INSPECTIONS
INSPECTION SERVICES
WE TAKE SAFETY SERIOUSLY.
Lifting gear inspections must be undertaken on a regular basis, by a person with adequate training, knowledge, skills and expertise.
It is important to ensure that regular examinations and inspections of lifting gear are undertaken to ensure that equipment is maintained and can continue to be safely used. Our testing and inspection services extend far beyond your everyday lifting and height safety equipment. We also offer specialist inspection services for engineered products, height safety installed systems and wire rope.
All inspections must be undertaken by a competent person. Australian Standards define a competent person as a person who has, through a combination of training, education and experience, acquired knowledge and skills enabling that person to correctly perform a specific task.
REPAIR + RECERTIFICATION
When your equipment doesn’t pass inspection, we will advise you whether it is cheaper to replace or repair. Wherever possible, and safe, our inspectors will repair your equipment and issue you with a certificate of repair.
We work with your team to implement an inspection schedule that complies with Australian Standards and meets your specific requirements.
PRE-INSPECTION
INSPECTION
POST INSPECTION
TRAINED + EXPERIENCED INSPECTORS
Our testing and inspections team have strong industry reputations as professionals who get the job done. But they’re also highly trained, competent technicians who have passed the LEEA Diploma courses and examinations, height safety and installation courses and take part in continuous professional development (CPD) programs.
When the costs and risks are weighed up, there is little incentive for a company to conduct their own inspections.
A COMPETENT PERSON MUST:
INSPECTION TAGS AND BOARDS
Inspection tags give the user a visual indication that the equipment has been inspected during the current inspection period. It is standard practice to change the colour of the tags with each inspection period. A wrong colour tag or no tag at all is an immediate indication that item should be removed from service until the item can be inspected and verified.
RANGER INSPECTION GATEWAY (RIG)
RIG provides 24/7 traceability for all your lifting and height safety assets. Easily view, download, and share your registers at the click of a button.
Maintaining an inspection register isn’t just good practice, it’s absolutely essential to ensure you meet your obligations under Australian Standards. RIG makes it easy to view, download and share your equipment registers and certificates with the click of a button. Easily manage your non compliant equipment and notify us of items that need to be reinspected or replaced.
INSPECTION CHECKLISTS
It is important to ensure that regular examinations and inspections of lifting gear are undertaken to ensure that equipment is maintained and can continue to be safely used.
INSPECTION FAQs
Inspection tags give the user a visual indication that the equipment has been inspected during the current inspection period. It is standard practice to change the colour of the tags with each inspection period. A wrong colour tag or no tag at all is an immediate indication that item should be removed from service until the item can be inspected and verified.
When Ranger’s testing and inspection team visit a job site, our priority is making sure the cranes, lifting equipment and rigging gear there is in good enough condition that everyone using it and working in the area can go safely home to their families that night.
Australian Standards make frequent references to competence and competent persons. A competent person will have acquired through training, education and experience, or a combination of these, in addition to the knowledge and skills enabling that person to safely and effectively perform the task required.
Competency isn’t achieved through simply working around equipment for a long time or applying theories based on experience alone. Ranger personnel have heard it said on site that someone believes himself or herself to be competent because they have been using lifting equipment to rig loads for a long period of time. However, they have never received the training and education to know what the safe use criteria actually are.
While DIY inspections might seem like a good idea, there are a lot of risks and costs associated with inspecting and managing lifting equipment in-house. Have you carefully considered the position of your employees and your business if something goes wrong?
As an employer it is your responsibility to ensure you are providing a safe workplace.
There are a vast amount of defects that are not easily detected by untrained personnel. Even for an experienced lifting equipment inspection professional, it takes constant refresher training to stay at the sharp end of this specialist field. If equipment is not inspected properly and thoroughly, the ramifications could be costly. Despite the consequences, lifting equipment inspection can often be overlooked or seen as an unnecessary cost to a client or project, especially when budgets are tight, but that mindset can typically be attributed to a lack of understanding about the importance of inspections.
