In spite of the ability to ride the rails, these knuckle boom cranes can actually be more dangerous.
The ONE most critical issue with cranes that we promote – STABILITY– and once you have this ingrained into the operator, the rest comes easier.
HOWEVER…what we find is that with Hy-Rail Crane Trucks primarily, that while sitting on the tracks, the issue is the ground around the rail lines slopes downward at an angle, making it very difficult to use the outriggers properly and get a good, stable working platform. Many companies are “used to” this and simply use short reach cranes (less than 25′ – see photo below) to offset the reduced stability, good practice but makes it very challenging to use the right crane for the job.
We always have and always will promote a solid foundation along with 3-core principals will get your operators home, safely, every day! You simply can’t put a price on that.