One of the world's largest floating cranes arrived on Oct. 6 at the site of the new Tappan Zee Bridge near Tarrytown, N.Y., after being fitted with fresh wire rope and undergoing tests this summer to prove the rig was ready to tackle the project's heaviest modules, some of which are expected to weigh up to 1,000 tonnes.
Photo courtesy Lampson Lampson's latest heavy lifter has been updated with hydraulically operated hoists. Related Links: Heavy Lifters: How Much Can You Bench? The World's Biggest Supercranes Heavy-lift specialist Lampson International LLC has finished load-testing its largest crane, the Transi-Lift LTL-3000, which can lift loads weighing 3,000 tonnes and is said to cost more than $25 million.Standing today in Lampson's Kennewick, Wash., facility, the unit was sold in 2010 to Hitachi Transport Ltd. to build a now-delayed Higashidori nuclear powerplant for Tokyo Electric Power Co.The LTL-3000 sports updated technology. "It's a departure from the previous Transi-Lifts in that the hoist
Related Links: Test Drive: 2015 GMC Sierra Denali HD Rules the Roost Looking to Cars, Trucks Step Up Safety A new collision-mitigation technology expected next year from Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems will warn a truck driver when a crash with a stationary vehicle is imminent and—if he or she does not respond fast enough—slow down the truck automatically. Current systems can use the brakes to match the speed of forward-moving vehicles but warn truck drivers only of stopped ones.Believed to be the first of its kind for commercial vehicles in North America, Bendix's next-generation safety technology combines vehicle-stability, adaptive-cruise and
Photo by Tudor Van Hampton/ENR OSHA has delayed crane-operator certification requirements by three years to allow time to re-examine national testing requirements. Related Links: OSHA Delays Crane Operator Testing By Three Years Testing Companies Debate OSHA Crane Operator Delay Representatives of standardized testing companies say that crane-operator exams will continue to be administered, though possibly at a slower pace, as the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration re-examines contentious certification language in its cranes-and-derricks regulation."I think that there will be, unfortunately, a short-term downturn in certification," says Debbie Dickinson, executive director of Crane Institute Certification. But she adds that some
Courtesy Howard I. Shapiro and Associates Operators will now have until Nov. 2017 to obtain a valid certification to run a crane on U.S. construction sites. Related Links: Testing Companies Debate OSHA Crane Operator Delay OSHA Proposes Three-Year Extension for Crane Operator Certification Requirements The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration today issued a final rule extending by three years the deadline for crane operators to be tested. Operators will now have until Nov. 10, 2017, to obtain a valid certification to run a crane on U.S. construction sites.Previously, operators had until Nov. 10 of this year to obtain certification.
Photo courtesy of Gilbane Federal/T.J. Lyons CORRECT Dead end is clipped into Terminator-style wedge socket. Photo courtesy of Gilbane Federal/T.J. Lyons INCORRECT Clipping a wire rope's live and dead ends is not advised. Related Links: Reference Materials: ITI Memo (PDF) Trimble Buys Crane-Safety Instrumentation Company A safety manager at Gilbane Federal, the defense-contracting arm of the Rhode Island-based commercial builder, this year wrapped up a two-year rigging audit in Japan and found that local workers were securing wire-rope terminations in a manner that could cause crane loads to drop suddenly.The safety manager, T.J. Lyons, surveyed about 90 cranes in Japan
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