Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Control
Reading the site before the lift
Hazard identification for non-slewing mobile cranes starts with the ground and the airspace. Ground hazards include soft fill, buried services, voids, recent trenches, sloping surfaces and underground tanks or pits. Airspace hazards include powerlines (overhead and, importantly, de-energised or assumed-live lines), structures, other cranes, and the swing path of the boom or load. Load hazards include unknown mass, unsecured contents, eccentric centre of gravity, suction or adhesion, and wind catch area. People hazards include pedestrians crossing the travel path, unqualified riggers, and fatigue.
Risk assessment that actually drives controls
A useful assessment asks: what can go wrong, how likely, how severe, and what control reduces it. For cranes, the highest-consequence events are contact with live lines, overturning, and dropped loads. Each needs a specific control: exclusion zones and de-energisation for lines; ground bearing checks and load charts for stability; certified gear, correct slinging and taglines for dropped loads.
Traps
Questions often test whether you identified the hazard before selecting the control, and whether the control is matched to the hazard. A common distractor is 'proceed carefully' or 'use a spotter' where the correct answer is 'establish an exclusion zone and confirm the line is de-energised'.
Worked example
If a crane must travel across a recently backfilled trench, the rule of thumb is: assume the fill is uncompacted until proven otherwise. Get a competent person to assess bearing capacity, use mats or a designed crossing, and never rely on the operator's feel for the ground.