Feasibility of beam erection with a motorized hook-block

•RTH is a rotation-controllable tower-crane hook-block with a wireless controller.•Its expected safety improvements and economic feasibility have been analyzed.•The real discount reate, O&M cot, and th CO2 offset peice were considered.Assuming the average benefits, the breakeven points were in the 2nd year.•Assuming the min. benefits, no economic benefit was expected until the 10th year.

On average, approximately 90 workers are injured or killed every year while lifting and installing steel beams in South Korea. Rotation-controllable tower-crane hook-blocks (RTH) remotely rotate beams horizontally to the target position, thus helping to prevent accidents related to steel beam installation. In this study, the expected safety improvements and economic effects of the RTH were analyzed. the real discount rate, and operation and maintenance costs in accordance with the general cash flow analysis practice as well as the CO2 offset price. The results of the analysis showed that when the effects of the RTH were at their maximum and average levels, the break-even points occurred in the first year and the second year, respectively. Although the RTH might not be profitable in the minimum case, this study demonstrated that using it would generally contribute to economic efficiency, and more importantly to worker safety.