Beware of the OSHA Trap
OSHA SHOULD PROVIDE “SAFE HARBOR”
Amid all this Covid19 media coverage (this was written 5/5/2020), I've learned a new term. Safe Harbor. Here's how Wikipedia explains Safe Harbor.
A safe harbor is a provision of a statute or a regulation that specifies that certain conduct will be deemed not to violate a given rule. It is usually found in connection with a more vague, overall standard. By contrast, "unsafe harbors" describe conduct that will be deemed to violate the rule.
Safe Harbor is about employers wanting protection from employees or customers that may sue, claiming they contracted Covid19 at the employer’s business. The concept is that a set of "best practice" guidelines are established, and if properly executed, the employer is protected from legal liability. The great thing about establishing a “Safe Harbor” is that it is beneficial to the crane owner, crane inspector as well as the personnel on the shop floor.
Frankly, Safe Harbor is what I've been harping about for a couple of decades. To the casual observer, it's probably assumed that OSHA should be the ultimate authority, the "go-to" source for any questions regarding the EOT Overhead Crane inspections. Although this is a reasonable assumption, let's take a look at some facts.
OSHA 1910.179- Overhead and Gantry Cranes is the section of the law that deals with electric overhead cranes.
OSHA 1910.179j- Inspections, is the subsection that covers the inspection requirements of bridge cranes.
OSHA 1910.179j- Inspections, contains only 672 words in total. In other words, only about ¼ the number of words contained in a typical "USA Today" front page. And remember, a "USA Today" front page is mostly pictures!!!
If OSHA 1910.179 doesn't provide a reasonable amount of guidance in building a safe harbor, what does?
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE- OSHA 1910.6
OSHA1910.6 Incorporation by Reference states;
The standards of agencies of the U.S. Government, and organizations which are not agencies of the U.S. Government which are incorporated by reference in this part, have the same force and effect as other standards in this part.
After reviewing section 1910.6-Incorporation by Reference, it lists 197 additional specifications that are given the full weight of the law. What this means is that our mandated scope of knowledge goes way beyond just the 672 words of 1910.179j, it literally includes 197 additional specifications and standards.
After digging through the list and discarding those irrelevant to Overhead Cranes as well as those that are only tangentially related, such as bolt standards, welding standards, etc. I was able to whittle the list of EOT Crane relevant documents down to the following;
OSHA1910.179 Overhead Cranes and Gantry Cranes
CMAA 70- (Crane Manufacturers Association of America) Overhead and Gantry Cranes
ASME/ANSI B30.2 Overhead and Gantry Cranes
NEC (National Electric Code) Article 610 Cranes and Hoists
ALMOST 200 SPECS AND STILL NO "SAFE HARBOR"
After combing through the 197 documents listed in OSHA 1910.6, I arrived at a shortlist of four documents that gave me hope that a "Safe Harbor" for crane inspection requirements was somewhere out there. Unfortunately, here's the word count I found regarding Overhead Crane inspections;
OSHA1910.179j Overhead Cranes and Gantry Cranes: Inspections- 672 words
CMAA 70, Paragraph 1.15- Overhead and Gantry Cranes- 73 words
ASME/ANSI B30.2 Chapter 2-2-Overhead and Gantry Cranes- 1,407 (of which 672 were directly copied out of B30.2 and inserted into OSHA 1910.179)
NEC Article 610- Zero Overhead Crane or Runway inspection words
In other words, a net total of 1480 words covering the topic of Overhead Cranes and Crane Runways, or little more than 1/2 page of the USA Today front page!
WHERE TO FIND A PORT IN THIS STORM?
The Bad News for EOT crane owners and crane inspectors is that our regulatory system provides precious little guidance for specific guidelines to Overhead Crane inspections. Because OSHA and the ASME/ANSI B30 committees have provided only cursory guidance, the legal liability in overhead cranes has devolved into guerrilla warfare. A war fought between lawyers and paid for by crane owners, crane inspectors, and at the expense of worker safety.
The good news is we now know where the information isn't. Other than the paltry 1400 words in OSHA, ASME B30.2, and CMAA 70, we can stop wasting time looking there for anything beyond minimal guidance. So where is our "Port in the Storm?"
After an extensive search, I've found two beneficial sources of information.
