European mobile crane manufacturers have given their unqualified backing to ESTA’s call for changes in the way that mobile crane winch gearboxes are maintained.
ESTA had previously appealed to its members to reconsider their approach following publication of the first edition of the association’s new guide on the subject last year.
Supporters of the guide – called Inspection of Winch Gearboxes used on Mobile Cranes – argued that the new proposals could both improve safety and in some cases save money.
Now the manufacturers organisation FEM Mobile Cranes, part of the European Materials Handling Federation (FEM), have indicated their full support.
In a joint statement, FEM Mobile Cranes President Bernd Boos and Chair Andreas Rode, said: “We support ESTA in its efforts to put the maintenance of winches on a solid technical footing in order to replace the blanket replacement or general overhaul of winches after a maximum of 10 years.”
Boos and Rode, who are senior managers for Liebherr and Manitowoc respectively, added: “In collaboration with winch manufacturers, a guideline has been created to ensure that the winches are operated and maintained safely throughout their service life.
“Hereby, despite being in use for 10 years, it is possible to continue operating the winch, provided that the formula already used and known for determining the remaining service life allows this.”
They said that as a result FEM Mobile Cranes fully supports the guide.
The requirement to calculate the remaining life of a winch was initially introduced in Germany in the 1990s – it is a crucial safety consideration because if the crane winch gearbox fails the crane’s load can come down. It has today been taken up by many other countries.
The current regime involves a major overhaul after ten years to check that the winch gearbox is still in good condition, but many experts have argued that the ten-year threshold is an arbitrary deadline and does not reflect the equipment’s actual usage.
In 2024, an ESTA expert group produced a maintenance regime that is based on technical analysis, for example by implementing regular oil analyses, that will provide detailed information for other inspections.
This might both improve safety by catching unexpected problems earlier and, in some cases, might save money by prolonging the use of the winches beyond current time frames.
The group was led by ESTA crane expert Klaus Meissner along with Mammoet’s Hermen Kamp and Gerrit van Hove from Sarens.
They then consulted more widely across the industry with rental companies, crane manufacturers and four gearbox manufacturers – Zollern, Liebherr Components, Siebenhaar and Rexroth.
At the time of the guide’s launch, Meissner said: “I hope that many people will read our work and take the opportunity to improve the operation and maintenance of their winches. They might as a result, be able to use them for longer periods and reduce costs.
“Our work might also prevent the dumping of oil that can still be used. We do not want to see oil being changed unnecessarily. Simply put, we feel there is a better way of judging the state of the gearbox.”
ESTA is now planning to explain the work and the report’s approach to inspection bodies and regulators to ensure they understand it and to minimise any misunderstandings.
The guide is freely available in the Library of the ESTA website. ESTA members also have access to a calculation tool to help determine the remaining lifetime of a winch which is held in the members only Knowledge Base section of the website.
ESTA stresses that the publication and calculation tool is only for guidance. It is not a regulation or standard and should not be treated as such, and it cannot replace the users’ own knowledge of relevant directives, laws and regulations.