New ASME P30 Committee Formed

Mike Parnell, president and CEO of Industrial Training International (ITI), Woodland, Wash., has been elected chairman of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) committee P30 Planning for the Use of Cranes, Derricks, Hoists, Cableways, and Aerial Devices. Parnell’s term on P30, ASME’s newest committee, runs from October 2010 through June 2013. According to ASME’s website, the P30 committee was chartered to develop standards that support lift planning activities that involve the use of equipment such as cranes, derricks, hoists, cableways, aerial devices and material lifting accessories.

“It is envisioned that this document will help managers and other professionals in the construction and material handling industries who are responsible for ensuring the safe execution of both routine and non-routine lifting operation,” notes ASME.

Parnell, who currently serves as vice chairman of the ASME B30 Main Committee, and is a charter member of the Association of Crane & Rigging Professionals, and works with the American Society of Safety Engineers and Associated Wire Rope Fabricators, says the committee is filling an industry-wide void.  

“We saw the need for a stand-alone committee, and said this is the right thing to do,” explained Parnell. The document will focus on “Load Handling Equipment” (LHE) involved in three types of lifts—repetitive, standard, and critical. It will give examples of situations that might cause a critical lift plan to be written, and who might be involved in the planning process.

The committee, which has given itself 24 months to write the document, will have three electronic meetings, three person-to-person meetings in 2011 and 2012. Publication will soon follow, said Parnell. “When it’s done we’ll have to give it to the ASME board, who’ll give it to ANSI for 30-day public review. We’ll respond to comments according to ANSI procedures, and if we do that properly, the document will be published,” he explained.

LHE includes any kind of crane, telescoping gantry systems, or rolling systems, irrespective of what the technology is formally known as. “It’ll be really pointed towards all the equipment under B30,” said Parnell. “That’s how the committee got its name.”

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