Safety-conscious companies across the Asia-Pacific are acutely aware of the need for standards compliance when it comes to their cranes and lifting equipment.
Companies in industries such as manufacturing, materials handling, mining, food & beverage, power generation, steel handling and forming & fabrication are focused on optimising the safety and reliability of the overhead cranes and lifting devices on which they rely for daily operations. However, as companies expand in size and have fleets of tens or even hundreds of cranes, it can be easy to miss one minor component of standards compliance, even if all due diligence is being taken to meet requirements, according to Konecranes.
“We’re finding that even some dedicated safety and compliance managers may not realise there are additional procedures they aren’t aware of,” says Joseph Cefai, Consultation Service Manager, Konecranes Australia. “They have been vigilantly ensuring their employees comply to the standards they know, but weren’t aware of several additional important rules.”
Konecranes has more than 600,000 pieces of lifting equipment under service contract worldwide. To fill the gap for time-poor but safety-conscious companies, Konecranes has introduced its auditing tool, Compliance Gap Analysis. It ensures that companies using cranes and lifting devices are comprehensively compliant.
“Expert Konecranes auditors look at entire maintenance programmes, as well as inspection methods, equipment usage, repair processes and structural reports to give a complete picture of operations and maintenance,” says Cefai. “We often find, for example, that a business’ overhead travelling cranes are perfectly serviced and totally standards-compliant, but their smaller workshop crane has been neglected, because it is often minimally used, or only used when other cranes are out of service or undergoing routine maintenance.
“It can also be seen as a ‘reliability asset controller’ because it ensures that every asset is properly maintained and serviced, which will minimise downtime and improve productivity. At the end of the day, the consequences of non-compliance are very high, so it’s just not worth it. In addition to penalties by regulatory authorities, if an employee or visitor is injured due to a non-compliant crane, that could change their life forever, and leave the company legally liable for the negligence.”
Compliance Gap Analysis process
- A team of trained Konecranes auditors will meet and brief staff, including operations, maintenance, safety and plant management.
- Konecranes auditors will then tour the facility, making notes and compiling information from discussions with designated operators and plant personnel.
- Konecranes will conduct a compliance review with plant leadership, provide a summary of any safety-related issues that need immediate attention and produce an easy-to-read final report with action plans. Report findings are considered highly confidential and are not shared or distributed except where required by law.
Optimised maintenance programmes
In addition to identifying any weaknesses in standards compliance, a Konecranes Compliance Gap Analysis can also enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of maintenance programmes, including companies with multiple sites.
“Sometimes a company has started at one site, then established a new site several years later,” says Cefai. “We often find that they’ve treated the two maintenance schedules as entirely separate operations, when in fact there are efficiency and compliance benefits to seeing them as sections of the same programme.”
Compliance Gap Analysis is part of a broader suite of Konecranes services, including RailQ runway analysis, RopeQ wire rope inspection and CraneQ crane geometry survey.
Each service is designed to give an in-depth insight into cranes, their component parts, and their operations. The findings can be used to enhance safety, efficiency and reliability. Expert Konecranes staff can provide individually tailored recommendations based on the findings.