Pick-and-Carry (Franna) Crane Operation SWMS
SWMS variants reference your state’s WHS legislation. Instant download after payment.
A pick-and-carry crane is the only common crane designed to travel with the load suspended, and that single capability is what kills people with it. Every other crane lifts from a stable footprint on outriggers. This one lifts on tyres and then moves, and the consequences are specific and not intuitive to operators trained on slewing cranes. **Articulation reduces capacity dramatically**: as the machine steers, the chassis articulates and the load moves outside the stability triangle, so the chart derates steeply with articulation angle — a load that is safe straight ahead can overturn the machine at full lock.
**Out-of-level compounds it.** These machines are extremely sensitive to slope and cross-fall, and a small angle is not a rounding error on the chart. And **dynamic effects are not on the chart at all**: the rated figure is a static rating, while travelling adds braking, acceleration, steering input, ground undulation and load swing, none of which the static figure accounts for. A load swinging out on a turn increases the effective radius while the chart assumes it is not. The controls are to travel slowly, keep the load low and short, avoid steering under load, and treat rated capacity as a ceiling that dynamic effects erode — never as a target. This SWMS covers set-up and ground assessment, load assessment against the chart, rigging, travelling with the load, and placing. Regulator: SafeWork NSW.
Hazards identified
14 hazards covered, sorted by priority.
Overturn and crush fatality — capacity falls steeply with steer angle and the straight-ahead figure does not apply at lock
Overturn from a slope or cross-fall these machines are extremely sensitive to
Electrocution of the operator and anyone touching the machine or the load
The crane breaking through backfill, a slab, a trench or an unsupported edge with a load suspended
Effective radius exceeding the chart while the operator has done nothing wrong
Crush fatality at an articulation point that sweeps a path bystanders do not expect
Crush fatality from gear or a connection failing under a load whose mass was estimated
Fatal impact while travelling with a load that permanently restricts the operator's forward view
Overload from reading the straight-ahead or on-outrigger column for a pick-and-carry lift
Loss of stability on rubber, where the chart assumes correct type and pressure
Swing and boom side loading from a sail-area load in wind
Crush or impact injury to a worker guiding a load by hand
Fall injury during access, egress or maintenance on a muddy or greasy machine
Musculoskeletal injury handling chains, slings and dunnage
Control measures
Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.
- 1Apply the load chart as derated for the ACTUAL articulation angle — capacity falls steeply with steer angle and the straight-ahead figure does not apply at lock.
- 2Plan a straight travel path so the machine does not steer under load, and lift from a position that removes the need to travel where practicable.
- 3Monitor the machine level indicator continuously and derate for out-of-level — these machines are extremely sensitive and a small angle is not a rounding error.
- 4Walk and assess the travel path before the lift, grade it if needed, and stop the lift if the machine goes out of level.
- 5Have the network operator de-energise and isolate any overhead line, or route the lift and the ENTIRE travel path clear of all lines — assessed along its whole length, not just at the pick and place points.
- 6Use a dedicated safety observer whose only task is watching clearance; energised electrical work is prohibited under Part 4.7 Division 4, sections 154 and 157 unless de-energisation is not reasonably practicable.
- 7Assess ground bearing capacity along the entire travel path with a competent person and the services drawings, use bog mats over unproven ground, and re-assess after rain.
- 8Keep the load low and short to minimise pendulum length, use tag lines controlled clear of the travel path, and travel at walking pace with smooth braking and acceleration.
- 9Treat the chart as a STATIC rating that dynamic effects erode — rated capacity is a ceiling, never a target.
- 10Establish actual load mass from documentation or weighing rather than estimating, and refuse any lift where the mass is unknown.
- 11Exclude all persons from the articulation point and the travel path while moving, with a spotter in continuous view of the operator and a stop-on-loss-of-contact rule.
- 12Install a traffic guidance scheme to AS 1742.3 where the path is in or adjacent to a live carriageway, and recognise that the suspended load restricts the operator's forward view permanently, not occasionally.
- 13Ensure the operator holds the correct high risk work licence class and the dogger holds a dogging licence — the dogger, not the operator, owns the load assessment.
- 14Consult workers per Section 47 of the WHS Act 2011 (NSW), record it, and review whenever the crane, load, path, ground or method changes, after any incident, or at minimum every 12 months.
Applicable Codes of Practice
The benchmark for plant risk management, guarding, maintenance and safe use of the crane.
The benchmark for approach distances to overhead electric lines and the control of electrical risk near the network.
The benchmark for construction-phase risk management, exclusion zones and the interaction of mobile plant with pedestrians.
Crane set-up, ground assessment, load chart application, deration, travelling with a suspended load and operator duties.
The design and rating basis underlying the load chart, including the conditions under which the rated capacity applies.
Slings, shackles, chains and lifting attachments, their rating, inspection and use.
High-Risk Construction Work triggered
The crane is powered mobile plant travelling through the work area with a suspended load and a permanently restricted forward view.
The boom, the load and the crane structure operate within reach of overhead electric lines along the whole travel path, not only at the pick and place points.
Pick-and-carry work routinely operates in or adjacent to a live carriageway, with the travel path crossing or running along it.
Access, egress and maintenance on the machine involve a fall risk, and loads are lifted and placed at height.
Pick-and-carry crane operation is high risk construction work under Section 291 of the WHS Regulation 2025 (NSW), so a SWMS must be prepared before work commences (Section 299), kept readily accessible, reviewed as necessary (Section 302), and given to the principal contractor if one is appointed. The crane is registrable plant under Chapter 5, with duties to ensure it is inspected, maintained and used within its design limits — and 'design limits' for a pick-and-carry machine means the chart as derated for articulation and out-of-level, not the headline capacity. The operator must hold the appropriate high risk work licence class under Part 4.5, and the associated dogging and rigging duties require the corresponding licences. Energised electrical work is prohibited under Part 4.7 Division 4, sections 154 and 157 unless de-energisation is not reasonably practicable. An overturn, an electrical contact, a dropped load or a serious crush injury is a notifiable incident under Sections 35–38 and is prosecuted as a Category 1 or Category 2 offence, with the most serious breaches carrying imprisonment for individuals.
