Reference · Sheet S-901
Boom truck glossary
62 terms from the load chart, the regulation and the rental quote, in plain words.
- Air brake endorsement
- An addition to a driver's licence that permits driving a vehicle with air brakes. Each province names it differently, and it applies to an air-braked boom truck whatever its licence class. →
- All-found rate
- A rental rate that covers the equipment, the operator and the costs of running it. Schedules differ on what is left out: BC Wildfire Service, for example, pays fuel separately, so read the definition in each schedule. → →
- Anti-two-block device
- A device that warns the operator or stops crane movements as the hook block nears the boom tip, to prevent two-blocking. Quebec requires a fail-safe device of this kind on telescopic-boom mobile cranes. →
- Articulating crane
- The formal name for a knuckle-boom crane: a crane whose boom is hinged in sections and moved by hydraulic cylinders, often with telescoping sections at the outer end. CSA covers it in a separate safety code from mobile cranes. →
- Bare rate
- A rental rate for the machine only. The renter supplies a qualified operator and pays for that person separately. →
- Boom angle
- The angle between the boom and horizontal. Raising the boom brings the hook closer to the truck and lifts the tip higher; lowering it does the opposite. BC requires an indicator readable at the controls where rated capacity depends on it. → →
- Boom lift (aerial work platform)
- A machine that raises people in a basket or on a platform to work at height. It positions workers rather than lifting loads, and Canadian standards treat vehicle-mounted aerial devices separately from cranes. →
- Boom truck
- A crane with a telescoping or articulating boom mounted on a commercial truck chassis, usually keeping some ability to carry a load on its deck. →
- Boom truck hoist (Manitoba)
- Manitoba's regulatory name for a boom truck: a telescoping or articulating boom on a truck chassis that can load on and off the truck. Above the rated capacity the regulation sets, the operator must hold the compulsory boom truck hoist operator certification. → →
- Bridle
- A set of sling legs joined at a master link on the hook, used to pick a load at several points. The tension in each leg rises as the legs spread wider apart. →
- Bucket truck
- A truck-mounted aerial device that lifts a worker in a bucket, used by utilities and tree crews. It is built to position people, not to lift loads the way a crane does. →
- Capital lease
- Under ASPE, a lease that passes most of the value of ownership to the lessee, judged by tests such as a bargain purchase option or a term covering most of the asset's economic life. The lessee records the asset and a lease liability. →
- Carry-deck crane
- An industrial crane with a flat deck that can carry a load while it travels, built for plants and yards with firm, level surfaces and narrow aisles. It is not a road truck with a crane mounted on it. →
- CCA
- Capital cost allowance: the income tax deduction for the cost of depreciable property, claimed class by class at the rate set for each class. The class for a truck-mounted crane is not settled in the published guidance. →
- Crane mat
- A heavy timber, steel or composite panel laid under outrigger pads to spread the load over soft or uneven ground. IHSA says mats must be used on soft ground or backfill. →
- Crane truck
- The name used on the BC coast for a boom truck: a crane mounted on a commercial truck chassis, often with a deck for carrying loads. →
- Critical lift
- A lift that needs extra planning because of its size, position or hazard. BC's definition includes a boom truck lift close to rated capacity at a long radius, and any lift over or between energized high-voltage conductors. →
- CVIP
- Commercial Vehicle Inspection Program: the periodic mechanical inspection of commercial trucks in Alberta and British Columbia, carried out by licensed inspection facilities. →
- CVOR
- Commercial Vehicle Operator's Registration: the certificate Ontario requires of carriers that run trucks above a set weight. →
- Deck crane
- A crane mounted on a truck deck, the term BC Wildfire Service uses on its equipment rate lines. In practice it overlaps with crane truck and boom truck. →
- Design factor
- The ratio between the load that breaks a sling or rope and its rated working load. Regulations set minimum design factors for each sling material, such as wire rope and alloy chain. →
- Digger derrick
- A truck-mounted boom with an auger, built to dig holes and set utility poles. Alberta's crane trade definitions and CSA's mobile crane code both leave it out. →
- Duty cycle
- Repetitive crane work, such as placing concrete with a bucket. Manufacturers often require chart ratings to be reduced for it, or supply a separate chart. →
- Fly jib
- An extension fitted to the boom tip for extra height or reach. Whether its weight comes off the main boom's capacity when it is stowed or attached depends on the load chart. →
- Hook block
- The block, sheaves and hook at the end of the hoist line. Its weight, with the slings and other gear, counts against chart capacity before the load does. →
- Hotshot truck
- A light truck used for fast deliveries of parts and small loads, common in oilfield work. Some carry a small crane, which public wildfire schedules price as an add-on to the truck. →
- Jib
- A boom extension fitted at the tip of the main boom to add reach or height, fixed or folding. A fly jib is a kind of jib. →
- Knuckle boom
- An articulating boom whose hinged sections fold for travel and unfold to reach, often with telescoping sections at the outer end. In Alberta, whether it has a hoist line can change the operator certification rule. →
