Tag Archives: crane hire tricks

Important Questions to Ask When Hiring a Crane

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Are you preparing to begin a commercial building project? You will need a crane. If purchasing a crane is not an option, renting one from a crane rental services provider may be a more cost-effective solution.

You need to get in touch with a reliable crane rental company to discuss your requirements. To have a great time and rent the right unit, you must ask yourself several crucial questions. These questions include:

What do you want to lift?

Understanding the weights of the heaviest items you want to lift is critical. Knowing the weight of the load may appear straightforward, but there may be more to it than meets the eye.

You should learn the actual weights of your loads because it will determine the size of the crane you need to hire. The weight also has a significant impact on safety and efficiency of the unit.

Some people will advise that you guess the weight of the load, but don’t do this. You also should never randomly add weight.

You may think you are saving time, but doing this causes an error that may bother you later.

Adding a “contingency” load of a reasonable value to your load is best done directly and with the crane company’s input.

So, if you aren’t sure about the exact weight you want to lift, consult the crane company, and it will help you estimate it.

You can adjust the value of this contingency as conditions change and the project evolves, and you’ll always know where you stand.

The load’s dimensions is another thing to consider, so pay attention to it. Large items may be difficult to transport, so be cautious of their sizes.

While you are at it, know the location of the center of gravity. An excellent way to do it is to consult the fabricators’ designs. If your load’s center of gravity is not specified, let the fabricator help you estimate it. Don’t do it alone, as you will likely mess up.

How long will you need to hire the crane?

Before renting a crane, you must determine how long you will need the crane. The longer you use the crane, the more it costs.

As you are coming up with the cost of hiring the crane, consider the cost of deploying the crane. All-terrain cranes are designed to be driven on highways and are more cost-effective to transport than crawler cranes.

Larger all-terrain cranes typically require one or two truckloads of counterweights. Crawler cranes may need anywhere from a dozen to several dozen truckloads to get there, which means they will be expensive to transport.

The worst mistake you can make is hiring a crane only to find that you need it longer than you estimated. To ensure that you are hiring the crane for the right amount of time, work with professionals who will help you analyze the magnitude of the project and the amount of time it will take you to complete it.

Who will operate the crane?

The crane operator you hire significantly impacts the quality of experience you have with your crane. When you hire an inexperienced crane operator, there is even the risk of the crane collapsing and causing an accident.

To be safe, hire a contractor that knows what they are doing.

Most crane rental companies have two types of services. A service where they hire you the crane with the operator and one where they simply hire you the crane, and then you find your operator.

To avoid complications, hire a crane together with the contractor. This way, you are sure that the contractor is well-versed with the crane, and they are less likely to cause an accident.

They also are more likely to take good care of the crane as they use it regularly.

When you visit the rental companies, don’t just accept the operator recommended by the company. Instead, take your time to review their certifications and ensure they are experienced enough and authorized to work in your area.

Do you need to prepare the site?

Sometimes, you might need to prepare your work site to reduce the chances of accidents. Before renting a crane, bring a geotechnical expert to examine the area and recommend the best place to install the crane.

When hiring, find engineers supplying you with the ground-bearing pressures your equipment will exert on your location. If these pressure levels need to be reduced, the engineers will work with you to devise solutions to reduce the values to acceptable levels.

If the intended crane position is on disturbed soil, you may have to compact the soils. Remember that you shouldn’t erect cranes on disturbed or freshly backfilled soil, so you must give the soil time to settle before you bring on the crane.

Occasionally, the ideal site for the crane is above utilities, pipes, vaults, vessels, or other vital objects that may impact the crane’s capacity to support its operation at that location.

You must know about these subsurface problems to avoid damage.

To avoid accidents, work with engineers with extensive expertise in dealing with these difficulties and are eager to collaborate with you to find a solution.

Parting shot

When hiring a crane from crane services DC, you should ask these questions. As a rule of thumb, take your time hiring the crane.

Take your time and find a crane that is the right size and type for your project.

You also should hire an experienced crane operator who will minimize the chances of accidents and take good care of the crane.

Finally, properly prepare your work site. As a rule of thumb, work with experienced engineers who will adequately prepare the area and, at the same time, guide you on the best procedure to lift your load.

Tips to Having a Smooth Crane Experience

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When you rent a crane from crane rentals, regardless of the type of crane you rent, you want a smooth process. The good thing is that it’s possible to do it. To help you out, here are tips to follow:

Undertake thorough research

No matter what you’re looking for, the Internet can make it easy for you to find a match. When it comes to renting a crane, all you have to do is click a few buttons.

But if you go with the first great deal, you put your building job at risk that you don’t need to. It’s easy to be surprised by secret fees from a service that isn’t as trustworthy as it claims to be.

To avoid falling prey, take your time.

