Maintenance, Inspection Records and Defect Reporting
Planned maintenance and records
Cranes require planned maintenance to the manufacturer's schedule, plus periodic inspections by a competent person. Records must be kept: pre-start checks, periodic inspections, maintenance, repairs, modifications, and defect reports. Records prove the crane's history and support incident investigation. A logbook should be completed each shift and retained.
Defect reporting
Defects must be reported promptly and in writing, classified by severity, and actioned. Critical defects mean the crane is tagged out and removed from service. Major defects require repair before use. Minor defects are recorded and monitored. The operator has a duty to report, not to decide to hide or defer a safety-critical defect.
Traps
Questions test whether you know that a defect report must be acted on, that 'tag out' means physically isolating and labelling, and that records are legal documents. Another trap is assuming verbal reporting is sufficient - written records are required.
Worked rule of thumb
If in doubt about a defect's severity, treat it as major until a competent person says otherwise. Never operate a crane with an unrepaired safety-critical defect, regardless of production pressure.