The daily check is yours. Nobody does it for you, and it is the only
inspection that catches something which appeared yesterday afternoon.
Before you climb
Walk around the crane at ground level first. Look at what it stands on —
ballast, foundation, rails or outriggers. Look for anything that has moved,
settled or been dug out since yesterday. Sites change overnight.
Look up. Is there anything new in the crane’s working area — scaffolding, a
mast, another crane that has grown since yesterday?
Access and cab
The ladder, rest platforms and fall protection are part of the check, not
just the crane. Ice, snow and grease on the rungs are the most common reason
someone falls on the way up — not the lift itself.
In the cab: clean glass, a working wiper, heat, radio, emergency stop, fire
extinguisher, and the simple question of whether you can actually see what you
need to see.
Function test
Run the motions gently without a load. Listen for noises that were not there
yesterday. Check that the brakes hold, that limit switches and the overload
device respond as they should, and that the emergency stop works.
You test the overload device — you never override it. A
bypassed cut-out is not a fault you can work around.
Hook, rope and gear
Look at the hook, the safety catch, the wire rope where you can reach it, and
the gear you will use today. The detail is under
wire rope,
hooks and in the
lifting gear reference.
Findings
If you find something, it gets reported the same day and it gets written
down. A word to the next shift disappears. A written note does not.
See also the article The daily walk-round and the
regulations on the employer’s duties.
No thresholds here — by design. Discard criteria, torque values, lubricant types and intervals are specific to your machine and your equipment. They are in the manufacturer's documentation, on the equipment certificate, and in the report from sakkyndig kontroll. This page tells you what to look at and what a fault looks like — it does not tell you when something is condemned. If a check leaves you unsure, the equipment stays out of use until someone competent has seen it.