Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Why does it need to be made of steel?

 

All too often jobs get started and the field doesn't get the tools they need. If no one says anything to change what's happening, it will just continue. The field staff focus on getting the task done by any means necessary. What does that look like? I was on a job yesterday and caught a bag that demonstrates what happens when no one speaks up. 

This bag is just waiting to fail. Will a board fall out an hit someone? will it fail entirely and catastrophically lose the load. If it doesn't hit anyone in the process, who will change the dynamic? Think about that, and realize that they'll keep doing the same thing until someone says stop, or someone gets hurt. That's how this works. I was on a job running a tower crane once and a guy lifts a sheet of plywood and steps forward to stand the plywood. He disappeared. The plywood was covering a hole. He was OK. Everyone gathered. They all were happy to see him safe. Then they put the plywood back just as it was and went back to work. I stopped swinging the crane. Refused to do anything else until it was addressed. And this is unfortunately how things go in the field. Someone needs to take the lead. 

With crane attachments, anything that supports a load is supposed to be ASME B30.20 rated, which means it's supposed to be made of steel. If you have a rated bag like this show up, it's not for repeated use. The nylon is going to find sharps and fracture just due to constant movements and point loading. Steel doesn't have those fatigue factors. So ASME prescribes steel. Not to mention, I found no rating on this bag which is an issue unto itself. 

If you need structural lifters, www.CraneGear.net has the Eichinger line up from Germany and it's as good as crane and forklift attachments get.  

Don't leave the teams to fend for themselves. You only end up training them that it's OK to live with unsafe practices. In the end, that's as detrimental to the companies they work for as it is to them. And in the end, it's the company managements fault. 



No comments: