Safe rigging at height: Are mobile crane manufacturers doing enough to eliminate the risk of falls from height?

摘要

There are numerous occasions when it is necessary to climb over a mobile crane. Routine maintenance operations such as refuelling and filling the central lubrication reservoir are usually done at height. Just getting into the cab is not without risks. In the main, crane manufacturers have tried to make this as safe as possible, with improved walkways and railings, to minimise the risk of falling. In the face of practicalities, however, compromises remain: better an inadequate ladder than an elaborate one that gets easily damaged and rendered useless, many would argue.