Cranes are important and widely used equipment for lifting and transferring goods in various industries. Failures and accidents often occur on cranes worked at production line, construction sites, shipyards, ships, refinery plants, oil & gas exploration and drilling sites, not only resulting in huge economic loss but also injuries or even fatalities. It’s critical to perform failure analysis and forensic accident investigation for crane experts to determine the cause(s) & mechanism(s) of crane failure accident, and provide counter measures to prevent similar crane failure accident recurrence. Effective failure analysis and accident investigation can not only enhance reliability and safety, but also improve product quality and reduce operational cost & down time of facilities. Furthermore, effective failure analysis and accident investigation can assist litigation and insurance claims related to crane accidents and failures when acting as crane expert witness.
There are various types of cranes, mainly mobile cranes, bridge cranes, gantry cranes, tower cranes, dockside cranes, ship cranes, etc. The cranes consist generally of power system (electricity or engine), hosting system (built on tracks, vehicle, tower etc.), and hoisting system including wire ropes, pulleys or sheaves, hooks, winches, main structures (booms, jibs), operation system, braking system, safety devices and cabin. If there are some failures or damages in these systems during operation and standby, that could result in accidents.
