As a business owner who works with overhead cranes in their shop, you must know about overhead crane safety. Unfortunately, many business owners do not take this as seriously as they should. This is because business owners usually believe that they don't need to train those employees who will be operating this machinery since they should be able to judge safety protocol on their own. However, there is more to the safety of operating an overhead crane then one may think. It doesn't just require common sense to be using these tools properly. Here's what you need to know to keep your employees and yourself safe:

  • Your Employees Need Training: An employee who has had training will understand what loads are safe to operate and what loads are not. Employees without proper training will believe that an overhead crane can lift anything possible. Overhead cranes have their own limits though just like everything else. Your employee needs to know the rated capacity of an overhead crane and how much they are lifting at a time. If your employee does not know this, then this could lead to a disaster that is potentially life threatening. 
  • You Can Upgrade Older Cranes: If you have an older overhead crane being used for your business, you don't necessarily have to replace it in order for your business to be safer. The cheaper route is usually to just upgrade the overhead crane. Just be sure that this is not skipped for an overhead crane that is older than 50 years old. Upgrading it will make it much safer. You will need to replace the wheels, drives, motors, and more. Plus, you should consider rewiring it and adding variable-frequency, which allows for better control of the speed. This can give the driver better ability to prevent accidents since they can easily control the overhead crane to move more slowly. 
  • Address Issues Before Installing an Overhead Crane: Before you have an overhead crane installed in your place of business (by professionals such as those from American Equipment Inc), you will need to address certain issues. For example, think about how heavy loads will be for the overhead crane operators. This can determine what size overhead crane you will need. You also need to determine how high you will need loads to be lifted to ensure that the crane can extend far enough for this.

By addressing safety issues when you use an overhead crane in your place of business, you can prevent potentially deadly accidents and ensure that your business will not have to deal with any lawsuits because of accidents.

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