One of the most important crane services offered by O’Brien Lifting Solutions is regular crane inspection and maintenance.
In Canada, crane safety requirements are a complex combination of provincial and federal standards and regulations. However, most provinces and territories reference Canadian Standards Association practices Overhead cranes, gantry cranes, monorails, hoists, and jib cranes B167-16. Developed by a group of industry experts, B167-16 specifies minimum requirements for crane design, inspection, testing, maintenance and safe operations of these cranes.
Among other topics, B167-16 provides guidance for inspection and functional checks for new, newly acquired, rebuilt or modified cranes and hoists.
Why are these standards so important? Under the Criminal Code of Canada, supervisors have “a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm” to employees who work on their job sites. Part of that duty is ensuring your company complies with all appropriate safety standards.
Following B167-16 requirements not only protects your workers from accident or injury, but it can also protect your company from liability.
Crane Services: Inspection Requirements
Three main types of inspections are required if your business uses overhead cranes, gantry cranes, monorail cranes or jib cranes:
- Functional checks – a detailed list of visual and operational checks and tests that need to be performed by a qualified crane operator at the beginning and end of each shift.
- Frequent inspections – weekly or monthly assessments for defects, malfunctions and damages according to the crane manufacturer’s specifications. These inspections target critical operational functions, hooks, hoist ropes, and limit devices. Inspection frequency is determined by the crane service classification. Results need to be recorded in a maintenance logbook.
- Periodic Inspections – periodic inspections are performed quarterly, semi-annually, or annually depending on the crane service classification. Periodic inspections target all parts covered in frequent inspections, with a deeper look at elements like the crane’s supporting structure, electrical components, rollers, welds, trolleys, and blocks. Periodic inspections need to be completed by a qualified crane inspector, with results and records kept of inspection findings and recommendations.
To comply with regulations, frequent and periodic inspections are required even if your cranes are out-of-service.
Who Are Qualified to Perform Crane Inspections?
While all crane inspections require an amount of training and expertise, there are specific qualifications to perform periodic inspections. At minimum, workers who perform periodic inspections must have:
- A recognized trade qualification like a journeyman electrician, journeyman millwright or equivalent approved by a governing authority.
- Appropriate experience – Over 8,000 hours of direct experience working on crane manufacturing, maintenance, or repair OR have over 2,000 hours experience and be supervised by a qualified crane inspector or engineer.
Compliance, Safety, Confidence: O’Brien Crane Services
Avoiding workplace accidents is important for every business. Workplace accidents put your workers in danger and cause production slowdowns. A workplace accident or injury can also trigger workplace inspections. If there’s an accident involving your crane equipment, one of the first things an inspector will check is if you have been maintaining proper crane services.
Our fully trained and professional technicians will not only inspect your crane equipment following all regulatory requirements, we’ll make minor repairs while we’re on site, and keep a complete log book and issue any required inspection certifications.
Why O’Brien Preventative Crane Service Packages Make Sense for Your Business
O’Brien Preventative Maintenance Packages make crane services easy, offering crane services with regular maintenance and inspection intervals customized for your crane usage, duty classification, and equipment specifications, and operating environment.
Choosing O’Brien for your crane services lets you concentrate on managing your business, while we take care of the regulatory details and work hard to keep your business running smoothly.
Choose O’Brien for Your Crane Services
O’Brien offers the crane services you need to keep your company running smoothly. Whether you’re looking for training for your crane operators, crane equipment replacement or upgrades, emergency crane repair or regularly scheduled crane inspections, the crane experts at O’Brien Lifting Solutions are dedicated to supporting your business.
We provide crane services for almost any crane / hoist make and model – whether we installed them or not, and we’ll work with you to ensure our work is completed at a time that makes sense for your business.
Let O’Brien take care of compliance while you take care of your business.
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