CRANE OPERATIONS

BEFORE THE SHIFT

1. 01

   MACHINE AND CONFIGURATION

   Confirm the crane on site is the crane this lift requires. Counterweight, boom, jib, tyres, tracks, software — as the chart requires.

2. 02

   INSPECTION

   Complete the operator inspection. Defects that affect lifting are reported and the crane stays down until they are resolved.

3. 03

   GROUND AND SETUP

   Outriggers fully extended unless the chart allows otherwise. Mats as required. Cribbing is engineered thinking, not scrap lumber theatre. Level within the manufacturer’s limit.

4. 04

   SITE HAZARDS

   Overhead lines, underground services, excavations, other cranes, public, aircraft if applicable. Approach distances to power lines are treated as hard walls.

5. 05

   BRIEF

   Signals, radius, known loads, critical lift status, wind limits, who stops the job.

ON THE HOOK

• The operator does not lift a load they cannot account for on the chart, including deductions and rigging weight.
• No lifting over people. No riding the load. No using the crane as an elevator unless the operation is a permitted, engineered personnel lift.
• Shock loading, side loading and dragging are not operating. They are abuse.
• If the signal is unclear, the answer is stop — not interpret.
• Leave the seat only when the crane is in a stable, manufacturer-accepted condition.

CRITICAL LIFTS

Treat as critical unless the site defines a stricter threshold: loads approaching chart capacity, tandem lifts, lifts over operating plant or public space, non-routine paths, loads with shifting COG, a flytable / flyform cycle, or a loading-platform install, reposition or strike. Critical lifts get an SJP, named supervision, and a slower brief. Ego is not a control. Flytables: GOSPEL-SWP-028, GOSPEL-JHA-011, GOSPEL-SJP-001. Loading platforms: GOSPEL-SWP-030, GOSPEL-JHA-014, GOSPEL-SJP-003.

FLYTABLE CYCLING — GOSPEL-SWP-028 →

LOADING PLATFORM — GOSPEL-SWP-030 →

WEATHER AND POWER LINES

Wind limits come from the manufacturer and the lift plan — the lower number wins. Tower: 14.92 anemometer, stop when the load cannot be handled safely, 50 km/h if the OEM is silent. Cold: 14.93, stop below −18 °C unless the manufacturer or engineer says otherwise. Lightning: thunder is the stop. Environment Canada — if you hear it, you are in striking distance. Wait 30 minutes after the last rumble. Do not count flash-to-bang to 30 before stopping. Technical Safety BC does not write a 30/30 crane rule; earthing of the supply is the owner’s electrical work. A strike is a misadventure (14.16.1).

WEATHER AND WIND — GOSPEL-SWP-023 →

Power lines: assume they are live. MAD is Table 19-1A — the same numbers BC Hydro publishes. If the lift cannot hold that clearance, it is not a crane job until 30M33 is signed.

Voltage from the utility — BC Hydro Express Connect 1 877 520 1355. Boom, load, tag line and people all stay outside the number. Tower crane: zone-limiting device if practicable (19.24.1(2)).

WORKING NEAR POWERLINES — GOSPEL-SWP-018 →

LOCKOUT, ACCESS, ERECTION

Operating the crane is not servicing it. Isolation before a body is in the machine: GOSPEL-SWP-026. Climbing the ladder to the cab to operate is not jumping the tower. Erection, climbing (increasing height) and dismantling are a separate lift under a qualified supervisor, with a Notice of Project as 14.73.3 requires. GOSPEL-SWP-027. Emergency shutdown: people first. GOSPEL-SWP-024.

LOCKOUT / ISOLATION — GOSPEL-SWP-026 →

TOWER ERECTION, CLIMBING AND DISMANTLING — GOSPEL-SWP-027 →

22 — CRANE BINDERS / NOP-TC →