A crane arrives with a driver, a load chart and a hook. Everything else that makes the lift safe is on paper before the outriggers go down, and the first question a principal contractor asks when a subcontractor says "we've got a crane coming Thursday" is who wrote it.
What the law actually requires
Regulation 8 of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) requires every lifting operation to be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised, and carried out in a safe manner. Regulation 9 sits behind it: lifting equipment thoroughly examined at least every twelve months — six where it lifts people — and every sling, shackle and chain at least every six, or to a written examination scheme, by a competent person with the report kept; a tower crane is examined again after it is erected on the site.
LOLER does not say the plan must be written, but HSE's guidance on it expects a written plan for anything beyond the routine and accepts one generic plan for the routine. The written plan comes from BS 7121-1:2016, the code of practice for the safe use of cranes, the method HSE guidance and the industry point to for meeting regulation 8. It names the roles: an appointed person who plans the lift and has overall control of it, a crane supervisor who runs it on the day, a slinger / signaller who attaches the load and directs it, and the operator.
Contract lift or crane hire
On a contract lift the crane company supplies the crane, the operator and the appointed person; its appointed person writes the plan and carries the lifting operation. On crane hire the company supplies the crane and the operator only; the contractor doing the work supplies the appointed person, writes the plan, supervises the lift and carries the responsibility. The difference is on the hire paperwork; know which you signed.
Whoever takes the crane on crane-hire terms writes the plan — on many sites that is the principal contractor. Where a subcontractor's crane is coming, the principal contractor does not write the plan; it checks it against the site — the ground, the buried services, the overhead lines, the public, the other trades — and the permit records that check.
What has to be in it
A plan that survives contact with the site answers these in writing, with the source of every figure:
- The load — what it is, what it weighs and how that is known, its dimensions, its centre of gravity, and what it is lifted by.
- The crane — type, capacity, the configuration for this lift, the thorough examination date, and the hook block weight, which counts as load.
- Where it stands — the outrigger loads from the crane's own data, the mats that spread them, and the bearing pressure the ground is proven to carry, by someone who knows what is under it.
- Radius and capacity — the largest radius the load reaches, the rated capacity at that radius from the chart, the gross load including every accessory, and the utilisation limit the appointed person has set.
- The rigging — each accessory with its marked safe working load and examination date, and the arrangement.
- The zone — where nobody goes, how it is marked, who marshals it, and how the crew talk to each other.
- The sequence and the limits — step by step with the trial lift, and the wind speed at which the lift stops, from the crane's data and reduced for a load with sail area.
Then it is briefed to everyone with a part in the lift, signed by the appointed person and accepted by the principal contractor. On the day the set-up is checked against it before the first lift, and the log records what was lifted and what stopped.
What a template does not do
A template gives the appointed person the questions in the right order and the legal driver printed on the sheet. It does not know the weight of the load or the bearing capacity of the ground, and it does not make anyone an appointed person. The competent person writes the plan; no document makes anyone compliant. Why we will never call a document "compliant".
Documents for this work
- The lifting operations bundle — all seven documents
- Lift Plan — Crane Lift
- Lift Plan — Generic Repetitive Lifts — telehandler, excavator lifting, hoist
- Appointed Person, Lifting Supervisor and Slinger-Signaller Appointment
- Crane Set-Up and Ground Check
- Lifting Accessories Pre-Use Check
- Exclusion Zone and Load Path Plan
- Lifting Operation Record and Hook-Time Log
- Lifting Operations Permit — the permit the plan sits behind