Tips for Busy Operators of Heavy Construction Equipment

Posted on: 29 November 2018

If you own an earthmoving equipment hire company, safety should be a significant concern. Likewise, if you want to keep your employees, you want to make sure they are well protected and have access to quality equipment. The following include critical areas you need to focus on to ensure safety.

Provision of Advice and Safety Checklists

You need to make sure that the customer is given sufficient advice regarding the equipment they are hiring. Do they need to hold any particular certification or qualification, or have any specialised training to operate the equipment? Are such details in written form? You need to outline how the needed equipment works inclusive of its assembly and also give manuals. Additionally, provide information that may affect the customer's health or safety and advise on what protective gear is required to operate the equipment.

It is also important to answer the customer's questions especially those on the safe operation and maintenance of the equipment. To be able to have quality information, you need to make sure safety information on all equipment you handle is up to date. Superseded and obsolete information should be removed from all written documents and checklists. There are cases when various plants may have been recalled due to safety concerns, and it is your duty to inform the customer. You should contact customers who have hired such plants and give them notice.

Inspection and Maintenance of Equipment

Ensure that your employees have been thoroughly trained and have the qualification to carry out inspection and maintenance. They should also be in a position to offer customer maintenance and inspection advice. Additionally, maintenance and inspection records should be kept to track the condition of each item. A customer may also want to see such a record when hiring.

All equipment should be maintained frequently and always after each hire. This helps in the identification of unserviceable plants, which should be removed. In some cases, the customer when returning the equipment may notify you of some fault. The fault may be in the design. As a professional hiring company, you should check with the manufacturer or an expert on the validity of the fault and notify the customer. If the fault was valid, you should also make arrangements to change the equipment.

In instances where a client may be requiring a piece of equipment for quite some time, make arrangements for inspection and maintenance.