ROUND TABLE
n Munck says it builds larger, heavy duty cranes.
and occasionally make mistakes; and automation can reduce that a lot. Heavy loads are dangerous. If there is a possibility to have an accident through overloading, having that load display flashing a warning right smack dab in front of your face is going to help prevent that, and the hoists come with overload limits on them anyway. So automation has certainly helped with safety: the injury rate among workers has come way down in recent years. Ways to have an accident are always being reduced through automation and good design and training.
Of course also there are also design and usage regulations – OSHA and the like. Are these in your view well-designed? Or are they overly prescriptive in a way that inhibits new approaches or technology? RP: I’ve never had a problem with OSHA regulations. RB: Members of HMI (Hoist Manufacturers Institute) have built a solid relationship with OSHA. Items such as tip sheets, best practices documents and the like have been a joint effort between HMI and OSHA. While these documents may be viewed as prescriptive, the goal is for users to be able to understand, easily follow the guidelines, and put them to use when creating a safe work environment.
Hoists also work in hazardous environments and/or with very heavy loads. Clearly a steel foundry is a more dangerous place than a small packing line. How much extra design and work goes into making a hoist safety- compliant for hazardous environments? RP: I have designed cranes that operate in Class I Div I hazardous zones. As a mechanical engineer, it is not that much more work for me. Most of the extra work falls on the electrical team. The biggest differences are that electronics needs to be intrinsically safe and appropriately rated for the environment in which they operate. The NEC code has special wiring requirements as well, but all that falls on the electrical engineers. In a few situations I have been able to locate the power transmission components outside of the hazardous zone. This makes life easier for
the entire design team, especially the electrical and controls team. RD: Different applications have different requirements. It all depends on the environment. We put cranes down bauxite mines in the Caribbean; we've done cranes for potash mines where things are very caustic and you need stainless steel for almost everything. We do a lot of cranes for molten metal. These call for lot more safety factors. Things
like additional brakes, bigger ropes, larger drums, redundancies.
Do experienced hoist operators tend to take risks, through over-confidence, or are they more aware and more careful than newcomers of what can go wrong? RB: We have seen just the opposite. Companies are relying on their experienced operators to be part of training efforts with new employees. The thought is for the “green” employees to gain tremendous insight from those that have performed the job for quite some time.
AP-C: While some experienced operators maintain a heightened awareness and careful approach due to their knowledge of potential risks, others may become overconfident and potentially take more risks. The phenomenon of overconfidence among experienced operators can stem from a sense of familiarity with the equipment and tasks, potentially leading to a decreased perception of risk. With the array of safety features in place, the
likelihood of any significant incidents with a Vulcan hoist due to misuse is minimal. In the event of misuse, the hoist is designed to cease operation, providing a built-in safety mechanism. For a hoist to unintentionally drop a load, it would require deliberate modification or a deliberate attempt by the operator to override the hoist's safety measures.
Musculo-skeletal injuries, back strains, injuries through repetition of awkward movements – simple repositioning of, for example, a handle or control to a more comfortable height can eliminate many of
n A Munck 20t crane at a Quebec Gold Mine.
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