Technical Note: Lifters minimum 10 tonnes & must use N20 loop bars

What is happening?

Summary: Lifters minimum 10 tonnes & must use N20 loop bars

• Lifters must have a minimum capacity of 10 tonnes from now on.
• N20 loop bars must be used on 10 tonne lifters. This is a slightly thicker diameter than the previously used bars.

Why?

Suppose you have a 9 tonne panel. Then a 10 tonne lifter will suffice, would it not? Wrong! The panel will sometimes actually be more than 9 tonnes due to dynamic loading. What is dynamic loading? It is the additional load that is felt by the lifter, caused by lifting the panel. If the crane drops the panel very quickly, and then stops abruptly, then the panel lifter will face a strain significantly higher than its static weight. To prevent accidents and injuries – not to mention losing a panel and the antecedent costs, all panels henceforth must have 10 tonne lifters as a minimum.

What to do now?

• Please make changes to the code to ensure that it is impossible to place a lifter less than 10 tonnes.
• Please add a check on the audit to ensure that lifter under 10 tonnes are not found.
• Please add an audit check to ensure staff are following procedures.

For the general public, as an aside:

What is a lifter?

If you don’t know what a lifter is, it is basically a hook that allows a crane to lift up a panel. This “hook” is secured to the panel with what is called a loop bar.

What is a loop bar?

It is simply a bar which secures the lifter to the panel. If you have no bar, then the hook will simply snap off the panel. If the hook snaps off the panel while it is being lifted by a crane, you can be sure that it’s gonna kill some unlucky soul who might be walking under it. So it’s very important that every lifter is secured with the correct loop bar. There is no point putting in a loop bar if you put in the wrong one.