Lifting Plan

Use the tool below: enter the lift details, and the classification is automatic from the criteria — basic, complex or special — with the checklist for the class. Complete the method statement and the site survey, and print the plan. The classification criteria are the UK LOLER and the HSE L113/INDG103 practice, and they are the same logic the US and the Gulf use with their own standards.

How to use the tool

1. Enter the lift details — the load and the weight, the crane and the capacity at the radius, the radius, the date, the location
2. Read the classification — the tool applies the criteria: basic, complex or special, and shows the checklist for the class
3. Complete the method statement — the sequence, the rigging, the signals, the exclusion, the communication
4. Work the site survey — the ground, the services, the overhead, the weather, the proximity
5. Assign the people — the lift supervisor, the crane supervisor, the dogman, the rigger, the crane operator: the competency, not the name — then print the plan

Worked example

An 18-tonne transformer to the substation pad: the crane the 40-t all-terrain at the 12-m radius (the chart: 22 t at 12 m — the 82% utilisation), the load 18 t with the rigging, the method the single pick and place, no pick and carry. Classification: the special criterion is met — the utilisation is over 75%: the lift plan signed by the competent person, the method statement with the rigging and the signals, the ground bearing confirmed (the matting laid), the exclusion set and the barrier, the weather the wind limit 9.8 m/s, the communication the radio, the people the licensed operator, the trained rigger and the dogman, the lift supervisor the sites competent person. The plan is printed, the method is briefed, the lift is supervised from the start. The 82% is the number the plan exists for.

Standard & legal context

The UK Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) require the lifting operation to be properly planned by a competent person, properly supervised, and the equipment inspected; the HSE L113 ACoP and the INDG103 set the classification — the basic, the complex and the special. The US pair is the OSHA 1926.1420 (the crane and derrick) and the ASME B30.5, with the lift-plan practice from the API and the construction industry. The classification criteria on this page are the UK practice, and the logic — the weight, the radius, the utilisation, the proximity, the pick and carry, the tandem — is the same worldwide.

Common mistakes

1. Classifying by the weight and not the total picture — the 10 t load that is the pick and carry near the crowd is the special, not the basic; the criteria are read together, not one-of
2. No ground bearing check — the crane on the soft ground is the collapse that is not the cranes fault on the chart; the matting and the survey are the plan
3. The exclusion as a cone of honour — the exclusion is the barrier, the dogman, the no-entry, and the communication; the everyone-knows exclusion is the one that fails
4. The plan written and not briefed — the plan is the document the crew works from; the method statement read to the rigging crew is the plan that happens