Crane operation and load movement
Crane operation and load movement
This domain tests the lift itself: control of the load, staying within the chart, and the discipline that stops a routine pick becoming an incident.
Core rules
- Verify weight, radius, chart capacity and rigging before the lift; set the RCL/LMI for the actual configuration. It is an aid, not a substitute for the load chart.
- Make a trial lift of a few centimetres: check brake hold, rigging, load balance and crane stability, then continue.
- Move smoothly. No shock loading, no side loading, no dragging or snagging, no rapid swing-and-brake that lets the load swing out and increase radius.
- Keep the load as low as practical, control it with tag lines, and never move it over people.
- Travel with a load only where the manufacturer's pick-and-carry chart permits - level ground, boom low and in line with travel, slow, with a flagman.
- For multi-crane lifts follow an engineered plan; the usual rule is that no crane exceeds 75% of its rated capacity in that configuration.
- Stop for wind above the chart limit, poor visibility, lightning or loss of communication.
Worked example
A pick-and-carry chart allows 12 t at 6 m radius with the boom over the front. Load plus rigging is 8.4 t, but the travel route has a 3% slope and the chart is for level ground. The lift is not permitted as planned: re-route the travel path or change the method.
Traps
Booming down to "reach" a load - radius grows and capacity falls; treating the LMI reading as the capacity; swinging over the tag line handler; assuming a chart value applies to any travel direction.