Who this is for
- →Crane hire and rigging contractors operating pick-and-carry (Franna or equivalent) cranes on construction sites.
- →Crane operators trained on slewing cranes who need the pick-and-carry deration rules stated explicitly.
- →Doggers and riggers assessing loads and directing pick-and-carry lifts.
- →Builders and principal contractors planning travel paths, ground conditions and overhead clearances for pick-and-carry work.
- →WHS managers and HSE advisors responsible for mobile plant, overhead line clearance and pedestrian segregation.
What you receive
- ✓A complete, editable Safe Work Method Statement authored for New South Wales — the WHS Act 2011 (NSW), the WHS Regulation 2025 (NSW) and SafeWork NSW as regulator.
- ✓14 identified hazards with initial and residual risk ratings on a 5x5 matrix, each with controls ordered through the full hierarchy — eliminate, engineer, administrative, PPE.
- ✓The articulation deration control set — the capability that makes this machine useful is the one that overturns it, and the straight-ahead chart figure does not apply at lock.
- ✓The out-of-level control set for a machine extremely sensitive to slope and cross-fall, where a small angle is not a rounding error.
- ✓An explicit statement that the chart is a STATIC rating that dynamic effects erode — rated capacity is a ceiling, never a target.
- ✓Ground assessment along the ENTIRE travel path rather than at the pick and place points, including backfill, basements, trenches and edges.
- ✓The full high risk construction work breakdown — powered mobile plant, energised electrical, road or traffic corridor and falls over 2 m — with the reason each applies.
- ✓A PPE matrix, emergency procedures covering overturn, overhead line contact (including step potential and how to jump clear) and crush injury, and a worker sign-on table.
- ✓Microsoft Word (.docx) format, unbranded, editable fields for PCBU, ABN, site, prepared by, reviewed by, approved by and review date.
Worked example
A Franna is asked to shift a 4-tonne precast panel forty metres across a site. The operator checks the chart, sees the machine is rated well above 4 tonnes, and picks it up. Straight ahead, on level ground, he is entirely correct. Thirty metres in there is a stack of formwork he has to go around, so he winds on a bit of lock — and at that steer angle the chart is not the number he read in the yard. The chassis articulates, the load swings out on the turn and puts itself further from the centre than the radius he checked, the ground has a 2-degree cross-fall he never noticed because it looks flat, and the machine goes over sideways in about a second and a half. He was never above the rated capacity. He was above the capacity **for the configuration he was actually in**, which is a different number in a different column, and no alarm told him because the RCI does not know he is turning. This SWMS makes the derated figure the planned figure before the crane arrives, and plans a straight path so the question never comes up mid-travel.
Related legislation
- Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) — Section 19 primary duty of care; Section 47 consultation; Sections 35–38 notifiable incidents.
- Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — Section 291 (high risk construction work) and Section 299 (preparation and content of a SWMS), with review under Section 302.
- Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — Chapter 5 (plant): registration, inspection, maintenance and the duty to use plant within its design limits.
- Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW) — Part 4.5 (high risk work licences) for the crane operator and the dogging/rigging duties; Part 4.7 (electrical) including the prohibition at Division 4, sections 154 and 157.
- AS 2550.1 and AS 2550.5 (Cranes, hoists and winches — Safe use), AS 1418.5 (Mobile cranes), AS 4991 (Lifting devices) and AS 1742.3 (Traffic control for works on roads).
Frequently asked questions
The load is well under the rated capacity. Why is this a high risk lift?
Because 'rated capacity' on a pick-and-carry machine is not one number — it is a table, and the column you need depends on the articulation angle you are actually at. Capacity falls steeply as the machine steers, so a load that is comfortably within the chart straight ahead can overturn the machine at full lock. Out-of-level compounds it: these machines are extremely sensitive to slope and cross-fall. And the chart is a static rating, so braking, acceleration, steering and ground undulation all erode it further. The headline number is the least useful figure on the machine.
How is this different from any other mobile crane lift?
Every other common crane lifts from a stable footprint on outriggers. A pick-and-carry lifts on rubber and then travels with the load suspended — that is what it is for, and it is what kills people with it. Travelling introduces articulation, dynamic loading, ground variability along a whole path rather than at two points, and a permanently restricted forward view because the load is in front of the operator. Operators trained on slewing cranes bring habits that are correct on those machines and dangerous on this one.
Do we really need to assess the ground along the whole path?
Yes, and this is the most commonly skipped control. On an outriggered lift you assess two positions. On a pick-and-carry lift the machine is loaded and moving across every metre between them — over backfill, service trenches, pit lids, basement slabs and unsupported edges, any of which will let a wheel through with four tonnes swinging above it. The path is walked, assessed against the services drawings by a competent person, physically marked, and not deviated from. And it is re-assessed after rain.
Why does the SWMS keep saying the chart is a ceiling, not a target?
Because the rated figure is calculated for a static condition that does not exist while you are travelling. Braking, acceleration, steering input, ground undulation and load swing all add load or radius that the static figure never accounted for, and none of them show on the rated capacity indicator until it is too late to matter. Planning a lift AT the chart figure means the first bump takes you over it. The lift is planned below the derated figure, travelled at walking pace with smooth inputs, and stopped rather than corrected if the machine starts to feel wrong.