Crane hire firms have agreed to undertake a voluntary MoT-style test to ensure the safety of these vehicles
Mobile crane hire firms will develop a safety programme to ensure the roadworthiness of cranes in the future.
Currently, mobile cranes are exempt from undertaking any kind of MoT-style test. However, the sector is now hoping to alleviate concerns relating to safety by developing a new scheme to test the roadworthiness of these vehicles.
The testing and certification programme will be developed by the Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA)—the firm that represents the vast majority of UK mobile crane firms.
The scheme will be voluntary with no legal powers to enforce it, but it is hoped the Department of Transport could legislate in the future.
The scheme was agreed during a meeting of the CPA’s crane interest group and coincided with the Department of Transport’s consultation into reform of the regulatory regime of exempted vehicles.
Testing would be carried out by an independent person, who would issue a certificate deeming the vehicle roadworthy.
The scheme is expected to take up to eight months to a year to produce and as of yet there are no plans to roll this out to other exempt vehicles such as mobile concrete pumps and volumetric mixes.