Recently I was asked to give my opinion on an accident involving a top riding trolley hoist.  Apparently this unit was out of service for seven months and within a few days of the equipment being put back into service there was an accident which caused an injury.  My first question was” Did the unit under go an inspection before being placed into service?” The answer was no.  I went on to explain that both OSHA and ANSI require an inspection anytime a unit is placed into service after sitting this long.  I also mentioned that perhaps this accident could have been avoided if in fact a complete inspection was performed.  I was then told that the OSHA regulations and ANSI standards did not apply. Apparently this unit falls under the jurisdiction of MSHA.  To make matters worse the owners of the failed equipment are the first ones to tell you, that they don’t have to comply with OSHA. After researching the MSHA requirements I realized that except for a few basic items, MSHA doesn’t have much at all when it comes to the design, inspection, testing and maintenance of this equipment.  I took this one step further and talked with an MSHA compliance officer that also confirmed my research.  My big question to MSHA was “Does MSHA have any regulations on overhead cranes and hoists requiring compliance with any ANSI standards?”  The reply was no.  It is amazing to me that the US Department of Labor allows a government agency under their control to be lax in safety regulations regarding overhead cranes and hoists.  If MSHA would read their own accident statistics they just might find that incorporating additional regulations on this type of equipment may prevent future accidents.  Any comments on this subject would be appreciated.

Richard Wehrmeister