Load Chart Reading on a Side Slope
You are asked to place a 900 kg pallet of blocks onto a scaffold loading bay at first-floor level. The machine is a 10 m telehandler with a chart that gives 1,200 kg at 6 m reach and 1,000 kg at 7 m reach, both for level ground with the boom retracted. The loading bay is 6.5 m from the front tyres when the machine is square to the building. However, the only firm standing is on a cross-fall of about 4 degrees, and to keep the machine on the firm area you must slew the boom about 20 degrees off the machine's centreline to reach the bay. The chart in the cab shows capacities for longitudinal and side lift but does not state a derating for cross-fall or for slewing off-centre. The pallet is banded but the bottom two courses are cracked.
1. Using the chart figures, decide whether the lift is within capacity and explain how the cross-fall and slew affect your decision.
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At 6.5 m the interpolated capacity is about 1,100 kg (halfway between 1,200 kg at 6 m and 1,000 kg at 7 m). The 900 kg load leaves about 200 kg, or roughly 18%. That looks acceptable on paper - but only on level ground with a longitudinal lift, which is not the situation.
The chart does not give a cross-fall or slew derating, so you cannot assume the 1,100 kg applies. A 4-degree cross-fall tilts the machine so the load's centre of gravity moves toward the downhill side, reducing the stability margin on that side. Slewing 20 degrees off-centreline moves the load out of the strongest lifting plane and increases the overturning moment on the downhill tyres. Both effects reduce effective capacity, and the chart gives you no figure to subtract. The safe position is that the charted capacity does not cover this configuration.
You should not lift on the assumption that 200 kg of margin absorbs the tilt and slew. Either find level standing, reposition so the lift is longitudinal, or get a documented derating from the machine manufacturer or a competent person before lifting.
2. The pallet's bottom two courses are cracked. How does that change the lift and what do you do?
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A cracked pallet is a load-integrity problem, not just a lifting problem. The banding may be holding blocks that have already lost their base support, and the pallet could fail as it is raised or as it is landed on the bay. A collapse at 6.5 m reach drops blocks onto the scaffold, the bay or people below.
Do not lift it as presented. Options: reject the pallet back to the supplier, re-palletise or re-band it on the ground under the supervision of the person in control of the load, or reduce the lift to a short, low transfer if a competent person confirms it is stable. If it is re-palletised, re-check the mass - a replacement pallet and extra banding change the gross load and therefore the chart reading. Record the rejection or the remedial action.