Safety issues when choosing lifting magnets

Lifting magnets are now being used in great numbers within many industries. Safety and convenience are the two major reasons businesses are moving away from slings or webbing for lifting steel plates, slabs and off-cuts as the use of slings can frequently result in finger injuries. However, the choice of lifting magnet also raises serious safety concerns as not all lifting magnets use safe technology. Many permanent on/off lifting magnets use an inferior design that fails to concentrate the available magnetic field at the lifting face. If a magnetic field is also present at the top of the lifting magnet, a potentially catastrophic situation arises as the attached video clip shows. Should the top of the magnet come into contact with a steel member during a lift, magnetic 'flux' may be robbed from the lifting face to the extent that capacity and safety is compromised. This may occur, for example, even if surplus chain lies across the top of the magnet. Importantly, since many users mount lifting magnets onto or within equipment using solid steel mounts, capacity will be severely compromised. In contrast, Tecnomagnete's MaxX lifting magnets from Serpent and Dove employ patented ‘neutral crown’ technology to ensure that all of the available magnetic field is directed to the working face of the lifting magnet.