Institution news
For more information about our Crane Safety seminar, please visit the event website.
Please give a quick overview of your role, experience, and involvement in Crane Safety
Stephen Bradby: I studied Mechanical engineering at Liverpool university and am a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical engineering. I started as a graduate trainee with Kier Plant – the plant division for Kier construction on Jan 1995 and have followed that path ever since.
I’ve always gravitated towards cranes and worked as Crane Care Director for UK, Ireland Scandinavia and Baltics for Manitowoc (Potain, Grove and Manitowoc crane brands) before moving to Select in 2015.
I’ve always taken a very active interest in product improvement and design improvement, so have been very active in improving safety and site operation. I have a strong belief that the safety in operation of a machine can be massively improved in the design phase.
Select (being part of Laing O’Rourke) has enabled me to really push the engineered safety narrative and enables use to work closely with suppliers to actively challenge design and operation and ensure we fully understand residual risk before we commit to buying a machine.
How was the 2024 Crane Safety event from your perspective?
SB: I really enjoyed last years event. We had some great topics including a good section by the leaders of the various British Standards relating to BS7121 explaining standard development and new initiatives, particularly relevant was Toms section on Hands off Stand Clear.
We also covered some insights from offshore lifting, some amazing AI applications for weather predicting and my favourite bit of talking to the new talent in our industry and seeing what doors we need to open to attract more and retain the ones we have.
By running the event at the same time as Sustainable & Decarbonised Construction, delegates had the chance to choose topics - there were such a good selection that many reported the found it hard to choose. It gave us the opportunity to have a great closing session with Richard from Liebherr covering both crane safety and sustainability, which was a really good close to the conference.
What are the topics and themes for the 2025 event and what will be key for lifting professionals?
SB: For 2025 we have listened to delegates and watched industry trends, so we will be covering:
- Asset Integrity and Maintenance
- Inspection Technologies and Crane Integrity
- Cross-Sector Safety Applications
- Workforce Skills and Training
- Innovation and Technology in Lifting Operations
What are the specific challenges you are seeing at Select Plant Hire in industry?
SB: 2025 is going to be a challenging year for Select in the UK – there have been so many delays in jobs starting due to regulation changes and delays in funding it will make trading challenging. That said the order book is very healthy and we see crane sizes getting larger and larger as DFMA (offsite manufacture) is more widely used. That bring a whole new set of challenges and priorities which we are embracing.
What are the new technologies and strategies you’re using that are enhancing lifting projects?
SB: This industry has traditionally been very slow to change, that said, we are seeing a real move as initiatives the Stand Off Stand Clear get actively adopted on site and ‘remote’ tagline’ type technologies (Torquer Halo, Vita Loadmaster, Verton, etc) are slowly being adopted.
What are the key benefits of attending Crane Safety?
SB: Personally I believe this conference is critical for any lifting professional who wants to be leading the industry, not only in terms of safety and innovation, but in terms of setting the standard for the future of our industry.
This year's Crane Safety seminar will take place on 23 September 2024, returning to the Institution's London headquarters at One Birdcage Walk. For further details and to book your place, please visit the event website.