Transporting heavy equipment like excavators can be a difficult feat. You must make sure you follow all proper safety precautions to ensure you’re able to get your excavator to a job site safely as well as efficiently.
Here are a few tips for how to safely move an excavator to a job site in Monroe, LA:
- Conduct a thorough risk assessment: Before you even begin loading the equipment, you must make sure you perform a documented risk assessment. This will help you uncover and address any potential risks you face so you can be better prepared for them and address them appropriately before transportation begins.
- Determine your hauling capabilities: Carefully inspect the truck or trailer that will be used to haul the equipment and their important components so you can determine the hauling capacity and capability you have at your disposal. Check the tires to make sure they’re in good condition and inflated to the proper pressure. Make sure all front and brake lights work, and that the brakes are in good condition. Check all tie-down points—there should be a minimum of four tie-down points for any loads greater than 10,000 lbs. Finally, make sure your tie-downs’ working load limits add up to at least half your load weight.
- Plan your route: Make sure you’ve planned out your route ahead of time, trying to keep it as direct and linear as possible while also avoiding low overpasses and other potential hazards.
- Get the proper permit: You’ll need to get a transportation permit if you have an oversized or over-width load, which applies to many pieces of construction equipment.
- Immobilize wheel components: This will provide you with some much-needed extra security during transportation. Apply the parking brake, and use wedges, chocks and/or cradles against all wheels of the equipment, which will prevent them from rolling around on the deck during transportation.
- Use signs and lights: All transport vehicles should be outfitted with signs and flashing lights to alert other people on the road to the presence of the oversized load. Depending on the circumstances, you may also be required to have escort vehicles in front of and behind the load to alert others to your presence.
- Perform regular inspections while in transit: The industry standards for heavy equipment transport are that you should perform inspections once within the first 50 miles of transport, once every 150 miles or every three hours afterward for long-distance hauls, and at every change of driver station or change of duty. In the final case, new drivers should conduct a full inspection and document it before taking off.
- Prepare the unloading site: Make sure the unloading site is fully prepared for the arrival of the equipment. It should be clear and level, and you should do a walk-through before actually unloading the equipment to make sure everything is safe and good to go.
For more information about how to transport an excavator in Monroe, LA, we encourage you to contact the team at Ram Rent-All, Inc. today.