A meeting of ESTA’s SPMT working group in October will decide whether to adopt a new document on ensuring the stability of SPMTs and will also come to a final agreement on the contents of a new SPMT operators’ training regime.
ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “Around the world, we are still seeing far too many accidents involving SPMTs and we firmly believe that improved technical guidance coupled with properly regulated operator training are essential for the future.
“Common, professional operator training standards – using the structures developed for the European Crane Operators Licence – will not just raise safety and efficiency but will also help the industry recruit the operators it needs going forward.”
ESTA decided to develop a European trailer operators’ licence scheme earlier this year using the operational and management structure of the existing European Crane Operators Licence (ECOL) – a move that will be simpler and more efficient than creating a completely new organisation from scratch.
The idea of creating a licence had been proposed by ESTA’s SPMT working group who are updating ESTA’s 2016 SPMT Best Practice Guide.
The group’s twelve member companies come from eight different countries, reflecting the widespread concern about SPMT standards across Europe. They are Collett, Cometto, DNV, Fagioli, Goldhofer, Mammoet, Sarens, Siemens Gamesa, Terra Navtica, Tii Group and Wagenborg.
The first edition of the guide, published in 2016, was originally intended to help address the problem of trailers occasionally tipping over, even though the existing operating rules and stability calculations had been followed. It is still available for free download in English, French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish.