Major Inspection of Cranes

• Major Inspection of Cranes ( )
  Document Type: Guidance Note
  Industry: General 
  Category: Cranes and Lifting Equipment Plant 
  Publication Date: 25 January 2007
  Date First Published: 25 January 2007
  Summary: This guidance note provides guidance on the major inspections of cranes to assess their suitability for continued safe operation.

1.  Purpose and Scope

This Guidance Note provides guidance on the major inspections of cranes to assess their suitability for continued safe operation.

2.  Background

Regulation 708(1) of the Occupational Health & Safety (Plant) Regulations 1995 (‘Plant Regulations’) requires employers to ensure that plant is maintained to eliminate or reduce risk, so far as is practicable; and that the plant is inspected to ensure that the risk associated with the plant is monitored.

Crane owners or other persons in control of a crane must undertake the hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control process in compliance with the Plant Regulations. Where manufacturers specifications are available this process must still be undertaken in order to ensure the maintenance requirements specified by the manufacturer are adequate and that nothing has been omitted.

The Code of Practice for Plant (No. 19), clause 21.4, states, in part, that “published technical standards should be used as a starting point to help control risks”. The accompanying table of published technical standards includes the AS 2550 Cranes, hoists & winches —Safe use suite of Australian Standards. In particular, section 7 of AS 2550.1 Cranes, hoists and winches—Safe use, Part 1: ‘General requirements’,provides guidance on the maintenance, inspection and repair of cranes. AS 2550.4 and AS 2550.5 provide further guidance on the maintenance of tower cranes and mobile cranes respectively. The standards specify major inspections of cranes as a significant component of a well-structured preventative maintenance program.

Note: Any reference to AS 2550.1 in this document is to be also read as a reference to the other relevant parts of AS 2550.

A major inspection of a crane is necessary to enable an assessment for continued safe operation. Such an assessment is a critical component in any strategy to control the risks (i.e. likelihood) of failure or malfunction of the crane.

3.  Maintenance Factors

The type of maintenance carried out on cranes and the length of time between maintenance should be determined after considering the following factors where known:

• Manufacturer’s recommendations or the recommendations of a competent person.
• Recommendations from published technical standards.
• Number of hours of operation and the type of loading the unit undergoes.
• The time spent in transit (oscillating loads applied during transit can increase the fatigue of a crane).
• Whether the unit is under the control of the owner or is hired out (units that are hired out generally require higher levels of maintenance due to more severe use).
• Conditions in which the crane operates—in a corrosive or wet environment, or in abrasive conditions.
• Age and history of the unit.
• Special consideration of parts of the crane that may be prone to failure or high wear—the manufacturer, supplier, authorised repairer, or a competent person may provide information on parts which need to be more frequently replaced.

Note: The external visual appearance and the hours of operation of a crane may not be reliable indicators of crane wear and fatigue.

4.  Major Inspections

Major inspections are part of the following preventative maintenance program as outlined in the AS 2550 standards. (For full details, refer to the relevant parts of the standard.)

1. Pre-operational inspection
2. Routine inspection & maintenance
3. Periodic inspections
4. Major inspections
5. Third party inspections

AS 2550.1 clause 7.3.5 requires the following cranes to be subjected to a major inspection:

• Cranes that have reached the end of their design life or, where this is unknown, after a maximum of 10 years of service for the mechanical components and 25 years for the structure.
• Old cranes which are to be re-commissioned and that do not have previous records.
• Cranes that are to be upgraded or modified.

 

The major inspection is comprehensive and includes inspecting for wear, fatigue and cracking of all components of the crane critical to its safe operation and use.  The inspection includes attention to structural and mechanical (etc.) anomalies, based on strip-down inspection and non-destructive examination. Guidance on what items should be included in an inspection is provided in AS 2550.1 ‘Appendix B’.

Operators of cranes should schedule major inspections well in advance to avoid disruptions to production. The planning process should allow for consequential repairs of the particular crane and should also consider alternative measures, such as the hire of a stand-by unit.

A crane owner may chose not to conduct a single event major inspection by incorporating the requirements of the 10-year major inspection into the comprehensive periodic inspections. In such cases, the crane owner must:

• ensure that the periodic maintenance regime is developed by a competent person supervised by a professional engineer and includes all safety critical components, normally stripped down at the major inspection. 
• keep all maintenance and repair records in order to be able to verify adherence to the maintenance regime.

Where the 10-year major inspection requirements have been incorporated into the periodic inspection program, the owner of the crane should, when the 10-year major inspection would normally have come due, undertake a hazard identification and risk assessment in accordance with the Plant Regulations. This process provides the owner opportunity to identify any components that would normally have been inspected under the 10-year major inspection program, that have not been satisfactorily covered by the periodic inspections, and allows corrective action to be carried out.

4.1       Reasons for 10 and 25 year periods

The reasons for the specification of 10 years for the major inspection of mechanical parts and 25 years for structures include:

• Plant and components likely to be designed to Australian or overseas standards, are based on a 10 and 25-year design life (e.g. AS 1418.1 clause 2.2).
• 10 years is regarded as a maximum period for checking wear limits of mechanical parts and verifying design assumptions.
• 10 years is regarded as a minimum period for the first signs of fatigue to appear in mechanical parts.

A period of 10 years for a major inspection of mechanical parts should be used as a default where no other evidence of history of the crane is available and a hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control process does not identify a shorter time interval. (This is often the case with imported second-hand plant.) 

4.2       Extending the 10-year Major Inspection.

Any decision to extend the major inspection past the 10 calendar years stipulated in AS 2550.1 should be verified by the manufacturer or a competent person. This must be documented, using engineering as well as hazard identification and risk assessment principles, in compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and the Plant Regulations.

Records of previous maintenance and repair must be able to establish that all safety critical components that would normally remain in service for the design life of the crane have not been subject to excessive wear or failure requiring their premature replacement. These written maintenance records should be maintained for the life of the unit.

Any decision to delay the major inspection past the 10 year requirement should also specify the proposed date for the major inspection. Further extensions should not be considered.

Where unforeseen circumstances inhibit taking a crane out of service for a periodic or major inspection, a competent person (preferably a representative of the manufacturer) shall determine if it is safe to operate the crane until the respective maintenance can be carried out. The assessment undertaken in reaching this decision must be documented.

5.  Assessment for Continued Safe Operation

The assessment for continued safe operation of a crane should:

1. Be undertaken by a competent person and be supervised by a professional engineer experienced in the inspection, testing and assessment of the particular type of crane.
2. Note: a ‘competent person’ is a person who by their training or experience has the skills and knowledge to carry out the task.
3. Include the rationale which lead to determining the extent, (or limitations), of the major inspection and subsequent assessment for continued safe operation for continued use.
4. Include a summary of what items have been assessed, how the assessment was undertaken, and the results of the assessment.
5. The recommendations on what works need to be done to the crane to provide the equivalent level of safety to that which would be achieved by the current version of the applicable parts of AS 1418. These recommendations should consider the likely operational and environmental parameters under which the crane is intended to operate. The supervising engineer should also record the rationale for the recommendations made.
6. Include a documented maintenance program for the repair or replacement of components necessary to bring the crane into conformance with the Plant Regulations. The program should include:

• a list of those items which should be undertaken prior to the crane returning to service in order to ensure the immediate safe operation of the crane
• the recommended timeframes for remaining program works to ensure the ongoing safe operation of the crane.

7. Include a program for the ongoing maintenance and inspection of the crane. This program must include specific recommendation on the scheduling of further assessments for continued safe operation.
   
   

6.  WorkSafe’s Expectation

As part of their obligations under the Plant Regulations, crane owners are required to undertake a preventative maintenance program to the standard outlined in the relevant parts of AS 2550, which includes consideration of the manufacturer’s recommendations.

In respect of major inspections, WorkSafe expects the supporting records, including the ‘Assessment for continued safe operation’, to be available for inspection on request by a WorkSafe field officer. Records should be readily accessible at the crane owner’s Victorian business office.

The above documentation should include a record of the implementation of the recommendations set out in the assessment report.

 

Acts and Regulations

Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004

Occupational Health and Safety (Plant) Regulations 1995

 Acts and regulations are available from Information Victoria on 1300 366 356 or order online at www.bookshop.vic.gov.au.

View the legislation at Victorian Law Today at www.legislation.vic.gov.au.

Standards Australia

AS 2550 Cranes, hoists and winches – Safe use

                  Part 1          General requirements

                  Part 4          Tower Cranes

                  Part 5          Mobile Cranes

 

AS 1418 Cranes (Including hoists and winches)

                  Part 1          General requirements

                  Part 4          Tower Cranes

                  Part 5          Mobile Cranes

 

 

Copies of standards can be obtained by contacting Standards Australia on 1300 654 646 or by visiting the web site at www.standards.com.au.