Depending on the specific piece of equipment, we always recommend that the relevant Australian Standard be consulted. However, sometimes a tailored inspection policy should also be implemented. Generally, lifting equipment inspection is covered in two categories:
1. IN-SERVICE INSPECTIONS:
In-service inspection is a visual procedure to be carried out before each use of the equipment.
2. PERIODIC INSPECTIONS:
Periodic inspection is more comprehensive and might involve the removal of equipment from a place of work to a location where it can be properly cleaned, analysed and the results documented. Synthetic rigging gear will generally have a shorter inspection frequency than chain or wire rope.
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS TO CONSIDER
Frequency of use: Lifting and rigging equipment is like a lot of items in the home and workplace; the more it is used, the closer it gets to the end of its life.
Level of Duty: Duty is sometimes overlooked. Take two identical 1-tonne capacity slings, for example. One lifts a few hundreds kilos once a day, very slowly, with the crane travelling only a short distance. The other lifts nearly a tonne many times a day, transports it the length of a workshop. The second sling will wear much faster than the first as it brings fatigue into the equation.
Storage: The best way to store lifting gear is undercover, away from the elements, in a dry place. Additional care should be taken to ensure products are kept off the floor and away from moisture, dirt, grit and other corrosive agents.
You never know when comprehensive records related to training, testing, repair and inspection of equipment will be needed, but when that requirement presents itself it becomes clear how necessary they are. It’s particularly important to chart these activities related to lifting and rigging gear, and its use.
There are different methods of documenting this activity, which is largely down to the company in question. However, in all cases it’s vital that records are comprehensive, up to date, clearly filed and easily accessible by personnel that might need to quickly look into the status of a member of staff or item of equipment.
Ranger Inspection Gateway (RIG)
Ranger end-user gateway, RIG offers full traceability of all height safety and lifting equipment. Tailored for the Australian market, RIG works in accordance with relevant standards and encompasses both NATA and LEEA methodology for best practice.
Daily inspection before each use should be taken seriously so even a small defect can be investigated in advance of work commencing. Excessive pitting, weld splatter, wear and gouges are all common signs that rigging gear might not be safe to use. If an issue isn’t immediately apparent and it presents itself whilst in operation, stop immediately and locate the cause of the problem.
Remove from Service
If a decision is taken to remove an item from service, a procedure should be followed. It should be clearly marked with the problem visibly displayed.
Isolate
Remove the item from the rigging store or lifting site. It’s advisable to have a lockable bin clearly marked ‘Out of Service Lifting Equipment’ so there is no chance the piece of kit can be mistakenly applied until it has been disposed of or inspected by a competent person.
Inform
Make it known to a supervisor or person in charge of lifting equipment that an item has been removed from service. They will have their own protocol to follow with regards to further investigation, inspection and/or disposal.
Contact Ranger for consultation
It might be that we need to complete a repair or recertification, and/or return to the site to suggest procedures are corrected if it is clear misuse is the cause of damage.
If it has resulted in an accident, serious injury, illness, a death or a dangerous incident, you must report it to SafeWork, the national workplace health and safety regulator and notify your insurer within 48 hours.
Once that procedure is underway, alert Ranger. We can complement SafeWork’s involvement with an accident investigation, material analysis and / or preventative measures. We employ methods such as metal analysis, non-destructive testing (NDT) and root cause analysis.
If a decision is taken to remove an item from service, a procedure should be followed:
Isolate
Remove the item from the rigging store or lifting site. It’s advisable to have a lockable bin clearly marked ‘Out of Service Lifting Equipment’ so there is no chance the piece of kit can be mistakenly applied until it has been disposed of or inspected by a competent person.
Contact Ranger for consultation.
It might be that we need to complete a repair or recertification, and/or return to the site to suggest procedures are corrected if it is clear misuse is the cause of damage.
Investigations (Why and How)
It is important to understand why an incident occurred so it doesn’t happen again. The process will involve itemising the equipment involved, talking to the operator, examining the load, looking at the drop site, etc. As the investigation unfolds, it will lead to root cause analysis and testing. Testing may be required to eliminate or prove a theory related to a piece of equipment.