Crane

Reaching heights: Cranes are a jack of all trades, and you can use them to get your material and heavy objects to elevated sites. Tower cranes are the best examples of static cranes to lift materials high above the ground. They are fixed into the project field and used to carry materials over the heights. You can also manage their heights according to the requirements.

Carry heavy loads: Heavy-weight machines are made to lift and carry heavy loads. Constructional sites use many items that the constructors cannot lift. Loading and unloading can be made very easy using loading cranes. They also help carry and transport the debris off of the job site, so it remains clear. Our small crane rentals service offers to pick up and carry small cranes that are used to transport building materials to other construction sites in the same area.

Hauling heavy pipelines, beams, and towers: Pipeline channels are constructed to connect different tanks at different locations in oil, gas, water, or petroleum industries. In building new electricity channels as well, the towers and poles need to be lifted and placed in the correct positions. These pipes, electricity poles, and towers are too heavy to be lifted by humans, and hence cranes are used to haul, erect, and transport these pipes.

Complement other heavy machinery: Cranes help load and unload heavy materials from other machines to different locations on the job site. Cranes are also used to lift many bulky equipment pieces and tools onto other machines. A crane makes the job easier and completes them quicker compared to manual labour.

Applications in a Factory: Industries employ different cranes for multiple purposes, whether it is a building material manufacturing unit, clothes, or edible products factory. Every factory needs to lift enormous loads of raw materials and finished products, which would take a long time if done manually.

A workhorse in the construction industry, cranes tackle heavy-duty material handling tasks. Tower cranes can operate from fixed positions to raise, lower, and transport objects, and mobile cranes can move serious weight over rough terrain and transport objects around construction sites. This article details what the basic crane components look like and how they function so you can choose the best type of crane for your next project.

Floats, foundation, tracks, or wheels
Crane operators can use different types of cranes for hoisting and moving heavy loads. This piece of heavy equipment can work on tracks, wheels, floats, and concrete foundations. When choosing a crane, remember that what holds your crane up depends on where and how you want to use it.

• Floats

Cranes have long been planted on barges or pontoons to dig for natural resources like oil. Floating cranes are often used on oil rigs and at ports.

• Foundation

Tower cranes are always secured in concrete foundations. Because tower cranes reach hundreds of feet in the air, they require a very stable base.

• Tracks

For outdoor jobs on soft ground, crane operators can work on mobile cranes set on tracks. Tracks have to be set into the smooth ground but they provide great stability over most terrains. Speed is sacrificed for this increased stability.

• Wheels

Mobile cranes, like the carry deck and telescopic cranes, are common on outdoor job sites. Their wheels give them excellent maneuverability, even on bumpy terrain.

Outriggers
Outriggers are stabilizing components, usually in the shape of the letter H, that support cranes by offsetting the load. Outriggers are often set at the base of wheeled cranes, such as carry deck and telescopic, and on uneven surfaces.

Main boom or mast
A mast or main boom is the supporting structure that is attached to the crane's base and stretches to the machine's highest height. Crane operators can extend their reach by adding a jib at the end of a boom on a mobile or all-terrain crane. However, tower cranes are built with jibs that sit on a horizontal turntable, and telescoping cranes contain their own telescoping sections used to extend their reach instead of a jib. The type of boom you use depends on the type of crane you need.

Jib
Tower cranes have a fixed horizontal jib attached to the mast. Crane operators can add jibs onto mobile and all-terrain cranes as removable attachments to increase the machine's reach and put distance between a load and the crane's main support.

Operator's cab
Crane operators control this heavy-duty machine from the operator's cab. On tower cranes, operator cabins are located near the turntable. On cranes like the all-terrain crane and telescopic crane, crane operators work from the bottom of the heavy machine.

Turntable
The turntable, or slewing unit, located near the top of the tower crane, allows it to rotate 360 degrees.

Counter-jib
On tower cranes, counter-jibs hold the counterweights and balance the weight of the jib. The counter-jib sits behind the operator's cab.

Counterweights
Counterweights balance the crane by offsetting the load. They sit across from the boom. The amount of counterweight required for each load is different, so the weights are removable and stackable depending on the load sizes.

Main winch and motors
Sheaves and wire ropes compose the pulley system that allows the crane to hoist and lower items. The main winch and motors operate this system and sit at the back of the counter jib.

Tower peak
The tower peak is the top end of the tower/mast. Its job is to support the jib and counter-jib.

Trolley
The hoist moves along the bridge girder, a horizontal beam on a tower crane, from left to right. This allows the loads to move the length of the crane. The trolley is the mechanism that supports the hoist and wire rope.

Hoist
The lifting mechanism, or hoist, is located on the tower crane's horizontal beam. The hoist uses a hook to lift and lower loads vertically.

