Drayton Valley Knuckle Picker Training

So you need to have H2S, Maybe confined space, first aid for sure and then ground disturbance, UTV/ATV training but yet, one of the items used by some companies the most, don’t have any picker training done as it’s not required!

Journeyman Crane Operator Knuckle Boom Crane Accident

So is UTV/ATV necessary? When was the last time you experienced an H2S release? Last time you went into a confined space area? But unless you are forced to get a picker safety ticket it ain’t gonna happen right?

Do you know how much your crane can lift? How high? How Far, How Stable, Which areas are least/most stable? You starting to see the picture?

So, there is a saying, don’t make it about the money or you won’t make it out alive. More often than not we get to come in and help a company AFTER an incident, then the costs are what they are. But if we can come in BEFORE this happens, and I can assure anyone reading this, it is not a matter of IF, but WHEN given the large number of pickers there are in the field.

We get it, right now the economy is tight, funds are tough, a government that isn’t doing us any favours and I could go on and on. SO, we’ve made it easy for your company to do business with our company:

Book a time, pay us 50% when the training is completed (terms apply)
Pay the balance in 30-days

It’s no easier than that. We take on some of the risk but we are 100% confident that you won’t find better training than ours, GUARANTEED!

Give us a call at (844) 334-8847

email us at info [AT] KnuckleBoomTraining [dot] ca

Talk to us for 5 minutes and you will see what makes us different!

HIAB Light Duty Knuckle Picker Training

We often get to see some of the most unique crane applications there are when we do our HIAB picker training. This one isn’t of a unit in North America, but I wish it was!

The unit was designed in NL and not only was it installed on a non-traditional chassis, it’s a combination of tractor, combine chassis and all-terrain vehicle. The crane is a Palfinger crane with a jib attached for added versatility.

The downside to this is portability. You simply can’t drive it down the roadway, it has to be transported on a truck/trailer combination, but I still think it’s one of the coolest picker units i’ve seen. I’m not sure of the cost to build this unit, but i’m betting it wasn’t low-budget in anyway. The entire unit is actually for sale if anyone is considering it.

When we get calls for information on our training program in Alberta or Saskatchewan for our knuckle picker training, we often are asked if we do this at the customers location or if we have our own location they have to travel to.

Give us a call at (844) 334-8847 for more details or to book a training.

The answer will soon be both. Our program right now is 99.9% on your site, we come to you and bring everything with us to see you, train you and that way, keep your costs down so that you won’t have to pay for travel expenses for a handful of operators to a location.

We are also now working on setting up a training location in Edmonton, Calgary and either Kindersley, Regina or Weyburn and the final location for Saskatchewan remains open at the moment. Either way, you will have more options to get your operators trained up.

We’d love to see more of this type of units here in North America, cost wise it obviously needs a very specific application request, but that said, I’d still love to be a part of the design and training of this unit.

I suspect you guessed it we love all things knuckle boom cranes here and are thankful for business we have received and will continue to receive from our customers.

Some Important Tools we Run our Business With

We’ve been operating in a realm we call “challenging” here in Western Canada. So to help keep expenses in check, we use a host of tools that work not only very well, but also very cost efficiently.

Our website is a wordpress site, if you don’t know what that is, I can only suggest you take a look at what Google produces for your in your search, but it has so many features, plug ins galore and much more.

Now, when it comes to email, well no matter what platform you are using (outlook, gmail, yahoo, etc), you MUST do back ups of your email. Now we use Gmail as an aggregate for all of our emails, it’s easy and we only have to log into one email platform to receive from multiple email addresses.

But, even the mighty Gmail and be shut down for a variety of reasons, or you or one of your employees may have deleted an email that was intended to be kept, there are literally 100’s of reasons you need to back up your email. You back up your HDD right (you do back it up?).

