Changes to safe use of vehicle-loading cranes

Late last month an updated edition of AS2550.11 was released. The AS2550 Series focuses on safe use of cranes, hoists and winches

We have previously provided commentary on requirements of and changes to Australian Standards series AS1418 – the set of Standards relating to design, manufacture and testing of cranes, hoists and winches. This blog gives a brief overview of the changes to Part 11 of the series AS2550.11, which specifically relates to the Safe Use of Vehicle Loading Cranes. There are four key changes:

1. Specific major inspection requirements (detailed)

Previously AS2550.11 did not contain specific requirements for the major inspection of Vehicle Loading Cranes. The previous edition referenced AS2550.1 for this detail, and AS2550.1 did not contain requirements specific to Vehicle Loading Cranes. This is a great improvement as now AS2550.11 includes the specific components of the vehicle-loading crane as well as advice regarding replacement or if re-use is an option.

2. Recommendation to compare existing vehicle loading cranes against the current edition of AS1418.11:2014

Clause 6.2.1 includes the following” “The major inspection shall include a comparison of the crane design in accordance with the current edition of AS 1418.11. A risk assessment shall be carried out to determine where addition risk controls may be practical to include in an upgrade of the crane design to the current edition of AS 1418.11. Where these upgrades are practical then they shall be undertaken.” It goes on to say that several items should be retrofitted to comply with the current edition AS 1418.11 where they are not already provided on the crane. The Plant Assessor inspection for Vehicle Loading Cranes already contains these requirements. These were included in 2014 when the latest edition of AS1418.11 was released. The decision to include these requirements retrospectively has always been our approach based on the regulator’s advice that the state of the art may be considered during an incident investigation.

3. Mandates that data recorders be fitted, maintained and operated

The title of section 7 has been updated from LIMITING AND INDICATING DEVICE to LIMITING, INDICATING AND DATA RECORDING DEVICES, and an additional clause has been added to support the name change. Clause 7.2 DATA RECORDING DEVICES states the following – Data recording devices shall be fitted, maintained and operated in accordance with the current edition of ISO 10245-1 and the manufacturer’s instructions. This new requirement has been added to Plant Assessor this month.

4. Competent person guidance

There are several levels of ‘competence’ in relation to this advice. A ‘Maintenance person’ is as specified in ISO 12480-1. An ‘Experienced technician’ is a person who, due to their vocational background and experience, has sufficient skill and knowledge in the field of cranes and is sufficiently familiar with the relevant regulations to determine deviations from the proper conditions (i.e. specially trained personnel). A ‘Suitable qualified person’ is a professional engineer or independent crane inspector competent to manage a major inspection. The organisation should use a document management system which confirms the independence of these personnel from the crane maintenance personnel. ‘Crane inspector’ is a person with the necessary knowledge and experience to perform the specific vehicle-loading crane inspection.

Read the full article in our Guidance Page.

As always, if you have any specific questions related to this or other plant & equipment safety matters,
please contact us.

Disclaimer: This information is intended to provide general information on the subject matter. This is not intended as legal or expert advice for your specific situation. You should seek professional advice before acting or relying on the content of this information.