Posted By Elliot Morton Hi Could any body tell me what is the legal limit of wind speed for safe operation for an NCk crawler crane lifting loads, this morning we had Gusts of 45 mph, and I happened to past comment that it was very gusty and maybe we should wait for better conditions. Talk about light blue touch paper and stand back! So any info would be appreciated Regards Elliot

Posted By steve e ashton In addition to the issues identified by Eddie, the height or length of cable will also be a factor in what wind speeds are deemed acceptable. A long cable drop will catch more wind, and will cause less predictable load movement in gusty conditions than a short drop. Be aware that some 'risk assessments' for crane operation appear to be concerned solely with the risk of crane instability, and do not adequately deal with the risks to men at the landing area who have to deal with loads which can be moving far more than normal, and less predictably. These risks may need to be considered separately and should be addressed in the lifting plan, but some plans I have seen don't even try... Another concern can simply be the quality of work (or even whether the work planned is actually possible in the conditions)- e.g. when hoisting steel for direct fixing, any movement may cause impact damage to the jointing surfaces or bolt holes, or may make it difficult to align components to be joined and thus indicate a need for much lower wind speed limits than those defined purely for crane stability. Hope this helps a little - and good luck persuading your site management that they need to manage these risks as they mmanage all others....(???) Steve