That said, one if the easiest and (IMHO), best tools we us (and did I mention FREE), is cloudHQ. They have a simple email back up tool (along with a host of other simple and easy to use) software add-ons that we also use. I like the fact that every week I have set up an automatic back up so that we will never be without. It’s done right before we back up our HDD so that it captures all of our data in one simple easy to use file. Click a box, then select your emails (either specific ones, tagged ones, ones from specific sales people, etc. It’s highly flexible (the free version is limited but not in a bad way at all), and then click save. You will get notification. It’s that easy. You can go HERE and get your email back up tools, they have many available for you.

Get cloudHQ for other software but get cloudHQ for easy email back up or you will loose at some point, valuable email you wish you hadn’t. We did and we will never make that mistake again. We’ll post more about tools we use in other posts coming down the line.

Again, cloudHQ for tools that work!

Crane Training Saskatchewan

So there has been a tremendous amount of confusion by the people who run pickers in Saskatchewan. The phone calls we have gotten have also left us confused until we go ahold of the right person.

The picker crane (knuckle boom crane) in Saskatchewan is now or has been called PME or power mobile equipment, same category as a small mechanic service crane (corner mount), or small carry deck crane (think Broderson) and other small cranes, less than 5-ton in Capacity.

So according to OH&S in most provinces in Canada as long as the company can ensure the operator of the equipment is competent and provides the proper training and tools, they have done to the best of their ability, given the operator the best chance of success vs handing the keys over and telling them to “keep the shiny side up” is akin to saying…don’t crash it.

What our picker training WILL provide you and your operators? Confidence and knowledge by way of a strong foundation of what to do and NOT do. You provide the competent operator.

What you will find is that many insurance companies will also provide you with a lower rate upon completion of training (certain conditions will apply) and many of the operators you contract to (if you are in the energy sector) will not only appreciate the certification but contracts will often be moved forward with given the new training.

or call us (844) 334-8847

Edmonton Knuckle Boom Operator Training

It’s a great day when you get to work with some of the best customers and the best cranes in the Edmonton and area marketplace.

Training operators to be even safer in our humble opinion is as good as it gets. There are choices to be sure, some are very low priced training companies that are simply giving what OHS is suggesting, we don’t for a minute believe that. In fact we go above and well beyond, we bring our 24 years of knuckle boom crane experience to your doorstep. Yes we are more, but you get “from the factory” information, not some stuff that was picked up here and there.

Propane companies realize the capability of knuckle boom cranes to get the load where it’s needed. The challenge in some cases is most customers want the tank in areas where the truck simply can’t go. The solution in many cases is a truck mounted forklift (Crayler GT 55) outfitted with a tank clamp for simple cargo securement.

Some of the basic items we cover (and we cover a lot), are: PROPER stability (#1 thing many get wrong), PROPER boom configuration (is in direct correlation to the stability of the truck), and #3, how you operate the crane. Seems pretty obvious right? Well, based on our experience, videos we have, photos, documentation to support what we do and why it’s so important to get it right the first time.

From Palfinger, HIAB, Effer, AMCO VEBA and other crane manufacturers, while they are typically the same in operation, they can be very different in control layout, stabilizer deployment, remote controls and all the way to the installation of the crane.

For more information on our program, CSA standards or even to talk about OHS standards and the like, call us at (844) 334-8847 or email us HERE

Alberta Knuckle Boom Picker Requirements

Here in Alberta our regulation is any crane with a lift capacity of LESS than 8-tons, you do NOT need a trade registered operator.

So what do I mean? Any light duty picker like a HIAB or Palfinger, Fassi or similar truck mounted crane, it’s all voluntary to have your operator take any type of “training” to ensure they stay safe. BUT according to Alberta OH&S, owners of a business that use a crane or similar to unload material beit their own or for others, needs to provide their operator with the proper tools and ‘training’ to ensure their safety and the safety of others around them.

We tell everyone our training is voluntary until something happens then it becomes necessary. We have been through OH&S book in Alberta and can advise on the areas of special interest for those who operate light duty knuckle boom pickers in Alberta. It’s a bit grey in areas but clearly outlines what should be required by the owner of the business, the manager of that business and the operator of the equipment.

Feel free to give us a call at (844) 334-8847

email us at info [at] KnuckleBoomTraining [dot] ca to inquire

Or click HERE to send us an email, whichever you prefer