Precast Concrete Industry – Application Series: 5 of 5

Overhead/Gantry Cranes – Trapped Key Interlock Safety Solutions

According to the HSE, there have been 61 accidents, 25 serious injuries and 9 fatalities between 2001-2014 as a result of incidents involving cranes

Overhead and gantry cranes are essential for the movement of heavy materials to be efficient, effective, and without harm to personnel. During cement production, heavy pieces of equipment as
well as finished precast product requires transportation into holding areas and or trucks for distribution.

The main crane-related hazards include: Falling Loads, Electrical Hazards (50% of accidents involving overhead cranes), Crane Overload

Risks such as caught-in/between, struck-by/against, and/or overloaded or falling materials from a crane can bring serious harm to personnel, product, and equipment. To ensure safety within the area, controlled access points interlocked with crane controls mitigate accidental entry while crane is in operation.

In the construction industry, around 4.2 million working days were lost each between 2017-2020 due to workplace injury (25%) and work-related illness (75%) costing an estimated £3 billion

Trapped key interlock safety solutions ensure a pre-determined sequence of operations each & every time. While LOTO provides a visual warning and identifies hazards, a TKI solution physically prevents a specific set of actions from being performed until previous action(s) have been fully completed!

Common trapped key interlock solution implementation for overhead cranes:

Step 1: Controlled Power Castell KS power electrical switch installed on control switch overhead/gantry crane

Step 2: Multiple Entry Points Castell X key exchange box for sequence control of access keys only after all access points have been locked closed and ready to safely energise overhead/gantry crane

Step 3: Safe Access Castell AI single key access interlock on any and all access points safeguarding overhead crane perimeter