Load Moment Indicator: Assuring Safe Operation of your Tower Crane

Towercranes Information and Resourceload moment indicator comes in, and it is
Working with high-rise structures is as dangerousimportant for every crane operator as well as
as working as a military officer in Iraq.construction engineers too know what it is for
The risk is always present when working withand how it is beneficial to the operation of their
high-rise structures. The transfer of constructiontower cranes and the success of their
materials from the ground up to the working floorconstruction project.
is not as easy as you think. The pulley systemA load moment indicator is an instrument used in
that you are using must be strong and reliable todetermining whether a rated load is stable enough
avoid any untoward accidents that may happen.to be carried by the tower crane. If you will
In the same manner, the lowering of unusedremember, a tower crane has tow arms: the
construction materials from the working floorshorter arm, which carries a counterweight of
down to the ground imposes the risk of gettingheavy concrete blocks to maintain balance, and
hit on the head. Despite of the presence of yourthe longer arm which carries the crane's lifting
hard hat, excessive weight could break it and cangear. Since the longer arm carries the heavy load,
cost you your own life.the shorter arm, through its counterweight, must
Yes, the money is on the construction industry.provide an opposite force to prevent the crane
But is it worth the risk of losing your own life infrom getting outbalanced when carrying heavy
exchange for thousands to hundreds ofloads. The load moment indicator determines
thousands of dollars?whether a certain load could be carried by the
This is where the heavy equipment comes in. Ittower crane or not. Thus, the indicator is used to
helps construction workers in making their taskmaintain the stability of the crane.
easy and safe to execute. One of the mostNew generation of load moment indicators make
common heavy equipment used in theuse of special sensors to provide the tower crane
construction of various structures, especiallyoperator with actual and correct crane working
high-rise buildings, which is the tower cranes,state. It indicates the moment of force applied on
provide such benefits to construction workers.the crane, the hook amplitude as the height of
Due to the reality of danger working on highthe load increase, the crane rating, and the actual
structures, they make use of tower cranes to lifthoisting capacity of the tower crane. In case the
and lower construction materials with ease and atload reached 90 percent of the crane rating at a
the same time ensuring safety at all times.particular moment, it will provide an early warning
Furthermore, most tower cranes are operatedto the crane operator through a slow blinking red
through a radio remote control system for thelight. When the load (along with the hook
safety of the crane operator.amplitude) reached 105 percent, the load moment
The main purpose of tower cranes is to lift andindicator will automatically trip an alarm and will
or lower heavy construction materials. Thus, westop the lifting gear from lifting the load upward.
deal here with not just kilograms of heavyWith the load moment indicator, you are assured
construction materials, but tons of heavyof a safe operation of your tower crane. Your life
construction materials. Thus, the efficiency andis important and it should not be wasted with just
safety in using tower cranes to lift and loweran excessive load capacity and wrong calculation
heavy materials will depend on its stability inof the actual hoisting capacity of the tower crane.
carrying tons of heavy load. This is where the