IN FOCUS / FOGMAKER
HOW EFFECTIVE ARE YOUR FIRE SUPPRESSANT SYSTEMS? Crane accidents, especially crane fires can be making news headlines almost immediately in today’s digital age. There is a perception that once these fires get started nothing can be done to stop them. Firestorm’s Kieran McHatton explains this isn’t the case.
The Fogmaker system in action. 46 / CAL January 2019
IN MANY CASES, the risks and related control measures around crane operations are well known, but in terms of risk assessment, a crane fire isn’t necessarily front of mind. The ‘worst case scenario’ happened in Sydney six years ago, when a fire started on the machine deck of a diesel/ hydraulic luffing crane which caused the luff rope to fail allowing the jib to collapse onto the worksite below. Fortunately, there were no injuries as the worksite had been evacuated and the jib fell into the evacuated worksite rather than a populated area. Safety reports at the time confirmed that the same fire potential for fire applied to electric tower cranes. Providing protection against fire on mobile and transportable equipment is governed by Australian Standard (AS) 5062 -2016 and the objective of the standard is to formalise current good practice in reducing the incidence and severity of fires and to provide a consistent approach to fire risk reduction in order to safeguard life, property and the environment against fire associated with mobile and transportable equipment. Firestorm Fire Protection designs, installs and services fire suppression systems throughout Australia. The Firestorm Fire Protection Group comprises an integrated network of fire suppression solutions for a wide range of applications including cranes, mining and heavy industry, bus, construction, recycling, trucks, tunnelling and forestry sectors. www.cranesandlifting.com.au