Main load line
Without the main load line, cranes could not lift heavy objects. For mobile cranes, the main load line is a cable that connects the hook block to the boom. On tower cranes, the main load lines are the wire ropes and sheaves that make up the pulley system, which allows the cranes to lift and lower heavy materials.

Hook block
The equipment used to connect loads to a crane, including a hook, bearings, sheaves, and pulleys, is housed in the hook block. The steel piece is heavy enough to hold enough tension on the wire rope when the crane isn't attached to the lifting material.

Discover what crane safety is, some of the common safety hazards crane operators face, tips on practicing crane safety, and the requirements and certifications for safely operating a crane.

What is Crane Safety?
Crane safety refers to a set of practices that an organization follows to ensure that they reduce the risks and hazards associated with operating a crane. Cranes are a mainstay in modern construction sites and play a major role in lifting materials and equipment to build large buildings and structures.

The Occupational and Health Safety Administration (OSHA) defines a crane as a large family of construction machinery. OSHA defines cranes as construction machinery that's used to hoist, lower, and move a suspended load.

There is a lot of engineering that goes into the design and construction of a crane to ensure that it can move and lift these heavy loads safely. However, despite all the attention to detail, there are many inherent risks and hazards that come with operating a crane. This is why it's crucial for construction sites to have a systematic approach to operating cranes safely to reduce the risk for operators and everyone else in the vicinity.

What are the Common Crane Safety Hazards?
Operating a crane requires a lot of technical knowledge and skill. However, regardless of how well-trained an operator is, some major hazards still come with operating a crane. Below are the three most common types of safety hazards that operators and construction workers face when operating a crane.

Falling Debris
One of the most common hazards of operating is the risk of falling materials. Cranes are designed to hoist materials high up, and regardless of how well-secured the materials are to the crane, there's a risk of the materials falling, injuring the people below, or causing property damage.

Many things can cause materials to fall off a crane, such as visual impairment, mechanical failure, operator incompetency, and slipping, to name a few. Cranes are designed to hoist and lift heavy loads, so there are many potential hazards that may arise if the materials fall from the crane.

This is a major consideration for operators, contractors, employees, and site managers. This is why it's crucial to practice proper crane maintenance and ensure that the crane is running smoothly. A good way to do this is through crane inspection checklists that operators and employees must go through before operating a crane.

Additionally, it's important to properly train employees and crane operators. This means ensuring that operators understand the risks of operating a crane and make sure to put in extra effort to ensure that they are operating the crane properly, reducing the risk of falling materials. It's also important to brief employees working in areas where there's a crane to understand the hazards and risks to keep everyone prepared.

Overloading
The majority of crane mechanical failures and upsets are caused by forcing the crane to carry a load that it's not designed to carry. Overloaded cranes go through major structural stress that can severely damage the machine. A lot of the time, overloading can cause irreversible damage to a crane, which is why this is a major concern for many operators and site safety managers.

Many of the upsets and structural failures that are a result of overloading are caused by human error. This means that the most common cause of overloading is the workers forcing the crane to carry more than its maximum load, which can be very dangerous.

This is why it's integral to properly train operators and ensure that they understand the crane's maximum load and respect the load limits. While modern cranes are designed to lift much heavier loads than cranes of the past, they still have limits, which all operators need to be familiar with before operating one themselves.

Electrical Hazards
The most common electrical hazard for cranes is coming into contact with powerlines. Since cranes go high up, they are at a higher risk of coming into contact with a power line, which can cause significant damage and accidents.

Most of the time, when a crane comes into contact with a power line, the operator gets electrocuted. However, the operators aren't the only persons at risk if a crane comes into contact with a powerline.

Contact with a powerline can cause multiple people to get injured and may even be fatal. These instances can occur because of a lack of planning and safety procedures that specifically pertain to avoiding powerlines when operating a crane.

This is why avoiding electrical hazards, and powerlines need to be a part of the training for crane operators. Failure to understand the risks of touching a powerline with a crane can be fatal for operators and is something construction sites must try to avoid at all costs.

Crane Safety Tips
Different industries and organizations may have their own approach to crane safety. However, there are numerous OSHA and State standards that organizations need to comply with to ensure the safety of the operators and employees. There are general OSHA standards as well as specific standards for maritime, gear certification, and construction industries. The standards specifically address crane, derrick, and hoist safety standards.

Since the establishment of the company, Kotai Heavy Industry has always adhered to the principle of people-oriented and customer demand-oriented. The rollers it produces are exported to more than 60 countries in the Middle East, Africa, America, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, etc., and have won the title of "China's Construction Machinery Industry Users" for many consecutive years. Annual TOP50 "Technological Innovation Gold Award, Golden Word of Mouth Award, Application Contribution Gold Award, Best Product Appearance Design Award" and "National Torch Plan Project Award", etc.