The United Crane Operators Association (UCOA), which represents a cross-section of crane operators in the UK, is calling on the industry to abandon the operator’s card qualification system provided by the Construction Plant Competence Scheme (CPCS).

Instead, the UCOA wants crane hirers and contractors to embrace the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) – a nationally recognised qualification that covers all the elements of plant operation, but is said not to require costly renewal once it has been achieved.

The CPCS’s card system is based on a combination of professional competence and health and safety awareness. It is required for the operator to be permitted to operate most categories of plant on Major Contractors Group and National Contractors Federation sites.

But UCOA secretary John Batey said many operators had problems with the CPCS’s way of doing things, and he reckoned that safety was being jeopardised by the system.

Batey claimed to be gaining support. He said HTC, a UK employer of tower crane drivers, was putting about 30 of its operators through the NVQ course at a time.