Overwhelming support for insulating links has emerged from a survey of attendees at last September’s Specialised Carriers & Rigging Association’s crane and rigging workshop, held in Memphis Tennessee.
The survey questionnaire was submitted by Load Monitor director Hugh Pratt to attendees at his session on load electrocution safety devices. The survey found high awareness of the perils of electricity. Among the findings: • 86% believed that cranes should be fitted with insulating links • 80% were aware that electrocution was the number one cause of crane related deaths • 95% were aware that all types of overhead power lines were potentially fatal whether they are neighbourhood distribution lines, network transmission lines or grid lines • 95% attributed one of the many factors causing electrocution to imperfect depth perception by operators, leading to faulty estimates of safe clearance • $1m was the average estimated cost of an electrocution incident • 61% thought the key trigger to changing work practices was to build awareness of a truly effective form of protection • 65% failed to understand current ASME B 30.5 procedures • 65% did not appreciate that electrocution was a foreseeable injurious event.
