I’ve had the pleasure of working with many folks over the past 7 years and in Wabasca if you have ever been there, well it’s got great fishing lakes, really great people and well, for me it’s got light duty HIAB cranes to instruct on.
The HIAB-055-CLX is a pretty darn good little crane, with 3 hydraulic extensions on it it picks near 880 KG at 9.3m. One of the biggest complaints I point out and see all the time is that when this crane or the larger HIAB 077CLX -3 is mounted on a Ford F550 regular cab chassis, these cranes in Alberta are typically installed directly in front of the rear axle, which you may or may not know, is a fulcrum point so when the crane is fully extended to the rear of the chassis when completed, IF and I say IF the crane operator actually picked up the 880KG or 1,930 lbs full extension and tried to lift it up past the 3m point, the rear of the truck nose-dives and then the front of the truck will lift almost fully off the ground.
Then we are told, it’s supposed to be 100% stable directly behind the truck and how again is this possible? This is the world of LIGHT DUTY knuckle boom cranes.
There are training companies that have very nice manuals, well bound, look good graphically but I’ve had one in my hand from a large college here in Alberta and it’s so full of wrong information regarding “light duty knuckle boom cranes” that it’s actually borderline dangerous to give to anyone.
Feel free to call us anytime at (844) 334-8847 or send us an email by clicking HERE, subject : Light Duty Knuckle Boom Crane Training and you will hear from us in less than 2 hours time.
If companies follow the guidelines provided and look up the CSA standard they offer up in the manual, it’s not even correct for the type of crane. YET…there it is. So even after reporting this I was told; “As long as the company is doing it’s due diligence by providing training, then the specific standards are less apparent”. So folks, here is our solemn oath and guarantee to you – you WILL GET the right standard for your crane, you WILL GET the proper and crane specific training for your small, knuckle boom crane, you WILL GET the most current standard and OHS standard that you can actually use in your COR or SECOR program.
That you can take to the bank.