Tag Archives: Prevent

5 tips to prevent the heavy construction equipment from being stolen

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Theft is a common problem, when it comes to the heavy construction equipment. These are so expensive, so much in demand and so easy to steal that the thieves frequently make a target of the equipment at a jobsite. Despite the fact that these machines and equipment are so huge, stealing them is not a problem because of the lack of anti-theft or theft-prevention measures that the owners take.

Here are a few tips that will help you to prevent the chances of theft and make it easier to find, if at all it is stolen.

  • Indicate the parts and label them:

 

It is very important that you add an indicator and make a note of all the parts and machines of the heavy construction equipment. There are indicating stickers and labels that can help you in doing so. However, it is quite easy to remove these indicators and sell the parts in the black market.

Hence, it is a better idea that you use an inscription to indicate every part of the equipment and have a note of these parts. This will not only help you to keep a track of the different parts of the equipment, but also, in case there is a theft, it will make it easier for the investigators to have a note of the part that is missing. Even after finding it, identifying it becomes a lot easier.

  • Use apps to monitor all activities:

 

There are anti-theft apps that can be installed to your system and it becomes easy to control and monitor, whether the equipment is being stolen or not.

  • Area surveillance:

 

Most of the heavy construction equipment thefts have taken place because of the lack of surveillance in any part of the jobsite. There is less CCTV surveillance than needed and even the lights are turned off making it easier for the thieves to steal.

In any jobsite, where there is the use of heavy construction equipment and if they are parked at the jobsite, it is a must that you install motion sensors. This will help you to detect any activity and movement that is caused to move the equipment from there. There must also be enough light towers that will help you to keep a notice of the equipment.

  • Parking the heavy construction equipment:

 

This is something that not every heavy construction equipment owner keeps in mind. When you park the equipment or the vehicle after a day at work, you need to park it one after the other, in a queue, so that it is not possible to remove any one of the vehicles or machines or equipment, without removing the other.

If you follow these simple and yet useful tips, it will be absolutely easy to keep a track of all of your vehicles. You will be able to prevent any chance of theft. However, thefts can be very expensive and to make sure it does not lead to financial loss, you need to have the heavy construction equipment insured.

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How to prevent your heavy equipment getting stolen

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Thieves always have one thing in mind. Steal a highly priced stuff and sell it at a lower price. It will still leave them with a bounty. It really does not matter much if the item they want to steal is the car parked at your backyard or the heavy equipment that is lying at your construction site. For them, it is good money lying unprotected and definitely a chance to earn a lot of money in a comparatively shorter span. They know for sure how highly priced heavy equipment are and therefore if you have left your machine unprotected, it is definitely a cause of worry. If you feel that keeping the equipment in the construction site will keep it away from the eyes of the thieves, then you have completely mistaken them. You will never know what they have set your machine as their next target and one fine day you will get to see the equipment missing from the site.

It is better to be safe than sorry for not doing the right thing at the right time and therefore it is important that you keep your heavy equipment protected. Thieves will never let you know when they are planning to steal your machine and therefore installing a camera or keeping some sort of security will deter them to take this step. Efforts that you should take to keep your machine safe are stated below.

Install cameras at major points in the construction site:-

Installing cameras at all the important points can work a great deal in keeping the thieves at bay. It has been noticed that thieves do not want to get inside the compounds that has cameras all around the place. Trying to steal a machine from a place that has lot of cameras has more chance for them to get caught and therefore they kind of like to play it safe.

Deploy security men to protect your machine:-

Alongside installing cameras you can also deploy security men at the site who will keep a constant check. It will be too much of a risk to try any misadventure when you have the security guys available at the site. They would rather not dare to drive away a big machine especially when there are people around and guarding the place. This would act a big deterrent to the ones who enter the site with the intention to steal the equipment.

Give a suitable indicator to all your machines:-

If you have a lot of machines with you, it becomes difficult for you to identify which equipment is yours and which one you have taken on rent (if at all you have taken any machine on rent). What needs to be done is tag the machines with numbers or codes engraved in it. The numbers should be visible to everybody which if stolen will not be easy to sell in the black market. The thieves will also not want to make the selling part difficult and hence will not lay their hands on machines that have those numbers or codes.

 

 

Prevent and Minimize Heavy Equipment Undercarriage Wear

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We all know that any minute issue in heavy equipment if not taken care at the right time may give birth to serious problems in the nearby future and which is why it is very critical to keep your machine well maintained. By saying your machine, it is just not limited to the equipment but also the undercarriage that forms an important part of the machine. The equipment is not operated in the right manner may give exert more unwanted pressure to the tracks and thus it may lead to issues down there and that may even result in the machine going idle for days till the time the undercarriage doesn’t gets fixed.

The major reason that can lead to an early deterioration of the undercarriage is having a tight track. A tight track can give rise to many problems in the undercarriage and therefore it is recommended to check the tracks well during the time it’s installed on the machine. Too tight tracks can lead to eating away of sprockets, bushings, carried rollers etc. thus decreasing the overall life of the tracks and will also shoot up the operating cost of the machine. The procedure to adjust tracks differs from machine to machine. It basically depends on the kind of sprockets being used in the machine (if it has an elevated sprocket or a conventional one). Though, it is advisable that one should always adjust the tracks in a job site rather than doing it in a shop.

Lower down the speed of the equipment when it is not productive. You definitely would not want it to wear for non-operational reasons. It has been seen in many construction sites that the operator is always in a hurry and runs the machine at high speed when it is not productive. Well, there is simply no reason to put it in a high speed when you don’t want it to perform. That is one of the reasons why the undercarriage wears in less time than compared to equipment that are not always in a state of hurry. How is speed related to deteriorating the quality of the machine? It directly affects the bushings, sprockets, idlers and all the other important component of the undercarriage. It affects the most to the bushings and sprockets when you reverse the machine at a high speed. Hence, when it’s not at work or when it is needed, it should be driven at a high speed.

Turning the machine constantly in a particular direction wears the undercarriage in that part. It particularly affects the rail slides, idle flanges and rollers. In case, where you just can’t avoid turning the machine in one particular direction, you should better examine the tracks at the end of the day and check if you can continue with it the following day. If so ever, you see that it needs some adjustments to be done, get that done before you further wear it down.

In case of slipping tracks, you should ensure that you reduce the load because if not done, then it may affect the grousers.