When you are researching the cranes, don’t be in a rush to hire the first one you come across. Instead, take time to find out more about the crane and the crane company.

For example, you should learn about the company’s qualifications. How long has it been in operation? How many cranes does it have? Are these cranes properly maintained?

Only after finding out this information should you go ahead with the next step.

For a great experience, ensure that the company you rent from has many cranes to hire. This way, you have peace of mind that if one of your cranes fails to work, you can easily replace it without incurring an additional fee.

When you hire a crane from a small company with just one crane, in the event the crane breaks down, you have to wait for the company to fix it. If you are in a hurry, you must put in more money and rent a different one. As you can guess, this means you spend more money than planned.

Properly prepare the cranes.

Aside from renting a crane, getting the site ready is an important thing to consider. Is everything ready for the crane, including the rigging tools and any other details that might come up? You need to fact this out for you to have a great experience.

During transportation, is it necessary to get a pass to use the road around the project site? Can you stay in touch with the rental service during the transfer process to ensure everything goes well?

Before renting a crane for your business, you need to know the answers to all these questions.

Remember that most rental companies will charge you by the hour. This means that the more you stay with the crane, the more you pay for it.

To save on the money you will spend, take your time and properly prepare the site for the crane. The last thing you should do is to start clearing the site when the crane arrives. Doing this means you will spend too much time with the crane; hence, you spend too much money without getting much in return.

Hire trained operators

Hiring people who know how to use your crane and have the right training and safety certifications will help keep you and your other workers safe while the crane is in use.

Most cranes will often have experienced crane operators you can work with. The cool thing about working with such a professional is that you are sure they are conversant with the crane; hence they are less likely to cause an accident.

If the crane company doesn’t have a staff you can work with, it’s up to you to find a reputable professional. When hiring, ensure the professional is certified to work with cranes in your area. It will even be better if the professional is conversant with the crane you are working with.

Maintain safety measures

There is no way your project can progress smoothly when accidents are constantly happening, right?

To ensure this doesn’t happen, you should maintain high safety measures.

You should ensure that everyone getting on the crane puts on a harness and that the lanyard is fully attached to the bucket.

Even though it seems unlikely that an operator will fall off the platform, even the smallest bump from another piece of equipment or item can throw them off balance and put them at risk of falling.

Even a strong gust of wind could knock someone off the platform or knock them down and hurt them badly.

Another thing you should do is to ensure that you don’t go over the weight limit.

Each crane can hold a certain amount of weight. It is important to know about the weight limit and ensure that you stay within it.

Remember that even a small amount over this limit could make the crane top-heavy and cause it to fall over.

Before using a crane, always add up the weight of the operator and all tools and materials on the platform to ensure the total weight doesn’t exceed the suggested limit.

You should avoid working in extremely windy situations when working with a tower crane. This is because when a crane is extended too high, the wind can be a big safety risk.

If the wind is strong enough, it can knock the tower crane over completely, damaging property and hurting people on the site.

To stay on the safe side, avoid using a tower crane when it is very windy or when the weather is bad.

Parting shot

While it may appear like plenty of work and effort is involved in having a smooth crane experience, working with cranes safely and successfully is not something to be taken lightly.

The last thing you want is to make blunders that could prove costly later on. By following the above suggestions, you will make the process as painless as possible.

As mentioned above, work with a reputable crane hire DC company that stocks high-quality cranes and knows what it’s doing.

4 Mistakes You Might Be Making With Your Crane

Did you know that you could be doing the wrong thing with your crane without knowing? Here are some of the ways you could be making crane mistakes:

Using the wrong crane for the job

If you have visited crane rental services, you must have realized that there are many types of cranes you can rent.

One of the major mistakes people make is choosing the wrong crane for the job. To help you out, here are some of the major cranes you will find in the rental companies and how you can properly use them:

Carry deck cranes are highly mobile ones that feature excellent rotation and easy setup. While they are great, their major flaw is they don’t handle rough terrain well.

Rough terrain cranes: Although rough terrain cranes can’t travel on public roads, they tend to handle difficult grades exceptionally well and will get the work done when working on tough terrain.

Crawler cranes: Since they use tracks instead of rubber wheels, crawler cranes are excellent for sites with soft terrain.

All-terrain cranes: They have the advantage of being able to travel on their own to the job site, and they handle the rough terrain extremely well when they arrive.

You have to rent the right one to get the most from your crane. If you aren’t sure about the right one to go for, get the input of a professional.

You ignore load limits.

Different cranes have different load limits, and you should be ultra cautious of the limitations of your unit to prevent an accident.

As you are loading your crane, remember these things:

A crane will hold more weight when it’s on an outrigger than when on tires alone.
The crane will hold more weight if the boom stays over the front of the crane throughout the lift, whereas the capacity will be lower if the boom needs to swing.
The higher the load radius, the less weight the crane can lift.
To ensure that you never overload your crane, work with load charts.

