More than 70 people attended the Association of Crane & Rigging Professionals General Assembly and Workshop, held last week in Cleveland, Ohio. Approximately 28 percent of those were first time attendees.
Among the most interesting sessions was an articulating crane demonstration by Cargotec USA, Perrysburg, Ohio, and a tour of Mazzella Lifting Technologies. According to Ed Hatcher, inside sales manager for Cargotec USA, knuckleboom cranes have out-sold truck-mounted straight boom cranes in the United States since 1985. Applications for large capacity knucklebooms include electric utilities, mining, landscaping, HVAC contractors, and traffic safety equipment companies. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, Mazzella Lifting Technologies specializes in designing overhead cranes and hoists, custom rigging solutions, and supplying slings and rigging hardware.
Other topics ranged from specifying an overhead crane to meet the needs of the application to a comparison of concrete pumping trucks to cranes according to the B30.27 standard.
It was reported during the meeting that a new ASME volume on ropes is currently in development. ANSI B30.30 will encompass wire, synthetic, and fiber ropes. To that end, Mark Pederson, R&D Engineer for Samson Rope, Ferndale, Wash., shared information on removal criteria for fiber ropes.
A traditional activity of the ACRP General Assembly is a Rigging Jeopardy contest. Attendees divide into teams and work together each day answering crane and rigging questions in a multiple choice format. This year’s winning Jeopardy team included Rick Knoche, Gary Hoffmeister, and Jim Lonsky of Sharrow Lifting Products, West New Brighton, Minn.
During the meeting, the 2011 Top Trainer award winners, named by Crane & Rigging Hotline, were presented with trophies recognizing their achievement. Tracy Bennett, editor, presented Bob Berry, director of safety for Sims Crane & Equipment Co., Tampa, Fla., with a trophy for the Corporate category. Jim Cox, a trainer for Industrial Training International, Woodland, Wash., received the Professional category award. The ACRP provided complimentary registration to the meeting for the winners.
Nominations are now being accepted for the 2012 Top Trainer program, which is endorsed by the ACRP, sponsored by many corporate citizens, and presented by Crane & Rigging Hot Line. Click here to make a 2012 nomination. http://maxcapmedia.wufoo.eu/forms/2012-top-trainer-awards-nomination/.
Finally, the ACRP announced its Board of Directors election results. Current board members are:
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