Why Does it need a Crane Rating?

One of the horrifying things I have seen twice from the seat of a tower crane is a load come up over the edge of the building from a blind pick completely unstable. Visibly unstable. In both cases I ran for the roof with the load to avoid people. In one I got it landed. In the second, I painted the brand new roof with a pallet of paint. Riggers make mistakes. So what do we do to deal with it? Engineer out the hazard is the right answer.

OSHA 1926.251 says that Rigging Materials are to be rated. This means that you can’t just go build boxes. They need to be engineered. This might seem a bit overkill, but if you don’t, you’ll get people building boxes with OSB and nails. Not only have I seen this, but I’ve seen people walking in them and yes, I have pictures.

One of the work arounds people pretend can work is putting straps around the item holding the load. The box or the pallet. I think enough of us have seen what can happen to a pallet when hoisted. I know some think of the “strong way” to rig a pallet. I’m eyerolling like a 13 year old because I’ve quite literally seen this method failing in getting a load from a truck to the street. The point is, that if what we are rigging on to can’t handle the rigging pulling on in with the load inside, then the rating on the straps is useless. Your rating has to be on the item that contains the load for the weight in it, and if you use rigging too, then the rigging also has to be rated. Ask me for the picture of that OSB box with the windows and you’ll see why.

We have crane rated boxes. We can make any crane rated box you need. They will be OSHA 1926.251 compliant. We’ll put lifting eyes on them so we aren’t reliant on rigging for balance. I believe that’s a mistake. A four point pick locked in above the center of gravity is what we want. That way if anything shifts, the rigging can’t run, cut or otherwise. The hazard is engineered out. If the shrink wrap fails, or the pallet collapses under it’s own weight while being transported, the materials are all inside of walls. It’s a non issue and the load still safely gets to it’s location.

Let’s stop relying on banding, gravity, tension, balance, shrink wrap and pallets to keep us alive. Let’s not make the mistake of not hearing the intention of the rule to have rated rigging materials. You can put straps around a stick of butter. Your load is not legal, safe, or secure. You need rated bins and boxes. Don’t wait for this to be explained to you in another way. It’s real issue that we should be addressing and quietly saving lives rather than reacting after an incident.