Klaus Meissner has been named the chair of ESTA’s European Crane and Transport Operators Licence (ECTOL) as the association moves forward with the scheme.
ESTA – the European association of abnormal road transport and mobile cranes – gave their backing to the development of ECTOL last year. It will be an umbrella body that oversees both the existing European Crane Operators Licence (ECOL) and the new European Transport Operators Licence (ETOL), which will initially focus on training for SPMT operators.
The three-person ECTOL supervisory board will be chaired by Meissner, ESTA’s subject matter expert, cranes. He will be supported by manufacturer’s representative Lars Schødt from the TII Group and Arnold Niekamp from the Dutch trade union HZC, representing the interests of the operators.
The development of ECTOL and ETOL came out of the work from the organisation’s SPMT working group and the growing concern in the industry about the lack of recognised training qualifications and the need to improve safety standards.
In addition to the supervisory board, a five-person ECTOL management board has been created. This will be chaired by ESTA director Ton Klijn and will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the ECOL and ETOL programmes.
ECTOL will also have an 11-person expanded expert committee that will oversee training design and content, learning outcomes, exam content and occupational standards in both the ECOL and ETOL schemes. This committee will include transport and trailer representatives from a trade union, a trailer manufacturer and a trailer industry expert to sit alongside their existing crane sector counterparts.
