Heinz Helmut Kempkes, the president of FEM, the European materials handling federation, will be the keynote speaker at Crane Safety 2005, being held in Amsterdam on 20 and 21 June.
He will discuss the politics of crane safety, explaining the work FEM does at an inter-government level, its lobbying in Brussels and the challenges it faces.
Other eminent speakers lined up include Yukinori Ouchi, director of the Japan Crane Association and secretary of the ISO/TC96/SC5 committee. He will describe Japanese crane safety standards and programmes.
From the host country, Lion Verhagen, director of the Dutch crane rental association, VVT, will explain a new crane safety initiative called “Erkenningsregeling”, or recognition regulation, that helps the crane hire companies to check and improve on safe working methods.
Klaus Meissner, technical director of Terex Demag, will explain the content and implications of EN 13000, the new European standard for mobile cranes.
Les Brown, managing director of PSC Fagioli, will make a presentation on alternative lifting systems, and discuss high profile projects including raising the roof of the Olympic stadium in Athens, Wembley Stadium in London and Heathrow Airport‚s Terminal Five project.
Bryan Cronie, safety director of Mammoet, will discuss the globalisation of crane safety and the need to standardise procedures worldwide.
Bob McGrain of Ainscough Crane Hire, and one of the UK‚s leading rigging engineers, will present some innovative rigging solutions and explain the engineering behind them.
The conference will also include break-out sessions focused on truck loader cranes. Speakers in these sessions include Atlas-Terex director Andreas Finger, who will discuss remote diagnostics, Rene Dahlkilde of HMF on truck stability and Bali Gwechenberger of Palfinger. Alan Johnson, chairman of the UK‚s Association of Lorry Loader Manufacturers & Importers (ALLMI) will explain ALLMI‚s code of practice. There will also be a presentation by Lars Andersson and Lars Rydahl of Hiab on the development and safe use of long boom cranes.
