Australian Standards began work on a telehandler design and use standard in 2004 when, early in 2005, the boom of a Manitou telehandler struck and killed a construction worker in Kingscliff, New South Wales. The investigation found that the machine tipped over while travelling with a concrete skip suspended from a jib attached to the boom. WorkCover NSW, the state’s local OHS department, found that telehandlers were increasingly being used as pick-and-carry lifters in place of mobile cranes but that they didn’t meet the crane design standard AS 1418.5, being generally designed to the European telehandler standard EN 1459.
WorkCover concluded that EN 1459 didn’t cover pick-and-carry operations for freely suspended loads, for example, loads slung under the boom or carried on a truss jib. Neither did they require operator aids such as load indicators and limiters or load charts covering such pick-and-carry applications. What EN 1459 does require (on non-slewing telehandlers) is a longitudinal stability indicator/limiter: typically a fairly unsophisticated and not particularly precise device using a load cell to measure the weight on the rear axle or chassis and emitting audible and visual warnings when rated capacity is approached.
After three years work and consultation with manufacturers, dealers and users, Australian Standards published AS 1418.19 in October 2007. It combined appropriate sections of the European telehandler standard with parts of the AS 1418.5 crane standard. As with mobile cranes, the new standard specified that the load capacity of telehandlers used to pick and carry freely suspended loads (as opposed to loads carried on pallet forks) be limited to 66% of tipping load versus the normal 75% applicable when the machine is stationary or travelling loads properly supported on the forks.
Development of an appropriate standard was made more complex by the fact that telehandlers are offered with not just fork carriages but with factory-installed buckets, jibs and winches, all of which add load weight and reduce lift capacity.
Consequently AS 1418.19 mandated that telehandlers of greater than 3t capacity that are fitted with jib/hook or wire rope hoist attachments be equipped as standard with a rated capacity indicator/limiter as well as with in-cab load charts relevant to lifting when different factory installed or approved attachments are fitted. Telehandlers of 3t capacity and less used to pick-and-carry freely suspended loads are required to be fitted with a maximum capacity limiter in addition to the longitudinal stability indicator/limiter.
AS 1418.19 mandated that boom angle indicators, tele boom length indicators and lateral slope level indicators be fitted as standard on all new telehandlers. Any telehandler used to lift with a wire rope must have a hoist limit indicator/limiter (such as an anti two-block device) providing audible and visual warning of imminent contact between the hook block and sheave. The new Australian standard exceeded European standards in specifying that telehandlers must be overload tested, whereas EN 1459 only requires rated capacity lifts during testing. Such testing has to be verified by an independent engineer. While older machines are not covered by the new standard, WorkCover has said that any machine found doing dangerous work would be thrown off the job or issued with a notice.
Local representatives of virtually all of the leading telehandler manufacturers, as well as state WorkCover representatives, contributed to the development of the AS 1418.19 standard. Dieci distributor AWD Equipment Sales worked very closely with the experienced domestic crane safety device maker, Robway Safety Systems of Adelaide, to design and develop a suitable system. Because of the unique geometry of the telehandler with its fork-carriage levelling system, the Robway RCI 1522 used on these applications is actually more complex than a system for a regular telescopic mobile crane.
The Robway system offers continuous front-to-rear and side-to-side slope monitoring with audible and visual warnings. A multi-purpose SD memory card facilitates system modifications such as load chart and attachment changes as well as transference of on-board data logging, etc. to a laptop. This facility proved particularly beneficial in the underground mining applications where Dieci machines have excelled with a new extraction fan-carrier attachment.
Dieci now offers its Hercules models 120.10, 160.10 and 210.10 AS 1418.19 compliant telehandlers with lifting capacities of 10t, 16t and 21t on 10m telescopic booms, and Manitou Australia has just followed suit with the introduction of its new Manicrane series of ‘mobile cranes’ with lifting capacities from 12t to 21t. Fully compliant with AS 1418.19, the Manicrane series is a development of Manitou’s Maniscopic line of non-swing telehandlers and combines the features of those telehandlers. Manitou Australia’s decision to brand its new product is the latest example of the convergence of the upper end of the telehandler and lower end of the mobile crane markets.
Australia’s Elevating Work Platform Association (EWPA) has recently introduced an operator training programme for telehandler users that takes into account the larger size telehandlers. Australian operators of telehandlers of 3t capacity and less are not required to be licensed; machines larger than this fall into the category of mobile cranes and can only be operated by fully-trained and licensed operators.
When telehandlers or cranes are equipped with man baskets, they come under Australian Standard AS 1418.10, requiring controls in the platform and an emergency lowering system. Australian Standard AS 2550.10 also dictates that the work platform must be operable only from the platform, not from the cab or seat of the machine.