Safety from all sides

Just read the Editor’s View (Cranes Today March p7) and I must agree with everything that you say on the subject of near-miss reporting or more precisely the lack of it. The same situation must exist within the mobile crane industry as well as the tower crane industry. The technology exists to record and communicate similar problems like overloading and working in excessive wind conditions et cetera, but there does not seem to be many takers for this element of the available technologies—or have I got that wrong? Tower cranes seem to be getting the most attention right now, and for the right reasons, but their moment will pass and it will be another sector in the line of fire.

Then I noticed the chap climbing on the roof trusses on an advert. We know this goes on, but perhaps not the smartest thing to be advertising when trying to sell cranes. Then I noticed on the same page the chap at the top of a ladder at the edge of a walkway. One step to the side and over he goes!

Then I saw another advert showing a new crane to the world with the wedge and socket attachment incorrectly attached. Not so clever.

Then I saw another advert where an old dodger is clambering over a large vessel they are trying to lift, and I thought about the Working at Height Regulations.

Then I went to my bed as I was getting far too grumpy. Some of these companies need to get a grip and have a wee look at their pictures and think about things like safety. Some of these pictures are a definite off switch for the products.

Eddie Campbell

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