CPA Bulletin

www.cpa.uk.net CPA Bulletin > February 2022 37 Q&As: 2 It is good practice to always ask for a delivery address. That way, if the plant is fitted with a tracker and it moves from the designated site, then you can ask the customer why this is the case. Consequently clause 16 - Change of Site - may then come into play. Contractually under the Model Conditions, the ‘Loading and Unloading’ of the Plant - clause 4 - makes reference to the site or site’s access road, but overall responsibility for this phase of the hire rests with the customer. If the customer’s representative/transport company is going to collect the plant, then for the avoidance of any doubt, it would be prudent to reaffirm that their liability extends to include the loading/unloading of the plant whilst it is at your depot. This could be included in any emails, which are confirmed by the customer, or on the Hire Contract form itself, when sent to them. The Hire Period is defined in clause 1(b) and states that it will begin once the plant leaves the Owner’s depot; and includes whilst the plant is being transported to or from site. If the customer is collecting the plant from the depot, then clause 13(d) will not apply. On occasions we have customers who collect plant fromour depot in an effort to save them both on transport cost and time. As a matter of prudence, should we still ask and take a delivery site address, and are there any specific clauses within the 2021 Model Conditions whichmay affect such collections or liability during transport? We need to distinguish between 6.1 and 8.5.1 of the 2021 Contract Lifting Conditions. Clause 6.1 refers to liability during the actual lifting operation itself - see below. 6.1 The Company shall be liable for loss or for damage or injury to persons or property when caused solely by the Company’s negligence in the performance of the contract and shall not be liable for any such loss, or damage or injury due in whole or in part to any negligence on the part of the Client or any third party. If an incident arises during the performance of the contract, and it is solely the responsibility of the crane company (the Company), then they will be liable; however, if the incident is anyway attributed to the Client’s (the customer) or Third Party’s representative(s), then the crane company is not liable. Clause 8.5.1 regards the Client’s duty to indemnify the crane company prior to the lifting operation taking place, see below. 8.5 The Client agrees to indemnify the Company against - 8.5.1 Any claim arising from or connected with the Company’s work on the contract site, in preparing the site or performing the contract, including claims of nuisance and claims of trespass to persons, property, land or air space. The areas the Client has to complete are outlined in clause 4. If the Clients fails to comply with these, and this results for example, in the operation being cancelled or delayed, then the Client will have to cover (indemnify) the crane company accordingly. I hope this clarifies the position. If you have any further questions, then please get in touch. I have a client asking for clarity between two clauses within the 2021 Contract Lifting terms, as our customer believes they contradict each other. The two clauses in question are 6.1 and 8.5.1. Any help would be appreciated. As you are hiring out cabins and containers, the need for using all of the CPA’s terms and conditions may seem unnecessary, but the conditions are designed and intended to be used as a set and should not be broken up. The Model Conditions is a copyrighted document, and its entirety is there to help all members irrespective of what they hire out. It would be inadvisable to use clauses on a piecemeal basis and hope they cover you, when there is a possibility that certain critical clauses which have been omitted may leave you inadvertently exposed. Your insurer may also insist that you use the conditions in full. To help alleviate your concern, the need to reproduce the terms and conditions on the back of your paperwork is an option, but it merely reinforces the terms which should have previously been sent to the customer, particularly a new customer, prior to the units being delivered to site. Most companies will send a full size copy of the Model Conditions - used for business customers, when either a credit account is being opened, or with the first few hires where both the terms and the Hire Contract Form are sent to the customer. This latter approach would create a ‘course of trading’ where both parties would be aware of their obligations and responsibilities under those terms. Subsequently, emails to all your business customers could be sent out once a year to remind them that you work to these terms, with the terms attached within the email. This approach may save you time with administration and printing costs. As a business we only hire out containers and welfare cabins. Consequently, we are uncertain whether we need to include the whole of the CPA Model Conditions 2021 on the back of our invoices or can we remove any clauses that are not relevant to our equipment?