FEATURE | BELOW-THE-HOOK
lifters and clamps. Elsewhere, the ASME BTH-1 standard is deeper still, and gets into the safety requirements of details regarding below-the-hook manufacturing. Furthermore, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) guidelines regulate below-the-hook devices via general crane, rigging and material handling standards. There are safe listing regulations for cranes, industry requirements for operating environments and related to inspection, labelling, training and safe use regulations. In essence, OSHA enforces the rulebook of ASME. “And when it comes to B30.20 and BTH-1, equipment has to meet these standards,” says Sherwood. Safety drivers are having a special effect on the below-the-hook market right now. Again, a big market driver is modernisation in factories needing below-the-hook devices to reduce risks with newer occupational safety standards dictating the use of certified equipment. Indeed,
with BTH-1 coming into effect in the late noughties, the life span of lifters and below- the-hook devices that started being used then is coming into effect and dictating that newer devices need to meet standards such as BTH-1. “It’s kind of like a grandfather clause on these devices…there’s 20 years max life span on these devices,” says Sherwood. “They’re ageing out.” Indeed, safety regulations are driving a lot of work that providers like Mazella are seeing. “Now people have to meet these standards,” says Sherwood, adding that if OSHA come in those using non-regulation-adhering devices “might get popped”. He says at just one company, they’ve switched out hundreds of below-the-hook devices that were homemade to “properly engineered and manufacturing” – a reference to a time before the tight BTH-1 standard existed and firms could make their own lifters or hooks at engineers’ discretion rather than standardised regulation.
In Sherwood’s view this doesn’t mean the lifters would necessarily fail from a mechanical point of view (or past standards) but they’re coming up to their life span and that means they’re ageing out. “Now with the safety standards and safety factor requirements none of those [below-the- hook devices] are good anymore and if OSHA comes in, that can catch you some trouble,” he adds. At least on Mazella’s side, as a manufacturer of below-the-hook devices, such movement is driving what customers want, especially in recent years. That is: compliant below-the-hook devices. “You can’t just get John in the machine shop to make something up,” adds Sherwood.
Work smarter, not harder The drive towards safety and compliance is also having an impact on the ‘smart’ nature of below-the-hook devices. Smart below-the-hook devices, as opposed to more traditional below-
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