History has noted various grave accidents and disasters that involve tower cranes. When the weather conditions are not at their best is when these unfortunate incidences take place. As the small tower cranes for sales are supported by a small structural mass found below it and such as they tend to be susceptible to the elements is the reason here. They will sway in any direction and can cause accidents and damages to their surrounding area under strong winds.
There are different steps and ways in which you can observe and follow to make sure that your crane is surviving extreme weather conditions and mitigating the possible mishaps and structural damages if there is a tower crane being used or present in the construction site. The following are included here:
Ensuring the operator is following the protocols.
With the use of the cranes, they are making sure that the operator is following the correct set of protocols. Before leaving the equipment, there are certain procedures that the crane operators got to do. The crane should be left with the jib luffed up in the parking position if they are using a luffing jib. The hook block should be brought back to the job and left slightly off from the cabin in case they are operating a hammerhead or a flat-top crane. The operators will make sure that the hook block will not blow in the wind freely and hit the cabin or swing around and injure anyone below the equipment by doing so.
Releasing the crane parking brake
The operator should release the crane parking brake and left in free slew when high winds are expected in addition to all. There is nothing that can make contact with the job within a 360-degree radius around the crane is what the operator should make sure of. The slew ring can be parked in a fixed position as there is a huge risk that the wind will blow against the jib and impose loads on the crane that it is not engineered to sustain in case the parking brake is left on.
Making sure no loosened tools or bolts
During severe weather, you need to make sure that there are no tools, nuts, bolts, and any debris that can blow off the top of the crane. Removing anything on the top of the tower crane that can be blown off and fall down is what it means. For not only the workers on the job site but also the innocent pedestrians that are passing by the construction area, the failure to do so can result in a major incident or fatality.
A thorough inspection of the crane
The small tower cranes for sale undergoes complete examination before using it again once the weather conditions have normalized. It can make sure that all are in perfect working condition. To make sure that there has not been any significant damage made to the crane during the storm, have the operator perform a max load test. To make sure that the structural stability of the crane has not been compromised because of the additional wind loadings on the crane and building, have the site structural engineer inspect the tie-in points of the tower crane to the building.