accurately senses the weight and offers exact data of the load. Another kind of sensor called an angles sensor has a digital encoder and it provides accurate data of the angle by sensing the angle of the boom.
There are many types of load cells including compression load cells, beam load cells, tension load cells, etc. Many other devices used are electronic crane scale, load momentum indicator, load monitors wind speed indicators, boom angle indicators etc.
Using these modern and sophisticated devices can add to the safety armor of a crane operator who is well-trained in the various safety measures and also using them appropriately to avoid accidents as well as in cases of emergencies.
