Identifying the risks and how to mitigate them By the CraneTech Safety Team | Updated April 2026 · 4 min read A recent incident at a U.S. mining operation—where a boom failed inside a maintenance shop—serves as an important reminder of a critical reality: Even controlled environments like maintenance facilities carry significant risk when heavy equipment is involved. While … Read more
A Practical Overhead Lifting Expansion, Crane Retrofits, and Modernizations By the CraneTech Modernization Team | Updated April 2026 · 7min read As production demands evolve, many facilities find themselves at a crossroads. Equipment gets larger, loads get heavier, and throughput expectations increase—but the building itself hasn’t changed. At first glance, the solution may seem obvious: expand the building or construct a new facility with … Read more
How Service Level Determines Your Inspection Schedule By the CraneTech Safety Team | Updated March 2026 · 7 min read Most plant managers know their overhead cranes require regular inspections. Fewer know that “regular” means something very different depending on how hard those cranes work. Under OSHA 1910.179, inspection frequency isn’t a fixed calendar — it’s determined by your crane’s service level. A crane running one light-duty shift … Read more
What Plant Managers Need to Know Before an Inspector Walks In By the CraneTech Safety Team | Updated March 2026 · 5 min read Overhead cranes continue to show up on OSHA’s most-cited violations list year after year. In the first half of 2024 alone, OSHA reported seven fatal overhead crane incidents in industrial settings. The penalty structure reflects … Read more
Load testing is one of the most important tests performed on overhead crane equipment. Load testing involves loading a crane to verify the maximum performance level of the structure, hoisting equipment and control systems. Load testing is used to verify the maximum, safe load capacity of crane systems. These tests include a variety of conditions and … Read more
Overhead crane design has evolved over the last hundred years to include a variety of sizes, applications, and general uses. Overhead cranes are the most common type of industrial crane design, and are invaluable in manufacturing, material handling, and storage applications. Here we will discuss the most common types of overhead cranes used in modern manufacturing. … Read more
Bridge cranes and gantry cranes are similar in both design and function. Both types of overhead cranes are designed to perform repetitive hoisting actions, in warehouses and heavy manufacturing factory floors. Bridge and gantry cranes are extremely strong in design, and do not depend on cantilever leverage, but rather the strength of a winding cable … Read more
First—What it is Not! The construction industry relies on heavy, tracked cranes (think ‘crawler crane’) to do a majority of its lifting, most of which is out-of-doors. This is not at all what we are talking about in this article. We are concerned largely with indoor applications in this overview. Although it’s a critical piece of infrastructure, … Read more
Cranes must be adequately serviced and inspected prior to use to prevent unexpected failure and personal injury. Cranes are designed for a specific purpose and must be maintained to perform the job they are designed to do, or they can become extremely dangerous. Crane operators are highly trained in the use and operation of cranes, and are … Read more
Overhead Bridge Cranes: Single Girder and Double Girder Cranes To the casual observer cranes look very much alike. Besides a girder crane, other members of the family include overhead cranes, single girder cranes, and double girder cranes. We also have the bridge cranes, double girder overhead crane, the single girder overhead crane, double girder crane, … Read more
A Steel River Company
