The Occupational Safety and Health Administration plans to publish the proposed rule by October, according to Noah Connell, deputy director of the OSHA directorate of construction.
Once it is published in the official US government publication, the Federal Register, OSHA will ask for public comments; there may also be a hearing, Connell says. After considering the feedback, making any necessary changes, and another internal review, it will publish what will then be the final rule. It will then be law, and finally replace Subpart N 1926.550, which was written in 1971 and refers back to standards from the 1950s in parts.
The head of OSHA, assistant secretary of labour Edwin Foulke, has stated it is one of his objectives to issue a final rule by the end of 2008. Although Foulke was a presidential appointment, Connell says there are no legal limitations to publish the rule during the Bush administration, which will end in January 2009.
At a 2004 presentation of the consensus document, during the Specialized Carriers & Riggers Association’s rigging workshop, Bill Smith, then of Maxim and now of insurers NBIS, said, “Although it was a long time getting here, in a short period of time it will truly make a difference in the workplace and reduce injuries and fatalities. We all will have to be in compliance with a new final rule (in some form) that probably won’t be changed again in our lifetimes.”
The process
The standard has emerged in a formal discussion process with 23 people in the Cranes and Derricks Advisory Committee (C-DAC). The group included crane manufacturers (Manitowoc, Link-Belt, and Liebherr through dealer Morrow, and the Wire Rope Technical Board), a crane rental company (Maxim), unions (including Operating Engineers and Ironworkers), contractors, a trainer, an insurer, a powerline owner and the government. The agreed on a document that it sent to OSHA in 2004.
The crane industry asked for the law to be updated in the first place, Connell says, and has been involved since. “We had to make a change before it was made for us,” Smith said in 2004.
Since then, OSHA has written an economic analysis of the new standard, and an audit on the effect of the standard on small business, Connell says. “What we’re doing now is preparing what the government calls a preamble to the proposed rule. The preamble is an extensive regulatory history and explanation of the proposed rule. It will also address the recommendations made by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act panel and will include a discussion of the economic analysis. We are also determining what, if any, changes will be made to the
C-DAC document for the proposed rule.”
He says that there will be few changes, because the negotiated lawmaking rule obliges the government to use the
C-DAC document as much as possible.
The document ranges widely from crane operation (operator qualifications, signalling) to crane design to legal responsibility (ground conditions, power to stop operations). For most crane design issues, the document defers to recommendations made by manufacturers. Cranes manufactured up until the effective the date of the standard are required to meet the requirements of ANSI B30.5 -1968. Those manufactured after the standard is published need to comply with sections of B30.5 – 2000.
Personnel qualifications
If the standard becomes law in 2008 as expected, starting from 2012 crane operators will need to be certified or qualified The document states four possible ways to accomplish this. First, operators could be certified by an independent testing organisation such as the NCCCO. Alternatively, they could be qualified by an audited employer programme, qualified by the US military, or licenced by a government entity. However, if they change jobs, they cannot take the qualification with them and will need to re-qualify. Unproved trainees can operate cranes only if they are supervised.
Until 2012, crane operators must be at least trained, if not competent. Operators who cannot operate the machine safely shall be trained before using the equipment, and then evaluated to confirm that they have understood, the document says.
There are new requirements for signallers, who need to be qualified for their job. They need to know and understand the signals being used and be competent in applying the right signal in the right circumstance. They need to have a basic understanding of crane operation, and the limitations of cranes, including the crane dynamics involved with swinging and stopping loads, and boom deflection from hoisting loads. They need to know and understand the document’s recommendations. Finally, they need to demonstrate this knowledge through a theoretical and practical test. Signallers should be certified either by a third-party qualified evaluator, or by an employer’s qualified evaluator.
The document grants crane operators the authority to stop lifting operations if they have a safety concern. “Whenever there is a concern as to safety, the operator shall have the authority to stop and refuse to handle loads until a qualified person has determined that safety has been assured,” it says.
On the other hand, the document assigns responsibility for the ground conditions to what it calls the controlling entity: the organisation with overall responsibility for the planning, quality and completion of the construction project. The ground needs to be firm, drained and graded so it meets the manufacturer’s minimum specifications for support and degree of levelling. The controlling entity is responsible for locating any subterranean features such as buried cables or voids, and is responsible for coordinating the activities of any overlapping cranes.
Crane inspections
The document requires crane inspections before each shift, and every month and every year. The shift inspection checks for deficiencies in control and drive mechanisms, hydraulics, hooks, wire rope, electrics, ground support, level and safety devices. If those deficiencies pose safety hazards, then the person doing the inspection should take the equipment out of service. The monthly inspection follows along the same lines, but is written down and kept for at least three months. An annual inspection goes over the same ground, plus more. During an annual examination, an inspector examines the physical integrity of the equipment structure (cracked welds, for example), safety devices, power plants, steering and brakes, tyres, hydraulic hoses, pumps, valves and cylinders, outrigger pads, and electrical wiring. The inspector will test the functions of the machine, and document the inspection and its results. The document includes a section on wire rope inspection.
Cranes that are assembled before they are used need to be inspected to ensure that they are configured according to the manufacturer’s criteria. Tower cranes should be load tested to the manufacturer’s requirements.
