[WRE UPDATE | BUSINESS]


can deliver real-time information, content and process management during work activities, not just training content in the classroom.” In that vision, you’ll be fed information related to a task while you’re performing the task.


AWRF General Meeting –


A crowd at the CM Labs exhibit inside the Gold Hall


boom truck. Teir simulators were in non-stop use throughout the show. “It’s clear that attendees were extremely knowledgeable about simulator-based training and assessment, and they’ve done some comparison shopping already,” said David Clark, Product Marketing Manager for CM Labs. He added, “Reaction to our crane and heavy equipment simulators was uniformly ‘this is going to help us make our training safer.’ Contractors and training organisations are actively demanding simulators that allow operators to train more effectively for the worksite, and our wide range of simulated equipment allows them to do that.” As we reported in our December 2016 issue, Industrial


Training International (www.iti.com) introduced simulators that leverage virtual reality to provide a more immersive experience. Te simplest of these is desktop- mounted. ITI’s Zack Parnell describes that “VR delivers unmatched realism and cost-savings to simulation.” As for what’ll be next in the realm of technology, both


Benham and Parnell mention augmented reality (AR). On that subject, Parnell noted that “we are building a library of content that can be output to multiple operating systems and hardware, like an Oculus Rift VR headset, or a Microsoft HoloLens AR headset” using existing AR technology, and the practical effect of that is not so different from VR. Te big advance will be “overlaying content among real objects – mixed reality – so that we


Spring 2017 Te Associated Wire Rope Fabricators (AWRF) held their most recent General Meeting in Savannah, GA on April 23-26. Te event featured seven speaker presentations and a variety of other activities, offering attendees plenty of time for networking and socializing. Two presentations in particular spurred numerous questions and a great deal of discussion among attendees, and show the range of information shared at this event. And a third highlighted a remarkable benefit available to AWRF members.


Wire Rope – It’s In Our Name In a talk simply entitled “Wire Rope Field Problems”, Jim Wiethorn PE, Chairman of Haag Engineering, presented a variety of case studies where failure to adhere to good procedure in the field caused profound disruptions and worse yet, severe injuries. He drew these events from a database of crane accidents that he has carefully compiled spanning back to 1983. “I have examined over 1,000 crane accidents,” said


Wiethorn. However, to ensure that the data is handled appropriately to support rigorous conclusions and recommendations, he has worked with MIT to establish criteria that qualify an accident report as “peer reviewed” as the database is compiled. Presently, 607 accidents are compiled in that manner. “It takes about a year from review to input” he noted, given the range of supporting data assembled. You can learn more in their publication Crane


Accidents: A Study or Causes and Trends to Create a Safer Work Environment, where patterns and trends in accident data are revealed. Among the more common field problems noted in his


ITI’s Caleb Steinborn runs a visitor through a VR demonstration


76 MAY–JUNE 2017 WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE


presentation were cutting or damage to synthetic or wire rope slings when improperly used, particularly at corners or edges. Another persistent challenge he addressed in depth is the susceptibility of boom hoist wire rope to severe loading and multiple bends – whether from repetitive bending due to bail rigging, crossover points on the drum, or high level loading from raising/lowering or working at low angles. He called out the need for wire rope guidelines that enable inspectors to fully and thoroughly examine ropes while on the crane. Ideally, guidance is needed on whether boom hoist ropes should be inspected while raised – and therefore under load – or lowered to the ground and unloaded. And what about a wire rope covered in grease?


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