CPA Bulletin

40 CPA Bulletin > May 2023 www.cpa.uk.net ESTA: 1 ESTA UFL warns of safe load monitoring equipment thefts The latest version of the controversial new EuropeanMachinery Regulations has been published by the Council of the European Union and will now be considered by the European Parliament. The document includes a clause that ‘where relevant’ requires all mobile machinery to be designed to prevent contact with overhead power lines or where the risk cannot be avoided, designed to ensure that all hazards “of an electrical nature” are prevented. When finally agreed, the European Machinery Regulations will update the existing Machinery Directive from 2006. This is one of the main pieces of legislation governing the harmonisation of health and safety requirements for machinery throughout the EU and is intended to promote the free movement of machinery within the single market as well as ensuring a high level of protection for workers and the public. The concerns focus on a proposal hidden away in the depths of the regulations - to be precise in Annex III, Part 3, point 3.5.4. The full text of the section says: Risk of contact with live overhead power lines. Depending on its height, mobile machinery or related product shall, where relevant, be designed, constructed and equipped, so as to prevent the risk of contact with an energised overhead power line or the risk of creating an electric arc between any part of the machinery or an operator driving the machinery and an energised overhead power line. When the risk to the persons operating machinery incurred by the contact with an energised overhead power line cannot be fully avoided, mobile machinery or related product shall be designed, constructed and equipped so as to prevent any electrical hazards. ESTA Director Ton Klijn commented: “This clause remains a cause for serious concern. If it remains unaltered, its impact will depend on how it is interpreted and enforced - and specifically what the phrase ‘where relevant’ means in practice.” Latest version of European Machinery Regulations published Crane companies in France are being warned of a growing spate of thefts of a wide range of safe load monitoring equipment. The warning has been made by ESTA member UFL - the French crane association Union Française du Levage - who said that the sharp increase in thefts is country-wide and affecting both urban and rural areas. UFL is asking the French Police and other authorities for increased support in combatting the thefts but in the meantime the association is warning its members and international companies operating in France to be aware of the problem and to take anti-theft measures whenever possible. UFL says the criminals are targeting new and old machines alike and are professional - they know what they are doing, know how to get into the crane and know where the parts are. Eric Stroppiana, UFL President, and Technical and Commercial Director of Groupe Foselev, said: “This is a growing problem. The thefts appear to be professional and well-organised - presumably the equipment is being resold and probably taken out of the country but at this stage we don’t knowmore.” Hervé Rebollo, Managing Director of DLR, the national federation that UFL is a member of, added: “The thefts are at a level we have never seen before. The situation is crazy and the police and the authorities are not doing enough.” UFL is compiling a file of such incidents to show the scale of the problem and to put pressure on the authorities to take action. As a result, it is asking any company that has suffered such a theft to get in touch. Details can be found on its website at www.uflevage.fr .