Part 3: Operational requirements for controllers

The term “controller” means a person who is the owner, lessee, sublessee or bailee of equipment in a place of work and is confined to equipment under the PECPR Regulations.

The controller of a crane is responsible for the safe testing, operation, inspection, repair and maintenance of that crane.

A principal has similar duties to a controller.

Evidence of competence

Both the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 and the Health and Safety in Employment (Pressure Equipment, Cranes, and Passenger Ropeways) Regulations 1999 require persons operating plant to be competent.

Increasingly, principals and others require proof of competence of persons entering their sites, in order to discharge their own responsibilities. Controllers and employers should, therefore, be able to provide evidence that their crane operators have the skills, knowledge and experience necessary to safely operate their cranes.

An appropriate qualification from an appropriate industry training organisation may provide such evidence.

3.1 Operations

Training and supervision

Every controller of a crane is to take all practicable steps to:

1. supervise every crane function or specified activity or delegate such powers as are required to enable the appointed competent person to carry out that function or activity and ensure that the name of the competent person is known to any other persons who carry out any related activity.
2. ensure that every crane is operated in a safe manner by a competent person within the limits of its design.
3. ensure that procedures relating to the operation of the crane in any condition/situation are developed and kept under regular review. For exclusion areas, refer to the sections for the crane user and the crane operator of the Crane Safety Manual for Operators/Users published by the Crane Association of New Zealand. This manual also covers rope examination, communications and interference zones.
4. ensure that all drawings, manuals, specifications, certificates, operational procedures, rating sheets, hand signal charts and so on, are maintained in current form and the operating manual is readily accessible to the crane operator.
5. ensure the means of securing ropes to a drum, hook block or structure of the crane are as specified by the manufacturer. Care is to be taken to ensure that anchorage points are securely fastened in accordance with instructions.
6. ensure that any crane that is considered unsafe is withdrawn from service or is made safe to the satisfaction of an equipment inspector before further use.

Electrical protection

Every controller of a crane is to take all practicable steps to:

7. ensure that the electrical installation of every crane is in accordance with the appropriate requirements of AS/NZS 3000:2000 Electrical installations (known as the Australian/New Zealand Wiring Rules). At first commissioning, a chartered professional engineer (electrical) is to certify that the electrical installation and control circuits are appropriate and also that points 9 to 12 and 13(b) below are covered. This certification should be repeated after any subsequent alteration or repair to the electrical installation or controls.

Note: Such electrical installation may also be subject to the requirements of the AS 1418 Cranes (including hoists and winches) series of standards or other requirements of the relevant regulatory authorities.

Controls

Every controller of a crane is to take all practicable steps to:

8. ensure that operating levers or wheels have clear markings, on or adjacent to them, to indicate their function and mode of operation. Control arrangements can be specifically designed for “joystick” control of two movements simultaneously, otherwise they shall be so designed that selection of one movement cannot cause any other movement unless it is for the operation of a safety device or interlock. Control valve systems shall be designed to return to the neutral position when released, except when operational characteristics dictate otherwise.
9. ensure that, on electrically powered cranes, if power is lost for any reason, it is not be possible to restart the drive on restoration of the supply unless the control device has first been returned to the “off” position.
10. ensure that the weight of any pendant control is supported independently of its electrical conductors. If a pendant control enclosure is made of metal, then it shall be earthed and the earth shall not depend on supporting chains for continuity.
11. ensure that the design of electrically operated overhead travelling cranes is such that all brakes will automatically apply in the event of power failure.
12. ensure that, when magnet attachments are used, a recommended backup system (e.g. a battery) is used in case power supply to the magnet fails.

Radio-controlled equipment

Every controller of a crane is to take all practicable steps to:

13. ensure that equipment that controls the operation of the crane by radio, induction or other non-conduct means includes:
    1. a key switch or equivalent security device on the transmitter that can be used to prevent unauthorised use of the transmitter. The transmitter should also be constructed so that it is capable of withstanding rough handling.
    2. an emergency stop device. The system used for this shall only be used for emergency stop where it introduces no additional inbuilt time delay and shall incorporate a reset device.
    3. suitable visual indication on the crane indicating when the crane is on radio control.
14. 1 ensure radio-controlled cranes incorporate a controlled range feature that enables the operating range to be positively limited to a safe distance determined by the competent person responsible for safety. The practical effect of this is that, if the operator tries to send the crane beyond the controlled range, the main contactor of the crane will open automatically and the crane should come to rest under the action of its automatically operated progressive form of long and cross-travel brake.

Safe access and egress

Every controller of a crane is to take all practicable steps to:

15. ensure a means of safe and adequate access and egress is provided for operation, maintenance and inspection of the crane
16. ensure a system for emergency escape from the operator’s cab is provided.

Load handling

Every controller of a crane is to take all practicable steps to:

17. ensure that any load-handling devices such as grapples, demolition balls, clamshells, piling hammers, magnets and so on are maintained and operated in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations and kept in a safe condition.
18. ensure that no crane with a load (other than the hook and slings) is operated in a free-fall situation on any site, other than clamshelling, draglining, pile driving, demolition and compaction.

Guarding

19. Every controller of a crane is to take all practicable steps to ensure that moving parts and exposed equipment that may foreseeably cause injury are suitably guarded.

3.2 Routine checking

Every controller of a crane shall ensure that:

1. operators carry out daily and weekly checks to enable the crane to be operated safely, according to the controller’s written procedures based on the manufacturer’s instructions, and that the controller can demonstrate that the checks have been carried out
2. the controlled range feature, where fitted on radio-controlled cranes, is tested at suitable intervals, and that at the beginning of each shift, or where there is a change in the crane operator, the controlled range is checked to ensure that it is in accordance with the limits specified for its operation.

