Hiring a Jack-and-Slide Rigger

Family owned and operated since 1938, H. Brown is the most trusted provider of crane rental and cranes for hire in the gulf coast region. Our fleet, which includes cranes that can lift up to 450 tons, serves the power, petrochemical, utility and refinery industries in Louisiana and beyond.

Sometimes, however, cranes can’t be counted on to safely move, load, offload and trans-load your valuable and sensitive equipment to engineered specifications. For situations where cranes are not practical, hydraulic jacking systems can do the trick. These lifting systems can handle weights of one million pounds or more. They allow us to move extremely heavy equipment in tight areas that are hard to get to.

Before hiring a jack-and-slide rigger, take some time to learn about the process and best practices. Armed with a bit of knowledge, you can make the decision that makes the most sense for your business.

Turnarounds: The Importance of Getting Them Right

Many of H. Brown’s rigging clients are chemical or petrochemical facilities or power plants. We specialize in these fields because they play a huge role in Louisiana. Maintenance of the equipment in these environments is an ongoing requirement for safety and OSHA and environmental compliance. When we’re dealing with a piece of equipment that weighs 500 tons, doing the work takes some planning.

Often, industrial maintenance at this scale means shutting down sectors of a facility. There’s a term for this procedure: “Turnarounds” (TARs). Turnarounds involve taking an entire process unit off-stream for inspection and testing or revamping. These TARs have to be planned and orchestrated perfectly to minimize downtime and keep production on schedule.

Keeping this maintenance time to a minimum is the reason lifting and rigging—as well as the services that support them—have to be handled professionally, on-time and within budget.

In addition to plant and maintenance turnarounds, unscheduled outages and shutdowns call for emergency rigging services.

Qualifications for Riggers

Whether it’s a scheduled turnaround or emergency service, hiring a rigger means finding someone with knowledge of rigging gear inspection, proper rigging procedures, and load control using standard rigging techniques.

According to the American Petroleum Institute, comprehensive rigger training must include hands-on applications in load weight estimation, load control, rigging capacities, sling angles and tensions. A more advanced “master rigger” will get classroom and hands-on training in multiple crane lifts, load turning, load drifting with chain hoists, jacking and rolling, incline planes and how to manage the center of gravity in all three axes.

The jack-and-slide rigger is a key member of the team responsible for assisting the loading, offloading and setting of various over-dimensional loads. He’s ultimately responsible for loading, offloading, setting and centering load and block placing to ensure safe and accurate placement.

Making the Move

Moving large industrial equipment requires first determining the load’s weight, size and the path it will take to get to its destination. Once a rig is constructed, the rigger will test it before moving anything. Hydraulic gantries and jack and slide systems are used to lift and position heavy loads with precise control, maintaining load stability even in narrow and confined spaces.

The crews doing this work must have engineering, planning and coordination skills. Safety has to be their top priority. They must properly inspect and mark mechanical and hydraulic jacks before the lift, consider stability and floor bearing pressure and check casters before use.

Hire Experienced Rigging Professionals

H. Brown has rigging services available weekly or monthly. We primarily serve the power, petrochemical, utility and refinery industries of the Gulf South Region. For more information about additional coverage areas of our rigging services, or to discuss how we can help with turnaround maintenance at your facility, please contact us at 800-256-2348.

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