Posted By John Prictor
Guys, Is a legal requirement to have trained banksman/person for plant work and excavations? If so what is the minimum requirements and what is the acceptable certificate and periodicity?

Posted By Steven John Bateson
Not sure what type of equipment you have in mind. If its lifting equipment, Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipments Regulations reg 8(1) requires appropriate on site supervision. A Supervisor can get repetative lifts going then move to another machine having instructed a banksman to stop the operation and contact him if circumstances/lift changes. The banksman doesn't have to be trained to the same level as a crane supervisor but must be trained sufficiently to know if anything has changed from the crane lifting plan and what the Supervisor set up before he moved on i.e. he has to be able to read and interpret the plan but doesn't have to be sufficiently well trained to produce a plan.
If it isn't lift equipment, then the Provision and Use of Work Eqiupment Regulations reg 8(2) [provision of adequate information and instruction to those who supervise equipment] and 9(2) [training for those who supervise] apply. The level of training will depend on the risk, which depends partly on the type of equipment and partly on the specific site it is to be used at.

Regards,
Steve

Posted By NCL
A banksman is not absolutely necessary, in fact they are not generally recommended, as the trouble with a banksman is that they are putting themselves in the dangerzone and so can become seriously injured.

But if you need a banksman then they must be trained in safe working practices, including using the appropriate hand signals in accordance with the Signs and Signals Regs etc. There used to be a free leaflet on it (but all the good leaflets end up being withdrawn from print!), check out the 'transport' section of the HSE website as there is info there.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/wo...ns/banksman/banksman.htm