Interpretation of Australian Standards relating to the

Assessment for Continued Safe Use of Cranes

The majority of the requirements for design, fabrication, installation, use and
maintenance of cranes in Australian industry are presented in two Australian Standards.
Vis:
AS 1418 – Cranes, hoists and winches;
AS 2550 – Cranes, hoists and winches – Safe use.

The structure of these standards consists of multiple parts, with a general part providing
requirements applicable to all cranes and lifting appliances governed by the standard
and a series of sub-parts, which present requirements specific to the various types of
equipment within the scope of the standard.

There are more specific requirements provided in some state and territory legislation, but
in general, most pertinent legislation relies on these two standards to ensure safety of
lifting equipment in the Australian workplace.

The following paragraphs are extracts from Australian Standard AS2550 – Cranes, hoist
and winches – Safe use:

“AS2550.1 – 2002 cl. 7.3.5 Major inspection to assess a crane for continued safe
operation
The following cranes shall be subjected to a major inspection to assess their suitability
for continued safe operation:

a) Cranes that have reached the end of their design life or, where this is unknown,
after 25 years for the structure and 10 years for the mechanical components.

NOTES:
1 A crane’s design life may not be the same as its actual life and depends on such
factors as its classification, usage and its operating environment.
2 Devices are available to record the actual usage of a crane to enable
assessment of its remaining design life. Guidance on condition monitoring is
given in ISO 12482-1.
3 Appendix B provides guidance on items that may be included in such an
assessment.

b) Cranes that are to be re-commissioned or imported and that do not have

previous operating records or that were designed or built to unknown Standards.
c) Cranes that are to be upgraded or modified.
d) Cranes identified as requiring a major inspection as a result of a periodic
inspection, or where maintenance records indicate repeated failures of any
critical component.
e) Cranes that have been damaged as the result of an overload.

The major inspection shall involve stripping down those working components
identified by the manufacturer or a competent person. Where necessary, all covers
and cladding shall be removed to enable the major inspection to be fully carried out.
The person carrying out the inspection shall record the rationale for the extent of
inspection.

Particular attention shall be given to the following:

(i) Past state of loading and utilization as compared to the crane classifications.
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 (ii) Future intended state of loading and utilization as required by the user of the
crane.
(iii) Structural, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, control and operational
anomalies.
(iv) Non-destructive examination to an appropriate Standard.
(v) Controls and emergency stop.
(vi) Braking systems.
(vii) Manufacturer’s safety upgrades.
(viii) Adequacy of safety instructions and manuals.
(ix) The capacity and viability of upgrading the crane to the requirements of the
latest Standard.
Persons carrying out such an inspection should be supervised by a professional
engineer.

Following a major inspection, the crane shall be brought into compliance with—
a) the current version of the applicable Part of AS 1418; or
b) the recommendations of a competent person who has assessed the crane and
determined what needs to be done to provide a level of safety equivalent to that
which would be achieved by the current version of the applicable Part of AS
1418.
NOTE: For the purposes of Item (b) above, the competent person should be a professional
engineer and have at least four years experience in the applicable field of crane design.

The crane shall undergo further major inspections when deemed necessary by a
competent person.”

“AS2550.3 – 2002 cl. 7.3.4 Major inspection

A major inspection is required to assist with the assessment of a crane’s suitability for
continued safe use.

Major inspections shall include all items specified by the manufacturer for periodic
maintenance inspection and shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

a) All structural, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation components (see

Appendix B).
b) Operational history, including abnormal events, e.g., overloads, duty changes,
collisions.
c) Emergency functions.
d) Braking systems.
e) Current statutory safety regulations and standards.
f) The disassembly and removal of paint, grease, and corrosion from critical
components of the crane, to allow a complete and thorough inspection.
g) Detailed visual inspection and tolerance checking of all wear components.
h) Thickness testing as required to check for wear and corrosion.
i) Non-destructive examination of all critical areas for evidence of cracking, fatigue
and excessive stress by appropriately qualified personnel.

The crane shall undergo further major inspections when deemed necessary by a
competent person.”

We will address each of the foregoing relevant requirements in turn:

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Clause 7.3.5 of AS2550.1 provides a requirement that crane structures and
mechanisms be assessed for continued safe use, under certain circumstances.
The most relevant of those circumstances is:

(a) Cranes that have reached the end of their design life or, where this is unknown, after
25 years for the structure and 10 years for the mechanical components.

These time limits are derived from the design parameters contained in AS1418.
AS 1418 requires that crane mechanisms be designed for a minimum life of 10
years. The design life of a crane is not determined, however, by calendar time. A
crane is designed based on two main parameters.

