Here's to the Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes Regulations (2010), setting out the needs for a register on cranes. This is a regulatory response to the deaths and injuries that tower cranes have caused over the last ten years. Each crane must be registered after they have been examined under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. But they will not apply to self-erecting tower cranes or mobile cranes.
How will a register of cranes prevent death? Given the number of construction sites in the United Kingdom, it is unlikely that policing registration will identify an unsafe site. Indeed, focus on tickbox registration could distract from the priority of securing an unsafe site.
The information to be submitted includes the name and address of the crane's owner or lessor, the construction site's address, serial number or some other information that identifies the crane, and whether the exam "revealed any defects involving imminent risk of serious personal injury," according to the guidance.
Will this force a company to undertake such an examination? Will a negligent employer change their tune due to a new form, or will they lie when they fill it in? Why is this required as there is no evidence that the new regulations will save lives? Indeed, new health and safety attitudes now kill...