- Lift plan
- A written plan for a lift: load weight, rigging, crane set-up, radius, chart capacity, ground, hazards and who does what. Alberta requires a lift calculation for lifts above a set share of rated capacity. →
- Limit of approach
- The minimum distance people, equipment and loads must keep from an energized overhead power line. It grows with the line voltage and differs by province. → →
- Load chart
- The manufacturer's table of the loads a crane may lift at each radius, boom length and set-up. The chart for the actual truck and configuration governs every lift. →
- Load moment indicator
- A system that senses the overturning moment on the crane and shows how much of its rated capacity is in use, often with warnings or cut-outs near the limit. →
- Load radius
- The horizontal distance from the crane's centre of rotation to the hook with the load on. Capacity falls as radius grows, and radius grows as the boom deflects under load. → →
- Load weight indicator
- A device that measures the weight on the hook. BC requires such an indicator, or a system that stops lifts beyond rated capacity, on boom trucks above a set capacity. →
- Mobilization
- Moving a truck to the site and back, and setting it up. Suppliers and public rate schedules often bill it separately from working hours, sometimes with a minimum. →
- NSC
- National Safety Code: the national standards for commercial vehicle and carrier safety, applied by each province through its own carrier certificates and inspection programs. →
- Operated rate
- A rental rate that includes the operator. Some operated rates also include fuel; the published schedule says which. →
- Operating lease
- Under ASPE, a lease that is not a capital lease: the lessee records no asset or liability and expenses the rent evenly over the term. Under IFRS, longer leases go on the balance sheet instead. →
- Outrigger
- A beam that extends from the truck with a jack that lowers to the ground to stabilize the crane. Full on-outrigger chart ratings apply only with the beams extended as the chart requires and the tires clear of the ground. →
- Picker truck
- The name used in much of Western Canada for a boom truck, especially one with a knuckle boom. →
- Quadrant
- A working area around the crane, such as over the rear, over the side or over the front. Capacity is normally greatest over the rear and may be nil over the front, depending on the chart. →
- Rated capacity
- The maximum load the manufacturer permits at a given radius, boom length and set-up, as shown on the load chart. The hook block and rigging count against it. →
- Reverse knuckle picker
- A trade name heard in Western Canada for a particular knuckle-boom picker build. No regulation we read uses it, so ask for the load chart and the boom type rather than relying on the name. →
- Safety fitness certificate
- The certificate Alberta requires of commercial carriers whose trucks are registered above set weights. →
- Safety watcher / signaller
- A worker whose job is to watch the boom, the load and nearby hazards such as power lines, and warn the operator. Ontario requires a designated signaller where a crane could approach an energized line; BC requires a safety watcher in some power-line situations. →
- Sling angle
- The angle a sling leg makes with the horizontal, or with the vertical in some rules. The flatter the leg, the more tension it carries for the same load. → →
- Stabilizer
- Another name for an outrigger, used especially for knuckle-boom cranes. CSA's cap on boom truck load ratings applies with the stabilizers fully extended and set. →
- Standby rate
- A reduced rate paid while hired equipment waits on site, ready but not working. Public schedules that publish a standby rate set it as a share of the working rate. →
- Stiff boom
- A telescoping boom of straight sections that slide inside each other, as opposed to a knuckle boom that folds. BC certifies stiff-boom and folding-boom boom truck operators separately. → →
- Swamper
- A helper who works with the operator: hooking loads, setting pads and guiding the truck. Whether a swamper is part of an operated rate depends on the quote, so ask. →
- Tandem
- A pair of closely spaced axles that share the load as a group. Axle weight limits apply to the tandem as a whole, so it sets much of what a loaded boom truck may weigh on the road. → →
- Telescoping boom
- A boom whose sections nest inside each other and extend hydraulically to add length and reach. →
- Tipping load
- The load at which the crane begins to tip at a given radius and set-up. Load chart ratings are capped at a share of it, lower on tires than on outriggers. →
- Tonne-metre rating
- A size rating for knuckle-boom cranes: a load from the chart multiplied by the radius at which it can be lifted. It describes the crane's lifting moment, not what it can lift at your radius, so the chart still decides. → →
- Tri-drive
- A truck whose rear axle group is a driven tridem rather than a tandem. The interprovincial weights agreement lists no tridem drive for straight trucks, so each province sets its own rules for it. → →
- Two-blocking
- Pulling the hook block into the boom tip by hoisting or extending too far. It can part the hoist line and drop the load. →
- Wellhead boom truck
- A separate compulsory certification branch in Alberta for boom trucks used at wellheads: pumping, wireline, coiled tubing and service-rig work. → →
- Working load limit
- The maximum load a sling, shackle or other rigging item may carry in service, as rated by its maker. A sling's effective limit falls as its angle flattens. →