Maintenance & Safety 7 min read
Crane Periodic Maintenance: Daily, Monthly, Yearly Checklist
A tiered inspection plan, from the operator's start-of-shift checks to the annual load test.
Ervan Cranes Engineering
Most crane failures are not sudden; they announce themselves weeks ahead as noise, vibration or brake travel. A tiered inspection plan catches those signals.
Every shift (operator)
Pendant buttons and emergency stop, limit switches, hook latch, visible rope or chain damage, brake hold (short lift test without load), abnormal noise. What the emergency stop, limit switches, hook latch and brakes do, and how to check them, is covered in our guide to overhead crane safety devices.
Monthly (maintenance team)
Rope diameter and broken-wire count, sheave and drum grooves, wheel flange wear, gearbox oil level, brake lining thickness, cable festoon, bolt torque on connections. When rope, brake linings and wheels are due for replacement is explained in our article on overhead crane wear parts.
Yearly (authorised service)
Weld and deflection check on the steel structure, runway rail alignment and span measurement, electrical panel and drive parameters, load test and reporting. Annual inspection records are requested in occupational safety audits.
Tighten the plan according to duty class; on a three-shift crane, monthly checks may move to fortnightly.
