Guidelines for the safe use of hydraulic gantries have been published by the US trade group Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA).
Called ‘Recommended Practices for Telescopic Hydraulic Gantry Systems’, the 22-page was produced in response to changes in the industry since 1996, when the SC&RA published ‘Recommended Practices for Hydraulic Jacking Systems’.
The new manual contains five main sections: Scope, Definitions, and References; Construction and Characteristics; Inspection, Load Testing, and Maintenance; Pre-Lift Planning and Engineering; and Operations. Two appendices to the document contain checklists that are intended for use by lift planners and lift supervisors during the planning and performance of lifts using hydraulic gantries.
Recommended Practices for Telescopic Hydraulic Gantry Systems is available at $75 for SC&RA members and $85 for non-members and can be ordered via www.scranet.org/store.
One of the authors of the manual, David Duerr of 2DM Associates, will be presenting a detailed workshop on the safe use of hydraulic gantries at the Crane Safety 2005 conference in June. Duerr is one of the US lifting industry’s leading independent engineers.
