To: Will North, Cranes Today
One of my riggers has just shown me the photo on p49 of Cranes Today, March 2009, and asked why Dan Cashin (the author of the article, The path to better rigging) and others are not wearing safety harnesses; why was the photo shown as a good example, and not as a hazard?
I could not answer him as I am amazed that this one slipped through.
Regards,
Mick Hoyle, OPMT (rigging and lifting) SHE consultant, Singapore Parallel Train Project – Exxon Mobil Asia Pacific
To: Mick Hoyle, Exxon Mobil
I’ve taken a look at the pic. I think Dan’s response might be that it is a pretty old photo. I’m not sure, but have attitudes to harnesses changed in the (I’m guessing) couple of decades since that was taken? Or, might it be that there was no safe place to attach a harness? I see you CCd Dan: I’ll get in touch with him too, and see what he says.
Regards,
Will North, deputy editor, Cranes Today
To: Mick Hoyle, Exxon Mobil
Thanks for the question. Give your worker a big pat on the back for catching that one. As Will said, the photo is a very old one: Just look at the hair I still had then!
It seems there are many employees in the United States that fell through the cracks when OSHA published their fall protection rules and being aware of what rules apply can clear up a lot of issues.
Too often people think that all workers in the US fall under OSHA. This isn’t the case. The workers in the picture are government employees and not under the control of OSHA. They have to answer to their own organisational rules, which at that time were internal policies only. There are many workers in the States that fall free of OSHA: small ‘Mom & Pop’ jobbers, local and state employees, and military personnel, are just some examples.
Even when there is an OSHA cite, too often there is confusion when the cite is in 29CFR1926, Construction Industry and the employees are shipyard workers under 29CFR1915, Shipyard Industry. These standards have not been updated in decades.
One of my pet peeves is that under OSHA Shipyard rules they still address wrought iron chain slings and an annealing process that would get you locked up under EPA rules! I have a training client that still keeps wrought iron slings on their site since there is an OSHA mention of them.
The rigging trade is one that has been forgotten in the new world of total employee protection. Too often the job is a one-timer and there is no place to hang a harness. Also, way too often we violate the most basic rule of not getting under the load. In my booklet, Rigging thinking, I address the fact that too often we riggers have to go in to a work situation where all the guards are removed: like being in the Lion’s Den without bars.
By the way, the other photo of the man being tossed through the air has a story of its own. Frank, the man tossed, after brushing himself off, went back to work. He didn’t find his leg was broken until the next day. He was well fortified with whiskey on the ride home though!
Regards,
Dan Cashin, rigging instructor, Atlantic Crane Inspection Service
To: Dan Cashin, Atlantic Crane Inspection Services
Hopefully, this will open a can of worms, as the laws in the UK covering working at heights and your own OSHA regulations are seen as a hindrance by many in the crane rigging and lifting industry. It is often said that they cannot be applied and that they are for ‘others’ like scaffolders and steel erectors.
As an example, consider a situation where you have to erect a large lattice boom crane at a client’s site. The site is tight, so no room for cherry pickers and you only have one day each to mobilise and demob the crane. During these times you will require your riggers to work on top of the jib and boom.
The law here says that anyone working above 1.8m must wear fall protection: a harness. It adds that, due to fall trauma, the harnesses must have an energy/shock absorber that should have a maximum length of 2m. But, by asking your riggers to wear harnesses while working at heights above 1.8m, a lot of the time if they fell they would hit the ground before the lanyard stopped the fall.
In a real site situation like this most would turn a blind eye and allow the riggers to either not wear fall protection, or wear a harness but not clip off. Their excuse would be that in the real world these harnesses only restrict work and do nothing to save lives.
It is us, the ones who have experience in rigging and lifting, who should solve problems like this. Hopefully, we will look back in a few years time and shudder at the idea that we used to ask people to work on cranes at heights without fall protection. It should be mandatory for crane manufactures to install fold away ‘fit for purpose’ life lines on the top of the jibs/booms, plus places for clip on clip off/yo-yo’s to be fitted as standard.
This hazard can and should be designed out before the crane ever leaves the workshop. However, in the current economic climate I doubt that anyone has the appetite for this.
I liked the story about Frank, but I have worked on projects over the years where people have not been so lucky. A long time ago I came to the conclusion that no project however prestigious is worth a life.
After spending a lifetime working around cranes rigging and lifting, ranging from skipping concrete to moving/jacking >10,000 tonne modules all over the world, it is time for me to give back my years of experience to the industry: an industry that has both paid my mortgage and made me bald. Let’s all try and work together to make working with cranes of all sizes safer for the next generation.
Regards,
Mick Hoyle
