Mobile cranes on barges

The ICSA is working on new guidance on the use of mobile cranes on floating barges following the Alphen aan den Rijn crane collapses in the Netherlands, in which two cranes and part of a prefabricated bridge fell on several buildings in August 2015.

Chaired by the SC&RA, Mammoet and Sarens have agreed to share their internal guidelines and the work will also draw on guidelines operated by the US Corps of Engineers, which has responsibility for many of the waterways in the USA, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an agency of the United States Department of Labor.

Søren Jansen, ESTA director, said, “There is a lot of experience in various companies and organisations but, to date, this has not been brought together for the benefit of the industry as a whole. The idea is to pull all this expertise together to produce a document that can have a major impact on improving safety standards.”