What makes a competent person at Anchor
Drive Machinery Regulation 18 (DMR18) of the SA Occupational Health and Safety Act states that lifting tackle is examined at intervals not exceeding three months by a competent person, however when defining a competent person it simply says a person with knowledge, training and experience. Some companies will send their technicians on a 1 day classroom bound course and others acknowledge experience in the industry as competence.
“At Anchor we’re constantly striving to offer the best service to customers, which means experienced, well trained staff are a prerogative,” explains Tyrone Tilley, National Services Manager. “As there’s no official path to becoming a competent lifting tackle inspector, we took it upon ourselves to map a route for our current staff and for all new services technicians”, continues Tilley.
The 6 month accreditation program starts with general health and safety training, then progresses to specific product knowledge modules during which students must achieve a minimum of 80% to pass. All students then undergo basic rigging training and finally a practical evaluation. Successful students are then teamed up with a competent Lifting Tackle Inspector (LTI) for the remainder of the 6 month period to gain work experience, while capturing their jobs in a log book which is signed off by a competent person. At the end of the 6 month period the student undergoes a final practical exam and if successful is deemed competent.
“We feel this is a good mix of theoretical and practical training to ensure the critical job of inspecting lifting tackle is done competently without mistakes and affords our customer peace of mind when sending their lifting tackle to Anchor for inspection,” explains Tilley.
Contact your nearest branch of Anchor should you require a company to perform the statutory inspections on your lifting tackle or lifting machines to conform.