PRESSURE from the UK’s Health & Safety Executive (HSE) could result in stabiliser interlock devices becoming a mandatory requirement for truck loader cranes throughout the European Union, reports David Taylor.
The interlock devices, which prevent the crane being used unless the stabiliser legs are properly deployed, could add as much as five per cent to the cost of a typical crane.
The British Standards Committee for Mobile Cranes (MHE 3/5) is working on a draft standard which could form the basis of a European (CEN) standard by 2006. Peter Oram, chairman of MHE 3/5, said: ‘We have agreed to produce a draft standard for fitting stabiliser interlocks. We will then send that draft standard to the CEN Committee for consideration and, if everybody agrees, it will form the basis of a European Standard’.
Oram said he hoped the draft British Standard would be ready by mid 2003. From draft standard to implementation typically takes two or three years, he added.
Manufacturers warn that the cost of developing and fitting interlock devices will inevitably be passed onto the customer. Mick Wright, technical manager with UK Palfinger distributor TH White, said that his company has developed a system which adds about £2,000 to the cost of a £17,000 crane.
‘If every new crane in Europe has to have a device fitted, the price will come down, but there’s a lot of work involved in fitting it to the vehicle and that labour element will always be there,’ said Wright.
Alan Johnson, managing director of HMF (UK), said: ‘On the basis of what’s available now, there will inevitably be an on-cost. The R&D costs are going to be very high, although the fact that the systems will be required across the board will make the end-cost a bit cheaper. I think that by the time it’s mandatory, all manufacturers will have an interlock system that will cost less than £1,000.’
The UK’s HSE believes stabiliser interlocks should be a mandatory requirement under the provisions of the EU Machinery Directive. At present, no manufacturer has a reliable system that can be applied across the full range of cranes. As a result, those systems that do exist are not considered ‘state of the art’ – the Machinery Directive’s acid test for mandatory inclusion.
The HSE faced protest from UK suppliers last year when it threatened to issue improvement notices demanding that suppliers fit interlocks to all their cranes. The action followed a fatal accident in which an operator was crushed by a truck which overturned as he used the vehicle’s crane to lift steel bars. Although both stabiliser legs were down, only one was fully extended.
