Elebia Autohooks S.L.U. (France) – ArcelorMittal Construction, a global provider of building systems and materials, is using automatic hooks with overhead cranes to lift steel profiles at two sites in eastern France.

The construction division of the steel and mining giant produces a variety of building components at the facilities, including panels for roofing, cladding and composite floors. Safety is of paramount importance throughout manufacturing and material handling processes.

Arnaud Clausse, of Construction I site 2—Division Panneaux (panels), is responsible for safety at the sites in Contrisson and Haironville, which are to the east of Paris and about 30 minutes apart from each other by road. The facilities are conveniently located for distribution of product to France and neighbouring European countries.

Clausse said: “My mission is to continually improve safety at the sites. Integral to our operations is loading profiled steel laminations onto trucks for transportation. As part of ongoing efforts to constantly improve best practice, we sought a method of attaching and detaching slings without human intervention.”

ArcelorMittal has acquired mainly 5t hooks but it also has 10t and 20t units, all manufactured by Barcelona, Spain-based Elebia. Three hooks are typically positioned on one side of eight pick point rigs that hang beneath overhead cranes. Each magnetic hook attracts and positions slings that are connected to an opposite rigging point and wrap around the bundled profiles weighing between 50kg and 5t.

Most commonly, only two hooks are utilised at either end of the load, but Clausse explained that the centre hook is an important component of the rig as it handles smaller loads independently when only one sling is required.

He added: “In all material handling operators the Elebia hooks eliminate the requirement for personnel to work at height or in close proximity of the load. They do not have to climb onto loads to prepare a lift or onto the truck trailers to disconnect rigging equipment. Hazards related to falls or trapped hands, for example, are removed from our operations and the hooks will be implemented at additional sites across France as a result.”

ArcelorMittal Construction uses the Elebia eMax remote control, which includes a full colour liquid-crystal display (LCD) screen and offers the user a variety of information about the lifting application, including weight, hook status and alarms that alert the operator to overload or unbalance situations.

Video of the ArcelorMittal Construction application: