Age-related crane failure fear for the future

The UK has a very large number of cranes, many of which have been in use for a long time.

“Simply put, cranes do not last forever,” explains Keith Tonge, Technical Expert, the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA)

“They consume their design life during each lift cycle.

“Statutory inspections can be inadequate. Crane failures are not isolated incidents. There is a growing number of age related incidents, involving hooks, beam failures etc.”

Support can be found in the form of the standard BS ISO 12482: 2014 Cranes – Monitoring for crane design working period.

LEEA emphasises the dutyholder, the owner of the crane, is ultimately responsible for any incident.

Keith says: “They do not always have the competence to carry this out. They can delegate but this does not absolve them of responsibility. They are responsible for vetting the companies they employ.

“LEEA members can provide evidence that cranes are being audited correctly.”

Keith adds there has been a lack of awareness on the issue, but this is slowly changing, with the HSE increasingly aware of the issue.