#1: ONLINE FAQ PAGES FOR OSHA, ASME B30.2, AND CMAA
Rather than a single document, this is a collection of a couple of dozen documents. Each of the above-referenced specification sources has a web page with FAQ type clarifications. See the following links to get access to these Interpretations and Clarifications;
OSHA 1910.179- Overhead and Gantry Cranes
CMAA 70 Overhead and Gantry Cranes
https://www.mhi.org/downloads/industrygroups/cmaa/faqs/most-asked-action-alerts.pdf
ASME/ANSI B30.2 Overhead and Gantry Cranes
https://www.b30.2 interpretations.com
The frustrating fact is that nowhere in OSHA 1910, B30.2, or CMAA 70 is there any mention of these FAQ pages, and as a result, few crane inspectors and even fewer crane owners even know they exist. Each one of these FAQ type pages is a rich source of information. Each of these FAQ pages is an essential and ever-expanding read for overhead crane owners and inspectors. Further, when a crane owner is evaluating bidders to inspect their cranes, make sure to ask the inspection vendor for their copy of each of the three FAQ's. If they're unaware of the FAQ pages, remove this vendor from your evaluation list of qualified inspectors immediately.
EOT Overhead Crane Regulatory Family Tree
#2 CMAA SPECIFICATION 78 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FOR OVERHEAD CRANES
Last but certainly not least, a few years ago, the Crane Manufacturer's Association put together a handy document about EOT bridge crane service. The document is CMAA 78-2015 Standards and Guidelines for Professional Services Performed On Overhead Traveling Cranes. With a title like that, it obviously was written by a committee, but despite that, it is a treasure trove of information for both crane owners and crane inspectors.
Although CMAA 78 is not specifically called out in OSHA1910.6 as a document incorporated by reference, it did get included in sort of a back-door manner. It was specifically called out in CMAA 70, paragraph 1.15 Inspection, Maintenance, and Crane Operator Training. Which means it was incorporated by reference from a document in which it was incorporated by reference?!?!
Regardless of whether it was explicitly called out by OSHA 1910.6, it is the only authoritative and comprehensive source of inspection guidance we have. Even if OSHA and ASME B33 do not specifically reference this Spec 78, what more authoritative source can you get than the crane industries manufacture's association? As the saying goes, “Nature abhors a vacuum”, and CMAA Spec 78 fills that vacuum.
CMAA 78-2015: Standards and Guidelines for Professional Services Performed on Overhead Traveling Cranes should be required reading for all crane owners and inspectors. It is available from MHI for $42.00;
https://www.mhi.org/publications?fq=cat-product%3ACranes&page=1
THE OSHA TRAP
In closing, the concept of "Safe Harbor" is something that should have addressed long ago. When a regulatory agency is charged with the safety of our country’s workforce and given the authority to fine or even jail violators, it is incumbent on that regulatory body to provide a rule book. You can’t give out speeding tickets if you don’t post any speed limit signs… or at least a just system would now allow this to happen.
Regarding EOT Crane inspections, OSHA has clearly failed to provide any kind of rule book that specifically delineats what to inspect, how frequently to inspections, and what specifically inspections should entail. Further, the “Incorporated by Reference” document, ASME B30.2, fails on this count too. As a result, the reputable crane inspection companies are being run out of business by the “fly by night” firms that use inspections as a “loss leader” and perform a crane inspection without ever leaving the ground.
The charter of the B30 Committee says they are a safety spec. It says, (per their website);
The charter of the ASME B30 Standards Committee on Safety Standards for Cableways, Cranes, Derricks, Hoists, Hooks, Jacks, and Slings is to develop, maintain, and interpret safety codes and standards covering the construction, installation, operation, inspection, testing, maintenance and use of cranes and other lifting and material movement related equipment.
One of the most elementary functions of a safety spec is to specifically define how the device is to be inspected, how frequently it is to be inspected, and specifically what level of disassembly is required to properly accomplish the inspection.
If you believe that specific inspection guidance regarding overhead crane inspections should be included in ASME/ANSI B30.2 Overhead and Gantry Cranes, I need a favor. Further, if you believe that B30.2 should either adopt CMAA 78 or even expand upon it, please send me an email expressing your opinion. I will gather your requests for a more comprehensive B30.2 specification and take it to the next quarterly B30.2 meeting.
Larry Dunville, Overhead Crane Consulting, LLC, Larry@OverheadCraneConsulting.com