You don’t read the operator manuals.

Even with highly experienced professionals, you should note that cranes from different manufacturers have unique controls, failsafe devices, and features. This means that even the most experienced professionals might not know everything about a crane.

This means that before you start working with the crane, carefully read the operator manuals and ensure that you understand everything pertaining to the cranes when it comes to:

Load capacities
Safety mechanisms
Operator controls
Stabilizers and counterweights

If you are having a problem understanding certain things in the manual, don’t ignore it—ask the technicians working in the crane rental companies.

You don’t inspect the crane.

After you have confirmed that the crane is in proper working condition in the rental stores, your work is done, right? Well, no.

For peace of mind and to reduce the chances of accidents happening on your site, you should regularly inspect your crane and ensure it’s in perfect working form.

Some of the inspections you should undertake include the following:

Pre-start checks: From their name, these are checks that you do before you start the crane. Your crane operator should check the tire condition, seat belts, oil levels, air reservoir, battery, and other factors.

Engine start-up checks: Before you start the daily work, the crane operator should start the engine, check the fuel level, pressure gauge, horn, signals, brain system, suspension, and other units and ensure they are in perfect condition.

Safety system inspections: To prevent catastrophic accidents, you should do safety system checks. During the inspections, evaluate the anti-two block, outriggers, and rated capacity limiter and ensure they are in perfect shape.

If there is a problem with your unit, regardless of how minor it is, don’t ignore it—fix it before you do the day’s work.

You work with the wrong professionals.

You shouldn’t hire just any contractor you meet. For the best outcome, take your time and hire experienced professionals that know what they are doing. The best contractors to work with are those from your local crane hire companies VA.

Common Crane Accident Causes And How To Prevent Them

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Since they are large, heavy, and carry heavy loads, cranes are often prone to accidents brought about by a number of factors. Which are these factors? Here they are as given by crane services:

Improper crane assembly

This happens when you improperly set up the crane. The reason why your crane won’t be properly set up is when you hire inexperienced professionals.

To avoid an accident from coming about due to improper crane assembly, hire the right professionals. As a rule of thumb, hire professionals with significant experience with the crane. You will even be better off hiring professionals working in the crane rental company.

To add another layer of safety, have the workers inspected by a senior competent and qualified professional.

While these professionals will charge you a little extra, they will be worth it as you will be sure they know what they are doing.

Improper training

Like other machines, people handing cranes need to be properly trained on proper crane handling and how to use them safely. To save money, some people hire the cheapest workers they can find.

In most cases, the cheap service providers are untrained and inexperienced, so they have a high chance of doing the wrong things and causing accidents.

To avoid accidents due to improperly trained workers, never hire untrained contractors. All the crane workers should be expertly trained in properly handling and using cranes. They also should have completed OSHA courses on proper crane operation.

Even if you have hired the best-trained workers, you should still train them at the work site to remind them of the crane dangers and how they should conduct themselves in an emergency.

Mechanical failures

Accidents due to mechanical failures happen when the crane stops working in the middle of a lift. Thankfully, you can easily prevent these failures by adequately maintaining the crane.

Inspect the crane as you are hiring it from the local rental stores. While there, insist on seeing the maintenance records and, as a rule of thumb, ensure that the crane is in top shape.

You also should make it a habit to inspect the crane before the start of the project and before you do any lift. This way, you have an easy time identifying issues with the crane and fixing them before you do the lifting.

Besides the crane, you also should inspect the rigging materials and confirm they aren’t worn out and are free of tears.

Overturned crane

What would make a crane overturn and cause an accident? The most common reason is overloading the machine. When you make the machine carry a heavier load than it’s supposed to, it will overturn.

The other reason is hiring an inexperienced crane operator. The same way some people hire unskilled crane workers is the same way they hire amateur crane operators. As you can guess, when the crane is under the control of an inexperienced operator, chances are high that it will overturn, among many other risks.

To prevent the crane from overturning, you should only load it the maximum allowed weight. Before you begin your project, check the manual to tell how much weight the crane can carry.

Some people try to cut costs by hiring a smaller crane for their project. Don’t do this. While you will save some money by hiring a smaller machine, you increase the chances of overloading the machine as you have to make it carry more weight so that you can complete the project on time.

The other way to prevent your crane from overturning is to ensure that it’s under the control of an experienced crane operator that knows what they are doing.

For peace of mind, hire the operator from the same rental company you hire the crane.

Ensure that the crane operator you hire is certified by a nationally accredited crane operator testing organization such as the National Commission for the certification of crane operators (NCCCO).

Parting shot

These are some common causes of crane accidents at the work site and how to prevent them from happening. To avoid accidents, hire a properly maintained crane from the crane hire VA.

You also should ensure that you work with experienced professionals that know what they are doing. You don’t want newbies that will mess up your project, do you?