Prevention or cure
Inadequately designed and/or poorly maintained car transporters and tipping trailers are presenting increasing and potentially serious risks to drivers and operators. And they're not alone: there also remain worries with lifts and escalators.
On the edge of tomorrow
Sensors mounted in and around lift components provide data that can give early warning of potential problems. This speeds up the process of diagnosis and repair, helping to improve reliability and minimise downtime
Lift ropes and lubrication
When it comes to steel wire ropes for lifts and elevators, getting lubrication and maintenance right couldn't be much more critical. At the most basic level, all such ropes must be periodically checked for equal tensions, as well as for lubrication, while lift ropes (whether on traction or hydraulic applications) must also be re-lubricated in a controlled manner. The problem, however, is how much and when.
Lift wire rope corrosion
Under instruction, and on making almost my first thorough examinations of lifts, I recall how my instructors stressed the importance of looking for ?rouging' between the strands of the wire ropes. Research soon showed that rouging was the lift industry term for the debris that exudes from within a working wire rope - in fact, corrosion fretting caused by two or more wires rubbing against each other, under varying loads.
Uplifting engineering
Modern lifts are taking advantage of recent electronic and electromechanical technology advances to improve efficiency and cut emissions. Brian Tinham examines the background
Uplifting experience
SAFed (the Safety Assessment Federation) care' - which is why SAFed does recommend is still reporting 4.5% immediate defects to HSE after thorough examinations by its members. That's around 14,000 problems with lifts alone that are serious enough to warrant instant withdrawal from service. In other words, 14,000 potentially fatal accidents avoided.
Wasting away
The Carbon Trust reckons that UK companies are still wasting €1 billion worth of energy per year, largely due to unresolved plant optimisation issues and inefficiencies in energy generation plant itself. Brian Wall reports on ways forward
Greener world
Most plants have already implemented a wide range of energy-related programmes - from switch-off campaigns to intelligent production scheduling at lower time-tariffs; and from installing energy-efficient equipment to improving maintenance regimes.