Crane Safety Training: A Crucial Investment for Construction Companies
Safety is one of the biggest priorities on a jobsite. Every person on the site must remain diligent, to make sure that mistakes don’t happen and that unnecessary risks aren’t taken. This is especially true if you are operating heavy equipment such as a crane.
Crane safety training is a crucial investment for construction companies. You really can’t put a price on safety—but you can put a high price tag on a dangerous work zone. In this article, we’ll break down why crane safety training is vital for anyone operating heavy equipment and keeping job sites safe.
It Can Prevent Injuries
Cranes are large, heavy pieces of machinery, and because of this, they pose potential hazards if not operated correctly. This can result in accidents, sometimes even fatal ones. For instance, a tipping incident can seriously injure someone and may even take a life. Safety training helps the crane operator learn the right procedures to ensure the safety of everyone on the jobsite.
It Can Avoid Damage
Of course, it’s not as serious as injuring a person, but not operating a crane safely can result in damage to the property or the jobsite. It can also result in damage to the equipment itself. Both are pricey to fix and can set you back on your timeline to get the job done.
For example, one of the most common hazards with cranes is falling materials. As cranes hoist needed materials up high, there’s a risk of those materials falling. With crane safety training, crane operators and riggers learn how to properly secure materials, drastically minimizing the risk of falling objects.
You Are Better Prepared to Handle Dangerous Situations
Even the most safety-conscious construction sites can experience problems. Mechanical failure, bad weather, or other emergencies can arise. If operators are correctly trained, however, they are better able to handle potentially dangerous situations safely.
You Learn What to Load
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 80 percent of crane structure failures and upsets happen because of overloading. This includes trying to hoist a load that’s more than the capacity of the crane or by side-loading the boom. Often, this is because of human error. This results in structural stress on the crane, which damages the machine. Sometimes, this damage can be irreversible, which is extremely costly when repairs or even replacements need to be made.
When cranes and other heavy equipment are being operated on construction sites, there is always potential for risk. Crane safety training can mitigate this, however. Employees who attend a crane operator school like West Coast Training get the education and experience they need. As an accredited NCCCO-certified training and testing site, you can rest assured that crane safety training is a top priority. Contact us today to enroll in our crane safety training.