Even deciding what kind of crane you need is a complex process that will require you to provide planned location, weight of load and distance from the center of rotation (slew) of the crane that the load will be moved. This is because a crane can move a heavy load a small distance from the center of slew, or a lighter load a larger distance from the center of slew. There are tables for each crane type, detailing safe distances and loads that can be moved.

You have two options, Crane Rental, or a Contract Lifting Service

Crane Rental

Renting a crane is a much more complex procedure than you might expect if you are a first-time hirer. If you are looking for a crane in UK, check out http://www.cranes-today.co.uk

As can be expected with any large piece of industrial machinery, there are complex health and safety procedures to comply with.

When renting a crane, conditions are the client must provide an appointed person and supply the rental company operator with a detailed method and safety statements, drawn up by a competent and trained person, prior to the lift. The appointed person must supervise the lifting and provide qualified personnel such as slingers, signalers and crane operators.

Renting cranes and plant is inevitably accompanied by risk. The cost of a modern mobile crane ranges from 200,000 dollars to more than 3 million dollars, so the financial consequences in the event of an accident could be immense.

As a customer renting a crane or other item of plant, you will have to satisfy the crane rental company that you have adequate insurance cover for the following risks:

1. Loss of, or damage to, the crane whilst on rental.

2. Continuing rental charges whilst the crane is under repairs

3. Injury to the operator.

4. Third party cover (injury to other parties, including damage to their property.)

Crane rental companies can arrange cover for loss of, or damage to, the crane whilst on hire and continuing rental charges whilst the crane is under repair. Insurance cover for lifted materials is also available.

Contract Lifts

In a contract lift, the crane rental company will choose the correct crane for the job, raise the risk assessment and method statement, arrange traffic management and the correct level of insurance. With the introduction of new safety regulations governing the use of cranes, clients who do not have sufficient experience and knowledge of crane operations usually prefer to place orders on a contract lift basis.

A crane rental contract becomes a contract lift contract when the crane owner supplies the appointed person and, hence, accepts responsibility for all aspects of the lift.

All crane rental companies offer a contract lift service. This relieves customers of the responsibility for preparing a method statement, risk assessment, berthing study, lift diagram and managing and supervising the lifting operation. The crane rental company takes all the risk and concern away from customers, with a complete and professional tailor made package where their trained and experienced personnel manage the whole lifting process from initial concept right through to supervising the final lift.

In a contact lift, the customer is still responsible for providing accurate information relating to both the items to be lifted and to the ground conditions. The customer must also have public liability insurance.

The preparation time required to produce the relevant method statements and risk assessments for a contract lift will require a longer notice period than for crane rental.