On December 7th through December 11th, Lifting Gear Hire (LGH) hosted three Industrial Training International (ITI) courses within its extensive 100,000 square foot rental center: Rigging Gear Inspector (Levels I & II), Lift Director, and Critical Lift Planning.
A few months ago, LGH and ITI decided they’d join forces to offer classes at LGH’s headquarters in Bridgeview, IL, in order to provide students a unique opportunity to learn from two of the most trusted leaders in the industry. Students also received the chance to observe the processes of testing, inspecting, and certifying equipment and gain exposure to an inventory of rigging, jacking, and material handling equipment. The mission of both ITI and LGH with these courses was to educate riggers on and expose them to the world’s safest equipment to better prepare them for the rigging challenges of tomorrow.
“The joint venture was created by Mike Parnell, Zac Parnell, and Jonah Hobson,” Bob Schumacher, the ITI instructor said. “They met with Patrick Clark, the National Rental Support Manager of LGH, on it and discussed the possibilities of doing training courses at LGH. We were in agreement that Chicago would be a good market for this if we were to do it. So, with contacts through Patrick and through us, we got the word out on these courses.”
The first class, Rigging Gear Inspector – Level I & II, is rigging inspector training that has been provided by ITI for 30 years. The training curriculum heavily focused on the inspection of wire rope, hoist rope, chain sling, and hardware. The class was designed to build or enhance the skills of the student to become a qualified, in-house rigging gear inspector.
“This is the first time I’ve ever trained with ITI and I think it was extremely important because you can’t put a price on safety,” Christina Clausen of Clausen Structures, Inc. said. “I’ve learned a lot… I’m able to inspect my own rigging. My company is investing in its own rigging so it’s nice to be able to visually inspect it myself. It’s been a priceless experience and I’m thinking about doing it for more of my employees.”
The second class, Lift Director & Critical Lift Planning, addresses the responsibilities of a Lift Director as identified b 29CRF1926 (federal OSHA), ASME P30.1 Lift Planning and ASME B30.5 Mobile and Locomotive Cranes. Students were provided an outline of the recommended knowledge and skill subjects that should be mastered in order to become a competent Lift Director. A hands-on session was offered that involved the completion of a lift plan using a manbasket followed by a trial run, test lift, and the hoisting of personnel to a target work location.
“I attended the Lift Director course and I think it was a fantastic course,” Jeff Huckaby of the Walsh Group said. “We’ve been working on critical lift plans and the people here have been fantastic. LGH has been a fantastic host and our instructor, Bob Schumacher from ITI, is very hands-on and very thorough. I have nothing but great things to say about it. I highly recommend taking the course.”
The third course, Critical Lift Planning, focused on the process of assessing risks, the compilation of crane and rigging dates, crane operating areas, rigging methods, a safety checklist, personnel competencies, and assignments, a proposed sequence of events, contingency plans, and other category items recommended in ASME P30.1 Lift Planning. Students needed to formulate a series of lift plans based on multiple scenarios and then were challenged to solve a variety of issues related to partially completed plans.
The Lift Director and Critical Lift Planning course served as great preparation for the NCCCO Lift Director certification exams. Students who completed the Rigging Gear Inspector course will receive a three year qualification. All students received their CEU’s and each ITI course is LEEA Accredited.
“Overall, all three courses were successful,” Bob concluded. “We gave the students a sling tour, where they saw sling fabrication and most of the people in this class have never seen that before. They learned technical information such as the proper usage of slings that they could take back to their shops and share with their employees. The Lift Director course brought up a lot of what the responsibilities were of particular individuals in that lift. The information they received was just phenomenal. They have excellent tool kits and reference cards that they’ve been using throughout the classes that they can take back with them. And I think, word of mouth is gonna get around from the attendees to have additional courses and to have them bring back their employees for future training. We’re actually hoping that Clausen Structures, Inc. will rent the facility for in-house training. Nothing is set in stone just yet, but there’s been definitely talk about continuing the courses next year, for sure. People were just blown away by the info they received.”
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