Crane is a representative machine for carrying heavy goods, and crane work is at high risk of accidents due to the nature of work that requires workers to fasten the heavy goods directly with slinging tools and move them together during transport. In ...
Crane is a representative machine for carrying heavy goods, and crane work is at high risk of accidents due to the nature of work that requires workers to fasten the heavy goods directly with slinging tools and move them together during transport. In the past five years (2013-2017), 185 deaths and 3,556 casualties were caused by accidents in crane work, which is very high compared to other machines. This is because crane work is the main work of heavy cargo transportation, and if an accident occurs, it is likely to lead to a major accident.
Crane belongs to the human-mechanical system and is a partial safety machine that requires the normal operation of the safety device and the operator's attention and proficiency for safe crane operation. To improve the safety of these crane operations, human errors should be minimized as much as possible, and for this, it is necessary to consider ergonomic principles from the design stage of the crane. In addition, it is required to strengthen human factors for drivers and slinging workers participating in crane work.
Crane is classified as a dangerous machine and instrument under the Occupational Safety and Health Act and is subject to safety certification at the design and manufacturing stage of cranes, but it is insufficient to prevent accidents because safety measures considering human characteristics are not sufficiently reflected. Therefore, it is necessary to review the safety certification criteria through ergonomic conformity analysis.
As for crane operators, the crane driver's qualification applies only to cranes with driving rooms, and the majority of cranes that are pendant or remote control operation methods do not require a separate driver's qualification. Furthermore, the heavy goods are handled by the side, so that slinging workers at high risk of accidents are not required to be qualified, and crane work is possible after receiving special education conducted by the employer. Special education is important for the safety of crane workers, but most workplaces do not have proper educational facilities or professionals to systematically conduct crane education and are conducted formally. While the safety of crane work is still threatened due to the risk of crane facilities and the limitations of the system, this study conducted an analysis of related systems and workers, such as crane safety certification standards, to obtain effective safety improvement measures for crane work.
First, five types of ergonomic evaluation principles (feedback, consistency, compatibility, pull-proof, fail-safe) were selected by examining the heuristic principles for the ergonomic analysis of safety certification criteria applied to crane facilities. And problems and improvement measures were derived through analysis of the association with the ergonomic evaluation principle of the crane safety certification standard.
Crane safety certification standards consist of a total of 119 provisions for seven fields, including mechanical devices, electrical devices, and safety devices, and 50 of them were classified as subject to ergonomic evaluation. In detail, a total of 28 provisions were applied to the feedback principle, and 22 and 14 provisions were found to be related to the full-proof and fail-safe principles, respectively. As for the consistency principle, six provisions were applied in the field of safety devices and operating devices, and as for the compatibility principle, two provisions of the crane operating device were applied. As a result of applying the ergonomic evaluation principles to these provisions, a total of 16 provisions were found, including 9 feedback, 2 compatibility, 1 consistency, and 4 full-proof provisions.
Next, in this study, through a survey of crane drivers and slinging workers, the causes of accidents felt by workers and problems with special education and qualification systems were identified. The survey was conducted on 387 crane workers in 25 companies, including 8 major shipbuilders in Korea. As a result of questioning the main causes of crane accidents, 79% of the respondents pointed to human factors such as failure to comply with safety rules, poor crane operation, and poor slinging work.
According to the analysis of the workplace education environment for workers, only 16.7% (61 people) of special education conducted under the Occupational Safety and Health Act received theoretical and practical education through professional instructors, and the majority received theory-oriented education without systematic or professional instructors. As a result, 71% (269 people) said that special education should be conducted through properly qualified educational institutions or educational centers in the workplace, about 9 times more than 7.9% (30 people) said that it was not. Therefore, it was confirmed that it was necessary to strengthen human factors through the improvement of the training method and qualification system for the existing slinging work and crane operation (pendant, remote control operation).
It is hoped that this study will help improve and develop crane safety by reviewing the ergonomic conformity of safety certification standards and improving education and qualification system to improve the skill and safety of crane drivers and slinging workers.