Equipment initiative

FIEC has set up a new Technical Sub-Commission to examine matters relating to &construction plant and equipment'. The new sub-commission met for the first time in January to agree a business plan and will meet again at the Intermat exhibition in Paris, France.

Euroliste

A first priority for the new Sub-Commission will be the revision of &EUROLISTE' (list of construction equipment) in time for next year's Bauma exhibition in Munich, Germany. The revised edition will be set up in a harmonised European format with a detailed priced list of construction equipment and related costs, which will be made available for use by contractors.

The decision to compile and publish EUROLISTE was originally taken by the technical equipment committees of various FIEC member federations, most notably the Hauptverband der Deutschen Bauindustrie (HDB - Germany) and the Fedération Nationale des Travaux Publics (FNTP - France) in 1993. The first edition was completed and published in 1998.

Subsequently, using the structure of the EUROLISTE as a basis, HDB went on to draw up the “Baugeräteliste(BGL) 2001”. Likewise, the “Commission du Matériel” of the FNTP introduced the French “Méthode”, again using EUROLISTE as a basis. Since then the BGL 2001 has been translated into English, French, Dutch and Japanese and has been introduced for use in Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands.

In many respects EUROLISTE remains a partially finished project because of its limited use across Europe, and it is of course a major undertaking to keep this kind of project up-to-date. However, EUROLISTE contains a wealth of information for the accurate costing of construction equipment, such as useful operating lifetime, replacement costs, amortisation and interest calculations, maintenance and overhaul costs, based on the data contained in the BGL.

This information can serve various purposes such as a:

• Basis of assessment of equipment costs to be shared between different departments of the same organisation, or for the allocation of costs to a specific project, or between partners in a joint venture;

• Basis for the financial organisation and management of contractor-owned equipment;

• A tool for analysing the various costs of equipment, especially when comparing the relative costs of different combinations of machines;

• Guide for estimating values for insurance purposes or for settling disputes in the event of legal proceedings.

The CD-ROM based EUROLISTE/BGL is divided into a classification of 24 types of equipment, and makes no references to any particular make or manufacturer. The revised EUROLISTE will be available on the Internet and possibly in the form of a common service to contractors provided by FIEC through its member federations. Where appropriate there will be provisions for national specifications and extensions.

Other Initiatives

FIEC's new Sub-Commission will also be looking into various other and equipment issues, such as:

• Training and qualification of machine operators and possible standardisation of certificates;

• Research though the FIEC member federations into theft prevention and recovery of stolen equipment, and in particular whether their members make use of the services provided by the European Confederation of Equipment Distributors (ECED) at: www.eced-association.org/stolen.php

• Examining the case for a new form of marking system, incorporating some sort of non- binding guarantee, for the used equipment market;

• Addressing the difficulties arising with national and local regulations when equipment is transported across EU borders to be used in other Member States;

• Exchanging information between the national member federations on procedures and standards regulating for specific equipment types, including tower cranes and operators' lifts; batching plants for concrete and asphalt mixing plants; scaffolding; site lifts for personnel.