Construction remains one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Most people who become injured on construction sites do so because of falls. Coupled with the potential for working at great heights, falls often prove deadly. Unfortunately, cranes do not add to construction safety.
Cranes may add to the complexity of operations at construction sites, which may make it more difficult to observe safety requirements. Consequently, construction sites with high injury rates often have cranes.
Cranes risk factors
Ironically, many of the risks of using cranes come back to workers and the working conditions. For instance, one Science Direct article identifies the following risk factors:
- Level of stress workers deal with on the job
- Skills and abilities of the workers
- Quality of communications during operations
- Safety value of the workers
- Physical work conditions of crane operators
Fall risks from cranes
Fall risks on construction sites may not only involve the potential for workers to fall. Sometimes, objects fall from cranes onto workers. One study published by the National Library of Medicine identified faulty wires as a common cause of objects falling from cranes.
These wires may help fix objects to the cranes. When they begin to wear out, they may snap and cause objects to plummet. Like the previous study, this one also identified busy work areas and worker attitudes to safety as contributing factors to crane safety.
Cranes form an integral part of the construction process, especially when handling multi-level projects. Even so, workers may need to identify the presence of a crane as a good reason to exercise higher-than-normal levels of vigilance.
