Jay Not knowing the full story the way you used to do it was correct if you could prove. LOLER REGULATION 8 Lifts were Properly Planned Appropriately Supervised Carried out in a Safe manner For Supervising is the person competent ,then they can supervise.Nothing wrong with a good Slinger/Signaller carrying out these duties providing he has had the MS explained to him. If shall we say you are carrying out the lifts for a UKCG (MCG) or your client they might state they want a CPCS qualified person. Then there is nothing you can do but there is no legal requirement for a CPCS Supervisor. Now wait for the real experts. Ta Alex

Jay Since you have organised a crane hire as opposed to a contract lift. Then you have very clear supervisory responsibilities on your site. May I suggest you not only focus on compliance with LOLAR but HASAWA. You clearly have the responsibility to plan, organise and manage on site these lifting operations. Sites and cranes operations vary but are you suggesting that your company would be happy with a slinger/banksman being responsible for the 'planning, organisation and management' of lifting operations? Or that your untrained site managers take this on board? A legal view would suggest that all lifting operations require proper planning, cranes operated by competent staff and managed. It sounds like you are operating a hybrid between crane hire and crane contract terms, which I think is common - end of day the supervisory role rests with your company. good luck Steve P.S. Pick a good crane hire company!

Thanks for the replies everybody, I think our issue is how we determine the competency of the Crane Supervisor. In the past we deemed the Slinger/Signaller as having the competency to allow them to become the Crane Supervisor. The majority of lifts on our sites are Contract lifts, however we are being asked to reduce costs where possible and one way is to plan and supervise the lifts ourselves. We already have competent AP's and would hire crane with operator. Its simply what is the level of competency required for supervision? I think the answer would be to put our experienced Slingers or Site Managers on CPCS crane supervisor courses. Thanks for your help, J