ESTA launches safety charter
12 June 2008
ESTA has joined the international move towards a safer crane industry with its own charter, launched at the association's annual awards ceremony and dinner last week.
The SHE working group was established by ESTA (the European Association of Heavy Haulage, Transport and Mobile Cranes) to "improve, on a continuous basis, safety, health and environmental topics related to cranes and specialized/heavy transport. We believe that the SHE principles form one of the corner stones of good quality and professional crane and transport operations."
To communicate these principles to its members, ESTA created the SHE
Mission Statement, incorporating a 15-step plan which it believes all crane and transport companies should follow. The document was welcomed with rapturous applause by the 330 industry professionals attending the awards ceremony at the Okura hotel in Amsterdam.
To mark the occasion the document was signed on stage by three ESTA board members: Christian-Jacques Vernazza, ESTA president and Mediaco managing director; Roderik van Seumeren, Mammoet managing director and ESTA crane group president; David Collett, Collett Transport managing director and ESTA special transport group president.
The Mission Statement in full:
The mission of ESTA is to assure the safety and health of all employees by setting and enforcing standards, providing information, instruction, training and supervision whilst establishing partnerships and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health.
1. Top and senior management at all times demonstrate SHE committment and leadership
2. All members committed to setting out clear expectations within their organisations and companies
3. All members committed to holding themselves & employees accountable & responsible
4. All members are committed to having systems in place to allow learning from accidents & incidents
5. All equipment is serviced & maintained in accordance with manufacturer instructions
6. Equipment will at all times operate within manufacturer safety systems & instructions
7. All members are committed to implementing safe systems of work on all tasks they undertake
8. All operators will be trained & have the necessary skills & competence on each machine they operate
9. All employees work to agreed standards, practices & rules at all times
10. All members are committed to giving special attention to equipment set-up and poor ground conditions
11. All members are committed to challenging & listening to concerns & feedback
12. All members are committed to raising awareness of risk in all that they do
13. All members are committed to sharing & learning from safety information within this group
14. All members are committed to the use of equipment with the most environmentally friendly solutions
15. All members are committed to following legislation, codes of practice & industry standards.