The first parameter is the load spectrum factor or the proportion of time which the
crane lifts loads at 100% of its capacity during the time that it spends actually
lifting loads during its life.

The second parameter is the total duration of use, in hours, the crane will be
subjected to during the ten year period.

The designer derives these two parameters based on the intended application of
the crane and sizes components for strength, fatigue and wear according to the
specific requirements of AS1418. Thus, the components of a crane are designed
to withstand a set number of cycles at the assumed loading of the crane, during a
ten year period.

The number of cycles for each ten year period varies for each crane depending
on the original assumed application of the crane.

Certain components within the load path of the crane i.e. directly supporting the
load, such as rolling element bearings and gears are designed based on
probabilistic data provided by manufacturers or presented empirically in
standards or texts. This means that we use probability (usually 10% failure in
1,000,000 cycles in a sample of 100) to avoid failure of these components. If all
the original assumptions utilised during the design of the crane are correct, the
crane will have been subjected to its assumed number of load cycles at the end
of the ten year period and, therefore, should come out of service and
components subject to fatigue failure should be inspected and or replaced prior
to further use. Failure to do this results in an exponentially increasing risk of
failure with each load cycle of the crane.

Thus, AS2550 requires that cranes that have reached the end of their design life
i.e. cranes that have been subjected to the originally assumed number of load
cycles, be assessed for continued safe use by a competent person qualified to
determine the work that needs to be performed on the crane for it to continue in
service safely.

It can be derived from the foregoing discussion, that the design life (allowable
number of load cycles) of cranes is unlikely to expire at exactly ten calendar
years from the date of commissioning of the crane. Hence, we experience some
difficulty in determining when the crane should be removed from service and
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assessed. In the absence of an accurate method of determining the expired
design life of the crane, the standard requires that we remove the crane from
service after ten calendar years. It should be noted, however, that, if during the
life of the crane, the loads to which it is subjected on a regular basis or the time it
is utilised for per unit of calendar time vary significantly from the original design
assumptions, the point in time at which the design life of the crane expires, can
vary significantly from the ten year period. We are aware of cranes that have
been significantly overutilised and cranes that have been underutilised. We have
seen design lives expire in as little as two years and have seen cranes that are,
based on accurate utilisation data, 40 years away from reaching their design life.
A competent person (as defined in the standard) is required to assess the crane
at each in service inspection – routine, periodic and third party to ensure it has
not reached the end of its design life.

It can further be derived from the foregoing, that there is significant economic
impact and safety risk associated with the accurate determination of the expired
service life of cranes. If a crane continues in service past the expiration of its
service life, the risk of failure increases dramatically and accelerates with each
cycle. The potential impact of this situation in terms of production, injury, property
damage and other liabilities is self explanatory. The converse of this situation is,
if a crane is taken out of service, assessed and overhauled or replaced prior to
the expiration of its design life, we ensure safe use, but incur extra costs in terms
of capital expenditure or extra operating costs and lost production, which were
not necessary.

Due to the difficulties in assessing the expired design life of cranes, AS2550
provides the following guidance:

“Devices are available to record the actual usage of a crane to enable assessment of its
remaining design life. Guidance on condition monitoring is given in ISO 12482-1.”

If we refer to the referenced document, we glean the following:

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© 2006 Crane Safe Inspections Pty Ltd all rights reserved
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© 2006 Crane Safe Inspections Pty Ltd all rights reserved
© 2006 Crane Safe Inspections Pty Ltd all rights reserved
In summary, ISO12482 provides for three methods of recording the expired
design life of a crane:

1. Electronic data logger.

2. Counter or Hour meter.
3. Documentation.

To accommodate the level of error in each of the methods the standard applies
factors for each method as follows:

1. Electronic Datalogger: 1.0 (i.e. the datalogger is 100% accurate)

This means that the standard allows direct reading from the datalogger to
determine the expired design life of the crane.

2. Counter or Hour meter: 1.2

This means that when the expired service life of the crane is calculated from
data recorded via this method we increase the calculated expired design life
by 20% (i.e. reduce the allowable service life by 17% to accommodate
uncertainties)

3. Documentation: 1.4
This means that when the expired service life of the crane is calculated from
data recorded via this method we increase the calculated expired design life
by 40% (i.e. reduce the allowable service life by 29% to accommodate
uncertainties)

4. No records: 1.5 and the load spectrum and working hours are nominated
This means that when the expired service life of the crane is calculated from
data recorded via this method we increase the calculated expired design life
by 50% and nominate the data to be used in the calculation.

The factors applied in this standard are severe and dramatically reduce the
allowable service life of hoists, if the expired design life is not recorded
accurately.

