Business Issues
By Seth Skydel Crane Inspection
Multiple Value
Routine Crane Inspections Reduce Downtime and Drive Efficiency and Safety
Routine crane inspections, essential for several reasons, prevent downtime, enable efficient equipment operation and, perhaps most importantly, help ensure jobsite safety for operators and crews. The benefits, value, practices and technologies that facilitate effective crane inspections were the subject of recent conversations with two crane service experts, including:
• Jason Mackenzie, president, Select Crane Sales, LLC
• Kevin Perkins, parts & service manager, Reynolds Equipment
Q: How do routine crane inspections benefit operators and owners?
Perkins: Routine inspections drive reliability and confidence. They enable operators to be invested in the equipment, and for owners they identify shortcomings to be corrected by repair before failure. In addition, truck mounted cranes, all-terrain cranes and boom trucks require a Department of Transportation inspection, which looks at roadworthy components.
Mackenzie: By scheduling regular crane inspections or having a mobile technician visit the jobsite, preventive maintenance can be built into your timeline and keep your projects on track. For
Above: At Select Crane Sales, regular crane inspections can be handled by having a mobile technician visit the jobsite, helping keep project timelines on track.
Right: At Reynolds Equipment, systems and practices are in place for keeping records of inspections and appropriate documents are used to record and identify the required checks for each type of crane.
example, a crane technician might be able to order parts in advance instead of having a crane down, putting your project in jeopardy.
Q: Are there ways to measure the value of inspections in terms of lower costs, equipment reliability, service life and safety?
Mackenzie: When it comes to safety, the cost of preventing a catastrophic failure is priceless. You can’ t put a monetary value on safety because the risks involved go far beyond just equipment operating costs and availability.
Perkins: Crane inspections lower operating costs and keep the equipment in good working order. That promotes reliability and maintains the value of your investment.
Q: What inspection practices and intervals do you recommend for cranes?
Perkins: Best practices for routine inspections include daily inspections by the operator, monthly inspections by a certified crane technician and annual inspections by a third-party provider. Those practices add layers to the level of attention given to each crane.
Mackenzie: As a standard practice, pre-shift inspections should be performed by the crane operator. Routine preventive maintenance inspections should also be completed, along with annual inspections.
Q: Do these differ by type of machine or application?
Mackenzie: While each manufacturer provides recommended maintenance
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March 2025 • www. cranehotline. com