CPA Bulletin

28 CPA Bulletin > August 2021 www.cpa.uk.net ESTA: 1 ESTA ESTA Director Ton Klijn has called on the European construction industry’s major clients and contractors to give public backing to the fast-growing European Crane Operators Licence (ECOL) scheme. Klijn said that many European clients and contractors - especially those in the energy and civil engineering sectors - have long complained to ESTA that they do not know whether the crane operators working on their sites are properly qualified for the machines they are operating - and are worried that safety might be compromised as a result. He argued: “ECOL is making steady progress but we could move much more quickly with stronger support from the wider European industry, especially frommajor international companies who wield great influence over their suppliers. “For example, the big energy companies could publicly say that they expect crane operators on their European sites to hold an ECOL licence or a verifiable industry-backed qualification of comparable standard. “This is a basic safety issue. Crane operator training standards vary hugely from country to country in Europe. ECOL is trying to raise the bar so that we eventually stop unqualified and dangerous operators fromworking equipment when they should not be doing so. “We know that many European firms are fully behind our work in this area, so now we are asking them to make their support public and to communicate that support to ECOL and their supply chains.” Full details about ECOL are available on the website at www.ecol-esta.eu or from the free briefing document in the Library section of the ESTA website at www.estaeurope.eu . ESTA calls on clients to publicly back crane operators’ licence scheme ESTA has created a library section in its newwebsite containing a series of free detailed briefing documents and reports on current subjects important to the crane and heavy transport industries. Documents so far available for download include: • European Crane Operators Licence; an ESTA Briefing (in English and German) • Transport and Installation of Onshore WTG Systems; an ESTA Best Practice Guide • Enforcement of the European Register of Road Transport Undertakings (ERRU) rules; an ESTA Briefing • Self-Propelled Modular Transporters; an ESTA Best Practice Guide • Leaving mobile cranes unattended in [partially] erected mode; ICSA Guidance N001 • Lifting a load with several mobile cranes [multiple crane or tandem lifting]; ICSA Guidance N002 • Lifting of persons with mobile cranes; ICSA Guidance N003 The ESTA Library can be found at https://estaeurope.eu/library/ . All reports and briefings are published in English except where indicated. ESTA’s new library - an industry resource