Lifting Equipment – A Complete Guide

Lifting operations are inevitable in the steel fabrication industry. They occur normally during the transportation of materials from the storage place to the place where it is being processed, and during the processing of materials. They can be performed either manually or using lifting equipment. The costs of accidents and ill health related to lifting operations are immense. Manual lifting operations can put construction workers at great risk of injury or health symptoms causing sick leave or disability. This is an area where you should make sure you take all necessary safety precautions.

What makes manual lifting hazardous?

There are several risk factors involved in manual lifting, that may increase the occurrence of injury. These factors are related to the different characteristics including the load, the task, organization of the work, the work environment, and the worker.

• The load, which may be too heavy and large making it impossible to follow the basic rules for lifting and carrying — to keep the load as close to the body as possible; thus, tiring the muscles more rapidly. Also if the load is unbalanced or unstable, there will be difficult to hold the center of gravity of the load close to the middle of the body; this leads to uneven loading of muscles and fatigue.

• The work environment, if it has insufficient room, in particular vertically, to carry out the activity may lead to awkward postures. Also, if the workplace has variations floor levels, the loads will have to be manipulated over different levels. Insufficient lighting can also lead to injuries.

• Individual characteristics, such as lack of experience, training, and familiarity with the job can have bad effects. The risk of low back disorders increases with age and also with the number of years at work.

Requirements for lifting equipment

The employer should always ensure that lifting equipment provided for use at work is safe, and is:

• Sufficiently strong, stable, and suitable for the proposed use.

• Positioned to prevent the risk of injury

• Visibly marked with any appropriate information to be taken into account for its safe use

• Where equipment is used for lifting people it is marked accordingly, and it should be safe for such a purpose

Important lifting equipment for steel fabrication

Vacuum lifters

The vacuum lifting machines stand for absolutely gentle handling, efficient and ergonomic working processes with the highest operational safety. Usually, all manually operated lifters are equipped with the unique "main switch supervision". Vacuum lifters set new standards when it comes to safety. Vacuum lifters are suitable for horizontal transport, swiveling, or turning over plate materials of all kinds. They are suitable for lifting materials from 5 kg to 40 Ton, in both indoor and outdoor applications. All dry, wet, greasy, rough, dusty surfaces can be lifted.

Vacuum pipe lifters

They are designed based on the desire to provide the customers with a useful and quality product to grab and handle pipes and tubes of various materials, mainly used in construction, storage yards and pipe laying businesses. It was developed innovatively by integrating technologies like batteries, engines and electronics backed by years of dedicated experience.

Glass lifting robots

Suitable for glass, panels, curved glass, concrete, metal sheet, or any non-porous lifting, manipulation, transportation, and installation. They are an ideal choice for glass installers for getting their installation work done quickly and safely. The mobile glazing robots believe in providing innovative solutions and products, which are well known for precision, reliability, and quality.

Glass lifter

They can be used for lifting various flat, curved and profiled panels as well as glass. They aim at simplifying the time-consuming and risky processes of glass and panel installations. It is an ideal tool for ensuring the simple, safe, and damage-free installation. A battery-powered alarm will warn when the battery runs low and also indicates low vacuum, hence improving operator safety.

Stone slab lifters

This is a reliable and easy-to-use vacuum lifting equipment that fits various types of concrete slabs and stone elements together on time and without having to worry. Even rough surfaces can be handled safely.

Portable Vacuum Lifter

They drastically increase worksite safety, ergonomics and ease of operation for any form of porous or non-porous surface. The innovative tool makes life easy for all workers in the handling business.

Carton lifting machines

They are smart and electronically controlled manual load handling systems. It can be applied to different supports such as a column with Orbit Arm, ceiling, overhead rail and bridge crane system. Auto weight sense and automatic load weight balancing are available with high precision in load placing. These Industrial Manipulators are state of the art and can be customized to any form of handling, thanks to the various end effectors. The usage can be in carton lifting, glass handling, motor handling, white goods, electronics, dies or in various domains of food industries.

Light crane system

With profiles, runways, and components specifically designed to improve upon standard steel designs and constructions, the aluminum light cranes will enable you to complete your lifting and transporting tasks with less stress and strain. As the system is smooth running and easy to operate and maintain, you will soon begin to realize operational efficiencies such as improved productivity and profitability.

Conclusion

Accidents may happen if the lifting equipment is not inspected and maintained regularly. All equipment should be thoroughly examined at regular intervals of time before putting it into service. For almost all lifting equipment and accessories, there are standard procedures and criteria to be considered. Visual examination and functional checks, measurements of wear, traditional non-destructive testing, and load testing – all these have to be conducted.