Workplace safety is a critical matter, especially during lifting operations. The fact that lifting equipment is needed to carry out operations means that you are dealing with heavy loads and machinery that can be life-threatening if proper caution is not maintained. From physical injuries to severe burns, the possibilities of grave injuries are many. While following proper safety procedures and being aware of the surroundings is important, providing lifting supervisor training to people in charge can also make the workplace safer.
There are several lifting operations courses that equip professionals with the required knowledge and experience to ensure that all work is done while maintaining the highest standards of safety. SLC is one such organization that provides lifting equipment certification in Riyadh to enhance workplace safety and working with heavy lifting equipment safer.
However, it is always better to be cautious than face the consequences of carelessness or following ill-equipped practices. Working within safety guidelines and ensuring that all possible precautions are carried out is one of the best ways to prevent Accidents in lifting operations. Here’s how you can ensure the safety of your personnel.
Steps to Prevent Accidents in Lifting Operations
Holding a lifting equipment certification in Saudi Arabia will help you create a safe working environment. However, there is no place for complacency when working around lifting equipment. You must remain mindful of personal and others’ safety at all times. Here are the best ways of doing so:
- Check your equipment before use, always:
Checking your lifting equipment every time before using it is a practice that can significantly reduce lifting operations accidents. It is a life-saving procedure that is followed the world over in such hazardous working conditions to ensure that the highest safety standards are maintained. If you are not sure of what checking list to follow, you must refer to the safety manual. As a thumb rule, however, always ensure that no mechanical parts are missing or there are no faults in the equipment. Following a safety inspection checklist list is yet another way of ensuring that every possible step is fulfilled before using the lifting equipment. This checklist will guide you to check all vital features and instigate you to take action if any deterioration is detected.
- Take Lifting Supervisor Training:
Lifting Supervisor Training covers a wide range of common equipment and related hazards. It also makes the participants aware of how accidents occur and what procedures to follow to avoid health hazards and untoward incidences. Taking this Lifting Supervisor Training can equip your managers with the right knowledge and understanding of working with lifting equipment and how to deal with them. Such training must be a mandate for all supervisors so that organizations can work in a safe environment.
- Lift loads within limits:
Lifting loads that are well within the prescribed limits is one of the main factors of lifting operations management. It might sound like an obvious way of keeping things safe, but it is quite easy to choose the wrong equipment or overload it if you are in a hurry. You must also ensure that the load is distributed evenly so that your machines are well-balanced. Additionally, you must operate the machine on a sturdy surface on a particular level to ensure smooth lifting operations.
- Keep dangerous areas out of access:
Dangerous parts of the machinery should be kept out of access to people not working on them. Only managers with lifting supervisor training must have access to every part of the machinery as they would be aware of how to safely work with them.
You can use fixed guards to ensure those parts are out of reach. Trip systems can also be used to provide proper protection in addition to interlocking of parts so that moving parts of the machines can’t be accessed. Holders, jigs and push sticks can also be used wherever guards are unable to provide protection.
- Don’t stand under a load:
It might sound like the most obvious safety precaution, but it is quite common for workers to come to stand under a load, especially when solving an issue with it. Always remember to maintain a proper and safe distance from the load to avoid any accident in case of human error or failure of equipment.
- Keep your equipment well-maintained:
One of the best ways of preventing accidents is to maintain your equipment well. Run timely maintenance activities to ensure that your machines are in the best working conditions. This will reduce the risk of failure and machine-related accidents to a great extent. You should inspect your machines once every 12 months or every 6 months for equipment that carries humans.
Maintaining workplace safety is an important factor for every business. This is especially important for workplaces where heavy loads are carried by lifting equipment as there are higher chances of grave injuries. Providing lifting supervisor training, as provided by SLC, is one sure way of creating a safe working atmosphere. Follow the above-mentioned steps to know the other important ways of keeping things safe.