The economic advantage of an electronic datalogger can quickly be recognised.

ISO 12482 also confirms the intent of AS2550 that wear components and
components susceptible to fatigue be inspected and or replaced at the expiration
of the design life of the crane components. It defines the concept of the General
Overhaul and graphically displays the relationship between calendar time, design
life, loading, frequency of use, general overhauls and safe working periods of
cranes in figure A.1.

Summarising the first requirement of AS2550, we can see that the requirement
for assessment for continued safe use at the expiration of the design life of a
crane and hoist is based on the original wear and fatigue life design of the
components of the crane and, if the expired life is not known accurately, we must
assess and overhaul some components of the crane at a minium of ten year

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intervals or as directed by a competent person. The consequence of not
performing these actions is a significant safety risk.

Designers and manufacturers of cranes and hoists are governed by the

requirements of design standards and comply with them, but they do not as a
matter of course exceed them. They are in a competitive market place and
including a bearing, shaft, gear, coupling or rope drum that is of larger capacity
than the minium required in the standard (consequently providing longer life)
would erode profits and is not legally required. Cranes will operate with
predictable safety only during their design life.

Clause 7.3.5 of AS2550.1 provides a requirement that working components be

stripped down.

“The major inspection shall involve stripping down those working components
identified by the manufacturer or a competent person. Where necessary, all covers
and cladding shall be removed to enable the major inspection to be fully carried out.
The person carrying out the inspection shall record the rationale for the extent of
inspection.”

It is obvious from the discussion covering the reasons for the timing of an
assessment for continued safe use, ie fatigue and wear that components in the
load path of the crane must be inspected and or replaced. Most of the critical
components are contained within enclosures or require some degree of
disassembly of other components to allow adequate inspection.

Inspection of components that are susceptible to fatigue requires the application

of non-destructive testing techniques sensitive enough to detect surface defects
in areas of stress concentration of the critical size, which may initiate fatigue
cracking during the next service period of the crane. Gears, shafts and couplings
must be removed to satisfy this requirement.

It is our policy gearboxes are opened. Gears and shafts are 100% visually
inspected and NDT either UT, RT or MPI is conducted on critical areas as
nominated by our engineers. Rolling element bearings in the load path are
replaced during this process, unless records are available to show exact service
life of the bearing and it is also possible to correlate this data with an accurate
load spectrum for the crane during the service life.

Clause 7.3.5 of AS2550.1 provides a requirement that the following are

addressed during the assessment:

“Particular attention shall be given to the following:

(i) Past state of loading and utilization as compared to the crane

classifications.
(ii) Future intended state of loading and utilization as required by the
user of the crane.
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 (iii) Structural, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, control and
operational anomalies.
(iv) Non-destructive examination to an appropriate Standard.
(v) Controls and emergency stop.
(vi) Braking systems.
(vii) Manufacturer’s safety upgrades.
(viii) Adequacy of safety instructions and manuals.
(ix) The capacity and viability of upgrading the crane to the
requirements of the latest Standard.”

Requirements (i) and (ii) involve a review of any operational records of the history
of the crane to ascertain how accurate the original design assumptions were,
with regard to classification and application of the crane. More specifically how
close were the dates of expiration of the service life and the expiration of 10
years calendar time. The results of these assessment items indicate if any action
needs to be taken with regard to shortening the timing of major inspections and
will indicate if the hoist and crane are adequate for the intended future use. As
adequate records are rarely kept, most information for these items is acquired
through interviews with management and operational personnel. The overall
results from inspections of components also impacts the recommendations
arising from these requirements.

Requirement (iii) involves both a physical inspection by competent people and a

review of operational records to ascertain areas for focus of further inspection or
testing.

Requirement (iv) involves a minimum level of NDT. This minimum level is set by
the requirement to ascertain the suitability for continued safe use of fatigue
susceptible components in the load path. Further NDT may be required, based
on visual inspection of structural components and the identification of anomalies
in item (iii) or as directed by the competent person responsible for the
supervision and certification of the assessment.

Requirements (v) and (vi) involve operational testing and inspection of the
components, which constitute the braking systems, controls and e-stop circuits.

Requirement (vii) involves consultation with manufacturers and review of any

safety upgrades made to the models of components on the crane. Mechanical
and electrical control components are focused on in this review. Upgrades are
reviewed based on operational conditions of the crane under review and are
implemented where a risk assessment determines significant mitigation will
occur.

Requirement (viii) forms a subset of a detailed review of all documentation

associated with the cranes. Adequacy of procedures is of particular note.

