Engineer Surveyor- Lifting Equipment

EngineerX

Hi All,

I'm a Engineer Surveyor, I specialize in Examinations of Lifting Equipment, Mobile Cranes, Lifts, Escalators, Excavators, Forklifts etc....

Ask me anything...or anyone want to get a discussion going

godtabh

What degree do you have?

EngineerX

Mechanical, plus other courses done in Ireland and UK.
I also have completed electrical and lift engineering exams also courses on rope and chains, hydraulics, pneumatics and H&S legislation.
Registered with relevant and related bodies and professional associations.

EngineerX

No Questions? Ok I'm going to start posting anyhow.
Inspections/ Examinations on lifting equipment is a required under the 'Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 299 of 2007)' and to be clear it is not an insurance product, although generally sold with your business insurance.

There are many suppliers of this service, and generally the examination should be undertaken by competent persons who are independent and impartial...not your maintenance guy!!

EngineerX

I very often come across car garages that have been using their vehicle lift serviceman to provide them with the required "Thorough Examination" to comply with H&S regulations, this really isn't the best practice (its not illegal) as they're not really independent and impartial...also do they have the appropriate insurance and indemnity should a accident or claim happen...ask yourself are they experienced and accredited enough to carry out a full, complete and Thorough Examination...

Another thing to note is that these inspections must be separate and not inclusive of your maintenance contracts.


From HSA website;
Competent Persons, either those carrying out 6 monthly thorough examinations (often an insurance engineer surveyor/independent inspection company)

godtabh

EngineerX wrote: »

I very often come across car garages that have been using their vehicle lift serviceman to provide them with the required "Thorough Examination" to comply with H&S regulations, this really isn't the best practice (its not illegal) as they're not really independent and impartial...also do they have the appropriate insurance and indemnity should a accident or claim happen...ask yourself are they experienced and accredited enough to carry out a full, complete and Thorough Examination...

Another thing to note is that these inspections must be separate and not inclusive of your maintenance contracts.


From HSA website;
Competent Persons, either those carrying out 6 monthly thorough examinations (often an insurance engineer surveyor/independent inspection company)

Engineers Ireland define a competent engineer as a chartered engineer

EngineerX

That's Engineers Ireland which is a professional organisation, and they can lay down whatever they want for their membership criteria, they not an Authority like the HSA, which lays out what they accept as 'Competent.
Many fellow engineers are IEng, CEng, CMarEng, BEng, AEng and EngTech.

godtabh

EngineerX wrote: »

That's Engineers Ireland which is a professional organisation, and they can lay down whatever they want for their membership criteria, they not an Authority like the HSA, which lays out what they accept as 'Competent.
Many fellow engineers are IEng, CEng, CMarEng, BEng, AEng and EngTech.

I'm not sure what specific legislation it is but a chartered engineer is defined in legislation as being a competent engineer.

For example the new building regs.

Are you confusing professional titles with degrees in the above?

EngineerX

You know what, Start your own thread on this, I'll call over and put in my opinions etc...your highjacking mine :-)
I'd like to keep it on the Subject- "Engineer Surveyor- Lifting Equipment"

EngineerX

Corvus oculum corvi non eruit....

godtabh

EngineerX wrote: »

Corvus oculum corvi non eruit....

A raven will not pick out an eye of another raven.

I prefer nunc est bibendum

A competent person is very relevant to your thread. You have brought it up 3/4 times. As a profession I think having a definition of what/who a competent person is very important.

For example the recent crane collapse in NYC. Was there a competent person signing off on that? New your has strict PE requirements. A lot stricter (as far as I can tell) to the equivalent CEng requirements.

EngineerX

We all have heard by now the Crane Collapse in NYC. RIP to the Guy who died.
It was a Crawler Crane, which means it is a ground based Mobile Crane on tracks, They haven't said what exactly happened but the Crane was been lowered for safety reasons due to strong winds, there must be huge wind issues in a City like NY due to the high rise buildings, but operators should be well aware of these.
Winds are one of the most dangerous things for a crane, was it a factor...I'll post as we hear more.

Youngblood.III

I can tell you straight up, European standards are better than our American friends...I carry out Crane Examinations, do you think that the Insurance industry and HSA would put up with any person signing off on equipment like that.
A CEng in civil engineering would not make you competent to Examine cranes.

ratracer

As someone who has hosted lifting equipment inspectors/engineers on site, I think I would like to get into this area. Any ideas of how/ where one would go about finding info? You can reply by pm if you like, thanks.

DublinDilbert

EngineerX wrote: »

We all have heard by now the Crane Collapse in NYC. RIP to the Guy who died.
It was a Crawler Crane, which means it is a ground based Mobile Crane on tracks, They haven't said what exactly happened but the Crane was been lowered for safety reasons due to strong winds, there must be huge wind issues in a City like NY due to the high rise buildings, but operators should be well aware of these.
Winds are one of the most dangerous things for a crane, was it a factor...I'll post as we hear more.

It sounds silly but the boom on the crawler crane looks massive, compared to the base. How do they get their stability?

godtabh

Youngblood.III wrote: »

A CEng in civil engineering would not make you competent to Examine cranes.

Why would it? A competent civil engineer doenst make a competent crane engineer and vice versa.

I'm a transport engineer but wouldnt be comfortable signing off on certain civil engineering designs.