Crane Safety and Secondary Braking

Cranes usually are manufactured with secondary braking systems. These brakes at like an emergency brake or parking brake in a car. Although you should not have to use them often, they can save lives in the event that the first braking system malfunctions. Crane safety often depends on secondary braking, and currently OSHA is taking measures to ensure that this equipment is even safer. If you operate a crane at work, make sure you understand how this crane’s secondary braking systems work. Your knowledge on the subject could prevent an accident.

In early October of 2008, OSHA (the United State’s Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration) proposed a number of changes to the current crane and derrick regulations. Included in these proposed changes were some items that deal with secondary braking. Remember, secondary braking does not just refer to the brakes on the actual driving part of a mobile crane. One of the proposed changes, for example, was for secondary breaking for a friction drum, which is the device that raises and lowers the boom. Currently, cranes’ friction drums must have a clutch and brakes, but the proposed change would make it necessary for newly manufactured cranes to also have a back-up braking system – either secondary brakes or a locking device – that would engage if the first braking system malfunctions. You can read more about these proposed changes online here.

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According to this website for professional fabricators, hoist manufacturers use two main types of brakes. About 80% use a regenerative type of secondary brake, while the other 20% use a mechanical load brake as the secondary brake. There are currently problems with both. A mechanical load brake generates a lot of heat. If the power fails on the crake, it isn’t effective for a load over 30 tons. These systems are also extremely expensive. However, a regenerative braking system won’t stop the load from falling if the primary brakes fail. Instead, this kind of system will lower the load at a controlled speed, which is better than free falling, but can still be dangerous.

The logging industry has been particularly vocal about the use of secondary braking systems, as this equipment has saved many lives. As of 1985, most pieces of logging equipment have been required to only be operated if they have secondary braking systems. You can read more about that from OSHA and West Virginia University here. Overall, however, it is not enough that cranes are equipped with secondary brakes.

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Rather, it is most important that employees know how to use these systems, as well as how to prevent them from ever having to be used in the first place. If you have been injured in a crane accident contact a crane accident lawyer today. Many cranes use automatic secondary braking systems, but an employee operating a crane should also know how to use the manual secondary brakes, as well as how to override any automatic part of the crane. Secondary braking systems can save lives, but at the same time, the best way to prevent an injury during an accident is to be educated so that the accidents never happen in the first place.

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