Requirement (ix) involves a comparison of the systems existing on the crane to

the requirements of the current version of the standard by a competent person.
The results of the comparison are reviewed with the crane owner and operators
and, subsequent to risk assessment and review of viability, where deviations
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exist, they are normally implemented. This item is a subset of the further
requirement contained in the clause for a competent person to ensure the crane
provides a level of safety at least equivalent to that provided by the current
edition of the relevant standards (AS1418 governing).

Clause 7.3.4 of AS2550.3 recites some of the requirements outlined in part one
of the standard, but also provides the following more specific wording:

f) The disassembly and removal of paint, grease, and corrosion from critical
components of the crane, to allow a complete and thorough inspection.
g) Detailed visual inspection and tolerance checking of all wear components.
h) Thickness testing as required to check for wear and corrosion.
i) Non-destructive examination of all critical areas for evidence of cracking, fatigue
and excessive stress by appropriately qualified personnel.

We provide a typical scope of work as an outline of the inspection activites:

Scope of work associated with the Major Inspection, General Overhaul,

Assessment for Continued Safe Use and Certification thereof for ABC Industries.

The work generally consists of the distinct parts outlined above. The major
inspection will generally follow the checksheet provided in AS2550, but this will
be expanded for the particular crane under inspection. The inspection process
will proceed over the entire duration of the scope of work i.e. the inspections
conducted during the general overhaul process also constitute part of the major
inspection activities.

The activities involved in the general overhaul will be derived from

manufacturer’s instructions and the determinations and requirements of our
engineers based on their assessments of the crane components, as the overhaul
and inspection process proceeds.

The certification process follows from the inspection and general overhaul
process. Third parties should conduct the work required in most of these
activities to allow certification.

The equipment involved in the certification process is understood to consist of:

• 1 33.6 m span overhead bridge crane consisting of 1 x 80 tonne main

hoist and 1 x 20 tonne auxiliary hoist mounted on separate cross travel
unit.
• 3 33.6 m overhead bridge cranes consisting of 1 x 80 tonne main hoist
and 1 x 20 tonne auxiliary hoist integrally mounted on one cross travel
unit.
• 8 cantilevered wall cranes.

Activities will occur both onsite at ABC Industries and offsite at the workshop
facilities of Crane Safe Inspections.

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Initial activities include a visit to site by our inspectors and engineer to review
maintenance records, adequacy of manuals and other operational documentation
and to discuss previous usage of cranes with operations and maintenance staff.
Our inspectors will also assess the viability of any upgrades required to bring the
cranes into line with requirements of the latest relevant standards or
manufacturer’s safety upgrades.

The standards require a review of past usage of cranes to establish compliance

with the original classification of the crane. This activity leads into a review of the
intended future use of the cranes to determine if reclassification of any of the
cranes is required. This must be taken account of during the assessment and
overhaul, as any reclassification requires significant design review.

Our inspectors will conduct visual inspections of all crane components after the
review of maintenance records and past usage is complete. Any anomalies
discovered will result in a requirement for non-destructive examination. Other
critical structural areas may also be nominated by our engineer for NDE, after the
initial review process.

The next activity would consist of the disassembly of the crane mechanical
components from the cross travel unit. This activity may be competed by ABC
Industries.

The hoist gearboxes will be inspected and overhauled in our workhops. The
standards require third parties to complete this work. All rolling element bearings
and seals will be replaced. All shafts will be dimensionally checked and non-
destructively tested with either UT, RT or MPI dependant upon the configuration
of the shaft. Surface roughness checks will be conducted on all running surfaces.
Gear teeth profiles will be checked for excessive wear. Gears will be non-
destructively tested for both internal and external defects, with particular attention
to the teeth roots.

The hoist motors will be inspected and overhauled in our workshops. Brake
actuation springs will be replaced. Rolling element bearings and seals will be
replaced. The armature shaft will be removed, dimensionally checked, surface
roughness checked and the air gap reset upon assembly. The main drive brake
disc will be non-destructively tested. Brake linings will be checked for excessive
wear. The creep speed drive brake disc will be replaced.

Winch drums may be inspected on site. Grove profiles will be checked and
circumferential welds will be non-destructively tested. Drive splines will be
dimensionally checked, checked for fretting, wear and profile and non-
destructively tested.

All main driveline couplings will be replaced.

Ropes will be replaced. Sheaves will be inspected and block bearings replaced
where necessary. The hook and hook block will be visually inspected,
dimensionally checked and non-destructively tested.

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All electrical components will be inspected, functionally checked or replaced, if of
a disposable type unit.

Long travel and cross travel drives will be inspected. Rolling element bearings
will be replaced, axles non-destructively tested, wheels dimensionally checked
and replaced where necessary.

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