Safe T Bag Norway AS has marked a decade of using Straightpoint equipment by circulating a series of educational case studies covering load tests using load cells and water-bags.

The Bergen, Norway-based company has pioneered the use of water-bags for load testing cranes and other applications for almost 20 years, but adding force measurement, load monitoring and suspended weighing load cell equipment has revolutionized its work in recent years.

Utilizing Straightpoint’s range of force measurement, load monitoring and suspended weighing load cell equipment, SafeTbag principally calibrates the load reading systems on cranes and tests overload systems, while monitoring the weight of bags as they are filled. To present up-to-date documentation about lifting capacities, water weights are commonly used as a safe and convenient method of gradually increasing the load.

Kjartan Hjørnevik, managing director, SafeTbag Norway, said: “We rely 100% on the load cells and it is important that we have the right reading on the cells. If we don’t have the right reading, the tests can go very wrong.”

SafeTbag has used wireless and cabled Straightpoint equipment including load cells and load shackles with water-bags up to 500t capacity. It frequently has to proof load cranes in a variety of modes of operation, such as hoisting, lowering, luffing and revolution.  Hjørnevik added: “The load cells are rigging tools in their own right. In any application, every below-the-hook component is part of a chain and there can be no weak connections. There is no such thing as a small problem when you’re load testing cranes—only big problems, and Straightpoint’s equipment help us avoid such scenarios.”

SafeTbag also provides flotation and air lifting services.