3.3 Inspection and certification

Every controller of a crane shall ensure that:

1. cranes are inspected by an equipment inspector and issued with a certificate of inspection by the inspection body at intervals not exceeding 12 months
2. records are kept of the date, time and results of any inspection carried out and the name of the inspection body involved
3. the inspection body engaged is currently an IANZ-accredited inspection body and the equipment inspector is an approved signatory for the relevant type of crane
4. the unique identifier assigned by the inspection body is permanently and clearly marked on every crane when it is issued with a certificate of inspection for the first time
5. maintenance records are made available to the equipment inspector
6. where practical, the remaining life, based on the actual conditions of use, is recorded at every inspection

Note: An industry working party is considering the matter of major inspections and when to apply them and this will cover the assessment of the remaining life of the crane and provide details of what is to be recorded.

7. non-destructive testing (NDT) reports are approved by a suitably qualified signatory working for an IANZ-accredited inspection body. The NDT report must be IANZ-endorsed.

3.4 Alterations and repairs

Every controller of a crane shall ensure that:

1. the date and results of any structural alterations or repairs are recorded in a register
2. alterations or repairs that require changes in the quality of the materials used on the crane or changes to the dimensions of components providing structural integrity are subject to the manufacturer’s written approval. The repairs are to be carried out to the satisfaction of an equipment inspector, and a new certificate of inspection may then be issued. The documentation is to be made available to the inspection body. Alterations and repairs carried out without involving an equipment inspector are likely to invalidate the certificate of inspection

Note: Where a crane has been design verified originally by calculation, where the manufacturer is not available, the repair must be designed by a chartered professional engineer and design verified. Where the crane was originally design verified on the basis of a manufacturer’s statement, the manufacturer’s approval is mandatory.

3. any structural repair that requires welding is carried out by a qualified welder in accordance with the manufacturer’s specific procedures. If a manufacturer’s procedures cannot be obtained, procedures must be proposed by a New Zealand-certified welding engineer (NZCWE). In both cases, the repairs are to be carried out to the satisfaction of an equipment inspector, and a new certificate of inspection will be issued
4. locally manufactured equipment is inspected and tested by an inspection body in accordance with the requirements of the manufacturing standard, and any inspection and test plan (ITP) specified by the designer. Where the designer does not provide an ITP, the manufacturer shall prepare the ITP. On completion of fabrication inspection, the equipment inspector shall review the manufacturer’s data report and, when satisfied, endorse it
5. adjustments or repairs to any safety device are carried out by a competent person
6. any tests required by the equipment inspector are carried out to the satisfaction of the equipment inspector in accordance with the standards listed in Appendix C: Reference standards and documents.

3.5 Maintenance

Every controller of a crane shall ensure that:

1. every crane is maintained in a safe condition and in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions at all times
2. a procedure is in place that ensures a safety-related fault is immediately repaired and recorded
3. all maintenance records, procedures, drawings, specifications and instructions are kept up to date.

3.6 Accident notification

Every controller of a crane shall:

1. take all practicable steps to ensure that, if an event of the kind described in sub-clause (2) occurs, the actions described in sub-clause (3) are carried out.
2. The event is one that:
   1. occurs in a place of work, and
   2. causes:
      1. idamage that affects the operational safety of equipment, or
      2. damage to other property that may affect the safety of equipment, and
   3. might, in different circumstances, have caused any person to be seriously harmed.
3. The actions are:
   1. notifying the Secretary within seven days after the event
   2. giving the Secretary, within 28 days of the event’s occurrence, a detailed written report of an investigation of the circumstances of the event, carried out by an inspection body or by a chartered professional engineer independent of the controller and the inspection body that carried out the previous inspection
   3. including a record of the incidents in the maintenance records.

Further detail is available in the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992.

3.7 Designated design life

A crane’s design life may not be the same as its actual life and depends on such factors as its classification, usage and its operating environment.

In the Health and Safety in Employment (Pressure Equipment, Cranes, and Passenger Ropeways) Regulations 1999:

• regulation 18(c) requires designers to determine and specify in the design, the design life of the equipment
• regulation 20(3) requires suppliers to take all practicable steps to ensure, when importing for supply, equipment manufactured in an overseas country, that it has not already exceeded its design life
• regulation 10(c) requires controllers to operate equipment within the limits that it was designed to operate within.

As the end of the notional design life of a crane approaches, at periodic intervals or when a second-hand crane is imported into New Zealand, inspection and testing shall be carried out in order to determine that the crane will remain safe for continued use. This is likely to be over and above the routine annual inspection process.

This process may include:

• reference to the design criteria and standards
• review of any manufacturer’s recommendations for examination or periodic replacement of safety critical components
• identification of states of loading producing highest stress or using finite element analysis data
• review of crane usage records
• examination of maintenance records
• stripping down or dismantling inaccessible parts
• non-destructive testing (NDT).

If there is insufficient information to enable the equipment inspector to make a proper assessment of the condition of the crane, the inspection body shall not certify it.

Note: An industry working group has been set up in 2007 to consider these matters and to provide advice to assist suppliers, controllers, equipment inspectors and inspection bodies to adopt a consistent, risk-based and cost-effective approach to dealing with this important issue. Guidelines or other recommendations produced by the group will be incorporated into this approved code of practice.

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