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Posted By Alan james
I have just encountered a tricky scenario, I am about to demolish a concrete bridge and have been told that we cannot create harness points on any part of the bridge. The client has said that we will have to attach the harness to the crane. I thought this was illegal. Any thoughts !!
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Posted By William
if the crane is rated for man riding baskets then i imagine it would be ok, but it would need to be under the correct inspection regime for lifting persons.
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Posted By alex mccreadie
Alan expand on what you mean please.
Putting men in a man riding basket to work connecting harnesses to the crane hook or basket no problems.
Dangling them from a crane in harnesses not recommended?
Regards Alex
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Posted By Alan james
Hi,
A man cage was not mentioned, they was talking about attaching the harness to the chains, am sure that that is not right !
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Posted By alex mccreadie
No Alan obviously we would need to know more to assist you.
I cant believe anyone is going to try to lift people with chains attached to harnesses.
Possibly as a means of fall arrest but cant comment to much without more detail.
Regards Alex
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Posted By Railroad
Hello Alan,
If the intention is to use the crane purely as fall arrest then that is quite acceptable.
We have used this method a number of times when rigging luffing booms on mobile cranes and the work is being carried out at height where the use of a MEWP is not an option because of poor ground conditions.
You may want to ensure capacity of the crane is well in capacity in case the worst happens and the level of thorough examination for the crane must be 6 monthly interval (LOLER, lifting of personnel, same as a MEWP).
regards,
Railroad
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Posted By Alan james
sorry guys for being vague,
being attached to the crane is merely for the benefit of fall arrest, not for lifting, but am still concerned.
What would happen in the event of the crane driver collapsing and falling on the control lever, sorry for being dramatic
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Posted By jervis
Doesn't sound like a good idea to me !
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Posted By Sally
why can't you attach to the bridge? Is it because it is too weak/crumbly etc to hold an anchor point, in which case attached to the crane would be a better option.
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Posted By alex mccreadie
Alan
Like Railroad we have used this system frequently but I would suggest my terminology should have said fall restraint not fall arrest(I stand to be corrected)
Put a Inertia reel block in the system with attachments to the crane obviously all other working at height procedures and you should not have a problem.
Regards Alex
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Posted By Dave Merchant
If you're using the hook for fall arrest then the exam scheme isn't affected - LOLER doesn't consider fall arrest as "lifting persons".
It's perfectly safe to anchor to the hook provided the hook as-positioned has an ultimate capacity of more than 1000kg (the anchor point strength under EN795). A self-retracting block would give more freedom of movement for the worker and limit the drop distance, but you'll need to talk to the block manufacturer to confirm they're OK with the idea - some may forbid it on the grounds any oscillation in the hook/wire post-fall could disengage the brake inside the retractor.
To avoid the lever issue, just park the hook in the desired position and lock it off. I certainly wouldn't move the hook while the person is attached to it unless they were also supported by it (i.e in a basket) as if they got their foot stuck on the bridge, the crane would win.
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Posted By Christopher Black
Dave M
I agree with what you say but would be concerned about the implications LOLER. You may not overtly intend to use the crane as a person-lifting device, however if the plan is to lower the person to the ground using the crane if the fall-arrest system is deployed then you may be straying into a grey area. Unless you have a rescue plan that foregoes the use of the crane as a rescue device you could possibly be held to have identified the crane as man-riding equipment and may have to put the crane through the appropriate inspection regime for MEWPs
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Posted By Andrew W
Provided the crane has been inspected within the last 6 months it would be acceptable, in fact many main contractors insist that inertia reels are are attached to crane hookblocks to unload vehicles on site.
That said could the operation not be carried out using a breaker or cruncher attached to a 360 to remove personnel from the danger area?
Personally I would be considering the pendulum effect caused if the operators step away from the vertical and fall. Also if more than one person was attached to the hookblock and both fell would they not end up clashing together like a pair of conkers?
Acceptable if no other means are available but not without serious risks.
Regards
Andy
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Posted By Dave Merchant
Christopher - the anchorage "LOLER or not" question is not decided quite like that.
If it's fall arrest (a dynamic load applied only in the event of an accident) then LOLER has no interest whatsoever, despite the obvious fact that once the person has fallen and stopped bouncing they are "hanging" from the anchor. If the hanging afterwards was counted then every fall arrest product would also be a LOLER accessory, including your harness and lanyard.
Using the hook to rescue someone from height *who isn't already hanging from it by virtue of a fall arrest event* would move the hook into planned LOLER person-lifting, but only then. You'd have to intentionally attach the person to the hook during the process of the rescue, not just find they happened to be dangling from it in the first place. It's taken that the latter situation is not 'planned' as there had to be an accidental fall to get there. A bit esoteric, but an important distinction to avoid LOLER taking over the world.
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Posted By Andrew W
Quite so Dave, however should a HSE inspector arrive on site and ask for evidence of the rescue plane and the stated means was lowering to ground using the crane and the crane had last been inspected 9 months ago what do you think the comment would be....
That said I still think an alternative means of demolition would be a better bet.
Andy
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Posted By Dave Merchant
"what do you think the comment would be"
In my experience, probably "Oh. Right."
Inspectors intimate with cranes and LOLER tend not to stray too far from their comfort zone when it comes to the phrasing of law. If the crane is legal as a crane, you're OK - that's as simple as it gets.
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