Signaling technology is critical to maintaining safety in crane elevator applications
Audible and visual signals reduce the risk of dangerous, costly accidents.
June is #NationalSafetyMonth, an opportunity to raise awareness of significant hazards to technicians, operators and other workers on the ground associated with the use of crane lifts. To avoid accidents, everyone needs to know that a crane and its cargo are nearby.
Audible and visual signals protect against these hazards by notifying people under or near a moving load so that they can take the necessary precautions to avoid damage. Correct signals are therefore crucial. Inferior signals that are inaudible or not sufficiently visible in the workshop can lead to dangerous and costly accidents.
Combination signaling devices with two signal transmitters and flashing devices are particularly recommended for overhead traveling cranes in order to achieve an additional safety advantage. There are only minor differences in cost between combined and individual signaling devices. However, the added value to the user is immense, as terms and conditions can prevent employees from hearing or seeing a signal, but rarely prevent both.
Advantages of acoustic and visual signal transmission when using overhead traveling cranes
Combination beacons in overhead crane settings can provide cost savings in two different ways: reduced risk of personal injury and increased throughput on the factory floor. Signal devices reduce the risk to personnel by warning them of impending danger so that there is no risk of death, injury or even loss of time. However, this reduced risk depends on the effectiveness of a signaling device in a particular application, based on its decibel and joule rating.
In terms of increased throughput, signals can reduce the likelihood of crane failures. State-of-the-art combination signaling devices can not only warn personnel of a moving load, but can also use separate tones or lights to warn the operator of conditions that can cause downtime. This can include collision avoidance, overspeed alarms, stroke break failure alarms, overload alarms, and overtemperature of VHD alarms. These in turn save costs as companies that use cranes to simplify production depend on them to generate revenue. If the crane fails, there is a high likelihood of a significant loss of revenue. So if you signal that conditions need to be changed or maintenance work done, the risk of that loss of revenue is reduced.
