Obituary: Tim Watson

Tim was a big help to our editorial team, always willing to give advice. He was a frequent contributor and his articles were excellent; some of them are among the most read articles of all time on our website. His role at the CPA was very important and he made many people's working lives safer through his work on their best practice guides. We are sure he will be very missed by everyone in the crane industry who knew him.

Tim joined the John Laing Group as a Student Engineer working within the EPL Division in the early 1970s. He was a member of the Central Plant Engineering Services and was at the forefront of forming the new company which eventually encompassed the whole of Laing Plant.

Over the ensuing years Tim was involved in many projects but in particular Accident Investigation, and a project to educate Laing site managers on the safe use of tower cranes, allowing them to take the controls of the yard crane so they could get a feel for what it was like to be an operator for a day.

In the late 1980s, Tim became the head of the Central Plant Engineering Services Department (CPES) which consisted of the Plant Advisory Department, the Design Department, and the Inspection and Test Department as well as the Fabrication Workshops and Plant Maintenance Workshops.

Tim was involved with writing policy documents on the use of plant on construction sites for the Laing Group, and oversaw the production of safety notes and guidance documents, effectively mini standards that the group had to use in its day-to-day activities.

He was also in charge of the several major projects, including Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station. EPL at that time were pioneering work into Mobile Elevating Work Platforms, which were mounted onto truck chassis in EPL’s own workshops, with Tim and the designers under him carrying out the design work.

In 2001 John Laing PLC disposed of its construction division to the O’Rourke Group. Tim left EPL and joined HTC (Hewden Tower Cranes) as engineering manager where he was heavily involved with complex projects including the Canary Wharf development.

Tim then left to set up his own consultancy business, carrying out expert witness work as well as acting as Technical Consultant to CPA.

During his time acting for CPA, Tim was heavily involved in the development and outputs from all of the Special Interest Groups, especially those for Tower Cranes (TCIG), Mobile and Crawler Cranes (CIG) and Construction Hoists (CHIG). Tim was also instrumental in the work of the Strategic Forum Plant Safety Group, working on cross-sector subjects such as Ground Conditions and Competence. He further helped devise national occupational standards for lifting operations which set training and competence standards for lift planners and supervisors.

Tim wrote, edited or contributed to over 30 Best Practice Guides and more than 120 Technical Information Notes currently published by CPA. He also provided a technical support service to CPA Members, and would frequently respond to emails or calls the same day, always providing authoritative and reliable advice which could be understood and acted on by a non-expert.

Both through the connection with CPA, and independently, Tim formed excellent working relationships with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and would frequently be able to work with HSE Inspectors to agree pragmatic methods of good practice to help duty holders comply with legal obligations. He was also heavily involved in BSI, CEN and ISO on European and international Standards Groups for cranes, lifting, powered access and earthmoving.

During this time, Tim also worked with the PAC (Powered Access Certification) division of IPAF. He remained with the PAC business after it became a separate limited company in 2004.

“Throughout his working life, Tim was universally acknowledged as an extremely knowledgeable, talented and respected engineer and technical writer, who was uncompromising on safety issues but would also be there to help anyone who needed it. He also had a thirst for knowledge, and the persistence and discipline to know exactly where to find information in his comprehensive library. His ability to recall and recite a vast range of technical and regulatory information at meetings and presentations was legendary,” the CPA wrote.