19.01.2011

Help needed!

John Lowton, safety director at UK based Ainscough Crane Hire, needs your help with assessing the impact of the Work At Height Regulations on the mobile crane hire industry.

He is embarking on the final stage of study towards an MA in Health, Safety and Environmental Law and is doing research for his dissertation. Lowton is trying to establish whether the European Working At Height Regulations and the resulting removal of the two metre rule are appropriate and whether the HSE has done enough to assist the mobile crane hire industry through consultation, or if it has concentrated too much on the transport industry and then tried to apply this to crane hire.
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John Lowton

“The interpretation and implementation of these regulations has caused major difficulties within the mobile crane and transport industries,” said Lowton. “Some of the sanctions that clients have imposed on the crane hire companies, such as for example, the introduction of bean bags or the wearing of a safety harnesses when accessing and alighting from the crane cab, are ludicrous.”

“I would like to gain an understanding of the cost of any retro-fit working at height systems and gain examples of clients’ demands that go far beyond what is required, either because they don’t understand the requirements of the Working At Height Regulations or they go down the “what if” syndrome to cover themselves.”

“I need feedback from crane owners, opeators, clients, manufacturers and health and safety practitioners,” he said. “If they could download and fill in the simple questionnaire and email it back to me, it would help enormously.”

The document can be downloaded by following the link:
www.vertikal.net/fileadmin/user_upload/downloads/researchquestionnaire.docx

Completed forms should be sent to [email protected]