Two types of people are involved in these inspections. The document says that a competent person should carry out every-shift inspections. These so-called ‘competent’ persons are not so named because they do their job well, but because they can spot risks. The document defines a competent person as “one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings… and who has authorisation to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them.”
In contrast, the person carrying out annual inspections and post-assembly inspections shall be qualified. Qualified people have earned that title through education or experience. The document defines a qualified person as someone who has “demonstrated the ability to solve/resolve problems relating to the subject matter, the work or the project.”
The person who manages the assembly or disassembly of a crane needs to be both competent and qualified, to be able to review procedures just before the lift, and determine that crew members understand their tasks, the hazards associated with their tasks, and the hazardous positions that they need to avoid.
Multiple crane lifts need to be planned by a qualified person, but if he or she thinks that the expertise of an engineer is needed, the employer must provide it. The actual lift should be managed by a competent and qualified person, who should review the plan before the lift.
Working at height
When employees are assembling or disassembling a crane, those working on a surface with an unprotected side more than 15 feet above a lower level will need to wear a fall harness, except when the person is near the hoisting machinery when the machine is running, in the cab or on the deck. For other sorts of work, employees above six feet high should wear fall arrest systems when moving from point to point or working anywhere but the cab, the deck or a hoist when the machine is running. The document requires manufacturers to build walkways in lattice booms with a vertical profile of greater than six feet.
Workers should anchor themselves to a part of the equipment that can withstand twice the load that a worker might impose on it during “reasonably anticipated conditions of use”. The restraint system can be strung from the hook if it meets four conditions: first, if the equipment operator is present and informed that the crane is being used for fall restraint, second, if the hook is not being used to support or suspend a platform, third, if it can lift at least 5,000 lbs, fourth, if it is used under the supervision of a qualified person, and, fifth, if the fall arrest system is rigged so that someone cannot free-fall more than six feet or hit any lower level.
Hoisting personnel with a crane is prohibited unless there are no safer alternatives.
Tower cranes
Assembly/disassembly managers of tower cranes have a few extra tasks. Tower crane foundations and structural supports shall be designed by the manufacturer or by a registered professional engineer. They must also consider the loss of backward stability before swinging self-erecting tower cranes or cranes on travelling undercarriages. Tower crane signs must follow manufacturers’ guidance. If unavailable, a registered professional engineer familiar with tower cranes must approve in writing sign size and location. Towers should be erected plumb to the manufacturers’ requirements. If there are none, the crane tower should be plumb to a tolerance of 1:500 (approx one inch in 40ft). On multiple tower sites, the cranes should be erected so that no crane can hit another, although they can oversail one another. Before a tower crane is climbed, a registered professional engineer needs to verify that the structure is strong enough to sustain forces through the braces, brace anchorages and supporting floors.
Safety systems
The document groups safety devices and sensors into different groups. Category one devices must be repaired less than seven days after a fault. They include luffing jib limiters, boom hoist limiters (which are required on machines less than 35 years old) and anti-two block indicators or limiters, (which are required on machines less than 15 years old). Category two devices need to be repaired within 30 days. They include a boom angle indicator and load weighing indicator. Cranes less than four years old should have at least one of the following: load scales, load moment indicator, rated capacity indicator or limiter.
In addition, the standard requires two additional sensors by the effective date of the standard. If the crane has outriggers, it needs to have outrigger position sensors. If the crane’s hoist drum is not visible from the operator station, it should have a hoist drum rotation indicator. Tower cranes also need a device that prevents the last two wraps of hoist cable spooling off the drum.
Freefall winches are only allowed on equipment more than 23 years old, or equipment mounted on a barge or ship.
A crane operator is required to have help from a crane signalperson in three cases: when the load destination is partly hidden from the operator or the crane’s destination is obstructed (a blind lift), when moving the entire crane, or when operator or slinger thinks that they are needed for safety. Signallers should use standard hand signals, or agree non-standard signals with the crane operator and lift supervisor before the lift.
Radios or telephones to be used for signalling should be tested on site before use. Each voice signal should contain three elements: function (hoist, boom), direction, distance/speed. Once the motion is complete, signallers should repeat the function and say stop. Crane operator, signal person and lift supervisor all need to be able to communicate effectively in the language used. Crane operators are prohibited from using a cell phone while operating a crane.
Scope
The regulation covers operations on common tower, mobile and crawler cranes, loader cranes, pile drivers, pedestal cranes, portal and gantry cranes, side-boom tractors and derricks. These sorts of equipment are also covered when they are using attachments such as magnets, grapples and buckets.
It does not cover all lifting equipment, nor even all cranes.
Big exclusions include mechanics’ trucks being used for repair, cranes used for tree removal (which is not a construction environment), earthmoving equipment (even when rigged for lifting), hydraulic gantries and jacks, and forklifts.
The document does not rule out leaving a load suspended. But it does say that the operator shall not leave the controls while the load is suspended, except if all are true:
-the operator remains adjacent to the equipment and is not doing anything else
Leaving a load suspended The standard lists ways to temporarily replace safety devices that are not working.
Boom hoist limiting device
Use a boom angle indicator
Mark the boom hoist cable at a point that will give the operator sufficient time to stop the hoist to keep the bTemporary alternatives Cranes such as this Ray Anthony Crane Rental crawler will soon have a new set of rules to follow An Anthony Crane Rental crawler crane with luffing jib
