construction companies in the Netherlands are getting ready for the implementation of a new code of practice next July which should makes the lives of tower crane operators much easier.
As previously reported in Cranes Today, Dutch employers’ organisations and employees’ representatives have agreed that all operators whose cabins are 30m or more up in the air shall be provided with a mechanical means of being transported up there (CT Jul00, p11).
Contractor Ballast Nedam Bouwmaterieel has placed an order for eight Alimak TC-50 crane lifts to use on its tower cranes. The units have a lifting height of 40m, making them suitable for crane hook heights of 50m. Alimak described the Ballast Nedam order as “a breakthrough in the emerging market of tower crane access”.
Alimak introduced the TC-50 to the world market in May at the Intermat exhibition in Paris, at which time the Swedish company had already placed its first five machines on the Dutch market. The first unit, the prototype, was delivered in 1999 for use on a tower crane working at a shipyard. Alimak then sold four more to NIBM, its Dutch distributor, to use with its rental fleet of 40 Potain cranes.
The Alimak TC-50 is rack and pinion driven, has a capacity of 200kg and travels at a speed of 21m/min. The lift mast consists of a 175mm square tube that comes in 1.5m sections. The lift car weighs 405kg and its base frame can either be fitted to the crane mast or positioned on the crane’s foundation.
Meanwhile a rival Swedish manufacturer, Prokrania, which produces the Procab climbing cab for tower crane operators, is still working to obtain product-type approval from Dutch standards body Keboma, said Edwin van Zitteren, whose company, Kranenbouw, is the distributor for the Procab in the Netherlands.
