I am looking at rescue training for use with tower cranes and was wondering if you could give me feed back on how to do this ie do you give it to sub contractors to cover or do you do it yourself or nothing at all. Comments will be appreciated as this is something I may need to enforce if the company starting using tower cranes Thanks PaulR

Hi Paul, If your question is in relation to who does the rescue training that is definetly up to a specialist company , who will usually go through an on-site demo as well. I have used a company in the south east if you want to PM me I can give the details. Rescue at height can be a daunting task and the right people need to be chosen . It normally is required during high winds and rain as is sods law!! If the question is in relation to who supplies / formulates and implements the emergency response plan , in my experience it is usually the crane " owner " by definition in BS 7121 normally the Principal Contractor on the project as the crane and operator will generally be under their direction and control. Having each individual subbie formulate a seperate plan would cause more confusion in the event of an emergency something that is definetly not needed during a response. Hope this helps , Phil.

As always you should do the risk assessment, and initiate any mitigation measures that drop out. If you have special circumstances, YOU need to make the special arrangements. "dial 999 / 112" is not a suitable mitigation measure. They may be busy elsewhere, and id it is a time related problem ( cardiac arrest etc ), it may be too late when they get there. Most Brigades have a specialist rope rescue or specialist rescue team. In most regions they are not a dedicated team for that role, and will have to be brought from other stations. Ambulance have HART teams, but they are only work at height safety trained, an have to work off a system that someone else (usually the Fire service specialist team) have set up. So by the time they've all arrived and set up your well into the golden hour, and if it is an arrest, you need to have a response within the first "platinum 10" minutes. Phil

Paul Are you asking who would be responsible for the rescue training if you act as Principal Contractor and sub-contract a tower crane company to site?

I believe it would be the company that has produced the lift plan that is responsible for the lift and any emergency arrangements that may be required

Paul I have previously worked on the BNHJV were we had 5 tower cranes and a tower crane on rails all working within the clash zones of each other , I developed a robust SSOW including emergency procedures for the retrieval of a person from the tower crane in the event of a incident . if you pm me with your details I will contact you Chris

Alex, I'm not saying don't include them, you would be daft not to. I'm stating that relying on them as your only mitigation measure is not robust enough. If its a serious medical emergency, they won't get there in time. Fact. They may even be on another job on the other side of the town. Phil

Don't worry Heo2 I did not read it like that I am a very practical person and was involved in Tower Cranes for the past 7 years. I believe as you say no do not rely on the emergency services but do talk to them for their input. I went on to many meetings where the crane user could only say it is your crane how are you going to rescue the operator. That is why this post is good because it will enlighten people as to how difficult this operation is. There are some good points from many of the posters and thankfully no experts quoting regulations only. Regards Alex