Rigging in Washington

The SC&RA has been one of the world’s most successful representative and lobbying bodies for crane and special transport owners.

Battling an often slow-to-move and cumbersome US federal bureacracy and a maze of local authorities and regulatory agencies, it has pushed for common operator certification, more standardised road permits, and sensible crane regulations.

It’s appropriate then that this year’s SC&RA Cranes and Rigging Workshop takes place just outside Washington DC, at the Gaylord National Harbor, in Maryland. The event promises to offer the same mix of regulatory and practical discussions that have become a hallmark of the event.

The main event will start off with the public meetings of the association’s eduction and training, labour, and governing commitees.

This will be followed by a presentation by Dean McKenzie, OSHA directorate of construction deputy director, looking at the health and safety regulator’s agenda.

In addition to sharing industry statistics and enforcement guidelines, McKenzie will address pending rulings within the Agency, their direct and long range impact on the crane and rigging industry and the highly anticipated amendments to the Cranes and Derricks in Construction standard.

Later in the afternoon, Bret Shields, equipment manager at Kiewit Crane Services, will give an inside look at the company’s crane and rigging management systems, covering the hiring and training of new operators; risk assessment and mitigation for cranes on job site; and lift planning and incident reporting. The day will conclude with a reception.

The next morning, after a keynote from W. Chris Daum of consultants FMI Corporation, there will be two break out sessions.

Jeff Hammons, VP for risk management at Amquip will give a hands-on, Powerpoint-free, presentation on how to perform a proper crane inspection and pass a weigh station or road inspection.

At the same time, Christopher Cox, president of Engineered Rigging, will discuss rigging with alternative equipment.

In the afternoon, Peter Juhren, VP of operations at Morrow Equipment, will ask, ‘Who’s Training Your People?’ Juhren’s two part presentation will focus first on the steps you should take to validate a training program and what it should accomplish, then on how to develop a quality control and quality assurance program that is meaningful, consistent and effective.

The discussions will conclude with a presention by Bill Smith and Joe Doerr of NationsBuilders Insurance Services on the impact of new requirements for electronic logging devices to record working hours, in place of paper log books.

The event concludes with the rigging jobs of the year awards. The next day, attendees will be able to visit Manitowoc’s Shady Grove plant.