Crane Sense

As safety director for Harmon Electric and Harmon Solar, one of my weekly responsibilities is to send out a weekly job site training sheet, which is commonly known as TOOLBOX TALK. This week’s TOOLBOX TALK will have to do with AERIAL DEVICES and CRANES, so I thought I might just use this opportunity and talk a little about crane use common sense, especially on rooftop solar installations.

It’s not uncommon for us to use cranes for the setting of light poles and sometimes to set electrical gear, and we always use a crane to set our solar panels at solar installations. On rooftops, with this comes a risk of danger and injury – here is a slogan I once saw. “If it’s in the air, it’s dangerous.” This is something everyone working around a crane should remember.

While using a crane to lifting and setting materials, be it on the ground or for a roof top, you should never stand or walk under the load or the crane boom, and you should always watch out for the swing, this could be just as dangerous as a falling load – when a load starts to swing from side to side, you could get pinned in between a stationary object causing injury, or even death.

Although cranes can make our work easier, they can also come with a high risk of danger and/or death – team work is always important on any job site. To help in the prevention of injuries when a crane is on site – team work should double.

Len
Safety Director