"We had to shut it all down as we moved the equipment because of the radiation in it," he says. "In most cases they don't like to do that, but whenever you deal with radiation, you need special permits and you have to shut down what's around it."

Professional riggers tend to have a wide variety of tools to get the job done, including all sorts of cranes and forklifts. Many utilize a variety of industry-specific tools like hydraulic jacks, pushers and gantries, crawler cranes, boom trucks, X-ray jigs, jig frames, chains and anything that can help these professionals figure out the best method to grab hold, turn, lift and position machinery.


"You have some MRIs that are 13,000 pounds, which are pretty straight-forward to remove, but you have some that are 34,000 pounds and for those, you need to shore floors so nothing cracks," Mayer says. "Many times, with newer construction you need to shore the floor to a sufficient substructure to handle it. Some MRIs are 300,000 pounds, so we shore the floor so it can carry the load of the magnet's path."

Since an OEM stops making dollies for equipment once the production on a model ceases, it's up to the de-install and rigging companies themselves to come up with solutions.

"Most OEMs have what we call transport frames and these are constructed of iron or steel and used when you lift up the device, and it usually has wheels on it, so transport frames are a very intricate part of the de-installation process," Knowles says. "Over the years we have collected a number of those frames and developed our own frames that make it more universal."

Diamond Rigging has done a number of in-house designs, including the Hitachi Alta ire cold heart cart for long runs and tight doorways, crafting aluminum gantries for MRI installations and reconfiguring stainless steel rigging and jacking equipment.

The Crating Begins

Once equipment has been de-installed and rigged, unless it is an easy transport to an outpatient facility or nearby location, it often needs to be placed in the experienced hands of a company that crates.

"Establishing a good relationship with riggers is very important," says Art Gutierrez, senior V.P. for Ill.-based International Packing and Crating. "We know what they will do, and they know what we will do. We will go directly to a site to work with riggers to measure and build the necessary crating needed for each machine."

Minn.-based Freight Dynamics normally does the transporting from the hospitals themselves and bring the equipment back to their warehouse for crating services.

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