{"id":8622,"date":"2026-10-09T19:08:58","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T03:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/szlmi.com\/?p=8622"},"modified":"2026-10-09T19:08:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T03:08:58","slug":"crane-overload-protection-buyers-guide-october-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/szlmi.com\/zh\/crane-overload-protection-buyers-guide-october-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"\u8d77\u91cd\u673a\u8fc7\u8f7d\u4fdd\u62a4\uff1a2026\u5e7410\u6708\u7b2c\u4e00\u5468\u7ed9\u884c\u4e1a\u5e26\u6765\u7684\u542f\u793a"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disclosure of interest:<\/strong>\u00a0This article is published by SeeZol (szlmi.com), a manufacturer of load moment indicators (LMI), safe load limiters and onboard weighing systems for construction machinery. We sell the equipment discussed below, so we have a commercial interest in the conclusions. We have tried to keep the line between fact and sales talk visible: we describe what each device is designed to do and the direction in which it acts, we do not quote accuracy, capacity or response-time figures for any model, and \u2014 in a dedicated section \u2014 we list what these devices cannot do.<\/span><\/p>\n

One week, four incidents, one thread<\/h2>\n

On 6 October 2026, a mobile self-erecting tower crane collapsed on a building site in Ipsach, in the Swiss canton of Bern. The mast buckled and the jib came down across a railway line and a road. Nobody was injured. The Bern cantonal police said an investigation into the cause had been launched; as of 10 October 2026, no cause had been published, and nothing in this article should be read as assuming overload played a part (Vertikal.net, citing the Bern cantonal police<\/a>).<\/p>\n

One day earlier, reporting from the Old Bailey in London described the opening of the trial of Higgins Homes plc and four men over the death of Michaela Boor, who was struck by a pallet of bricks \u2014 more than two tonnes of them \u2014 that fell from a tower crane in Bow in March 2018. Prosecutors told the court that the pallet caught on scaffolding while it was being hoisted, that the crane operator had a restricted view of the load, and that no risk assessment had been carried out for lifting pallets so close to the pavement. The company and the four men deny the charges (BBC News<\/a>).<\/p>\n

On 8 October, a truck crane overturned in Shenzhen, China, while hoisting. The crane\u2019s owner told local media that the load being lifted was overweight; no one was injured, and several electric bicycles parked at the roadside were damaged (The Beijing News<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Across 7\u20138 October, market-surveillance and inspection authorities in China published post-holiday enforcement notices. A notice from Zhuhai\u2019s Jinwan district lists a missing or failed load-moment limiter or load-limiting device on lifting machinery among the conditions that constitute a major accident hazard (Jinwan district market-surveillance notice, via Tencent News<\/a>), and a Guangdong special-equipment inspection institute travelled to Guizhou specifically to re-verify the moment limiters and load limiters of tower cranes on a highway project (China Quality News via Sina Finance<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Four items, four jurisdictions, one thread. In three of them the load itself \u2014 its weight, its path, or both \u2014 is the subject; in the fourth the cause is not yet known. What ties them together is the question every investigator asks first: did the machine know what it was carrying, and did anyone act on that information?<\/p>\n

What crane overload protection actually does<\/h2>\n

A crane\u2019s safe capacity is not one number. It depends on the radius, the boom angle and boom length, the configuration \u2014 outriggers, counterweight, parts of line \u2014 and the attachments in use. The load chart in the cab is a set of limits, and the allowed load falls as the radius grows. This is why two lifts of the same load can be perfectly safe at one radius and illegal at another.<\/p>\n

Crane overload protection is the electronic layer that keeps the machine on the right side of that chart. It reads live inputs \u2014 load, boom angle, boom length or radius \u2014 compares them against the stored load chart, and acts in one direction only: warn first, restrict next, and on limiter versions cut the dangerous motion before the limit is crossed.<\/p>\n

In the United States this is not optional guidance. Under OSHA\u2019s Subpart CC, equipment other than derricks and articulating cranes manufactured after 29 March 2003 with a rated capacity over 6,000 pounds must have at least one of the following: a load weighing device, a load moment (or rated capacity) indicator, or a load moment (or rated capacity) limiter (29 CFR 1926.1416(e)(4)(i)<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The same rulebook tells operators how to use the device. Equipment must not be operated in excess of its rated capacity, and the operator must verify the load weight either from a source or calculation method recognised by the industry, or by beginning to hoist and checking with a load weighing device, load moment indicator, rated capacity indicator or rated capacity limiter (29 CFR 1926.1417(o)<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\n

\"Load<\/a>
Load moment indicator readout: boom angle, radius and load are shown together, because the limit is a combination of all three.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Three devices, three jobs<\/h2>\n

\u201cOverload protection\u201d is an umbrella term that covers devices doing different jobs. Mixing them up is one of the most common reasons buyers end up with the wrong hardware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Device<\/th>\n\u6d4b\u91cf\u5185\u5bb9<\/th>\nWhat it does<\/th>\nTypical machines<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Load weighing device \/ onboard scale<\/td>\nWeight of the load<\/td>\nInforms, accumulates, alarms at a set threshold<\/td>\nWheel loaders, excavators, material handlers, forklifts<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Load moment \/ rated capacity indicator (LMI \/ RCI)<\/td>\nLoad plus radius, boom angle and boom length, against the load chart<\/td>\nDisplays the working condition and warns as capacity is approached<\/td>\nTruck cranes, mobile cranes, tower cranes, crawler cranes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Load moment \/ rated capacity limiter<\/td>\nSame inputs as the indicator<\/td>\nAlso cuts hoist, boom or telescoping motion that would exceed the chart<\/td>\nMachines where tipping or structural overload is the dominant risk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n

\"System<\/a>
Typical system composition for a mobile crane: monitor, load sensor, angle and length sensor, anti-two-block switch and junction box.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

The distinction between an indicator and a limiter is not academic. An indicator that only displays leaves the cut-off decision to the operator; a limiter removes it. We explain the terminology, and how the terms map to LMI, SLI, RCI and RCL, in a separate article (load moment indicators vs load limiters<\/a>;\u00a0LMI vs SLI vs RCI vs RCL, with standards<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Choosing a crane overload protection system: a buyer\u2019s checklist<\/h2>\n

Procurement teams usually compare screens and prices. The questions below decide whether the device actually works on your machine, in your climate, under your inspection regime.<\/p>\n